At the Kimberly Hotel’s rooftop, the scene is populated mostly by professional types. (Zandy Mangold)
At Covet, the scene is sexy — but the lines outside aren’t as difficult to navigate as they are in the Meatpacking District. (Zandy Mangold)
The crowd at Covet casually upscale – and all about having fun. (Zandy Mangold)
In midtown, entry is determined by reservations as much as doormen. (Zandy Mangold)
Revelers at Lavo tend to be professionals who can take clients there for drinks and dinner. (Zandy Mangold)
It’s just past midnight on Friday morning at Lavo, and the 500-person nightclub is at capacity. Models are dancing on banquettes, swilling $400 bottles of vodka purchased by middle-aged finance-industry types who don’t think twice about buying a liter or two to be a part of the show. Among the waitresses delivering sparkler-topped Champagne bottles is George Clooney’s ex-girlfriend, Sarah Larson, a dark-haired stunner who could surely work anywhere she pleases. She chose here.
But this isn’t the beating heart of the Meatpacking District. It’s Midtown: a 9-to-5 neighborhood known for office buildings, after-work frat boy bars and slow-moving tourists. But come nightfall, these days it’s a whole different scene.
Since September, no fewer than four big nightclubs have opened in the heart of corporate America. In addition to Lavo on 58th Street, there’s Covet on 55th, Upstairs at the Kimberly Hotel on 50th (which soft-launched over the summer) and the Andaz Fifth Avenue Hotel on 41st, which boasts a pair of lounges that even Anna Wintour recently graced. Lavo and Covet are open only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and they’re stealing traffic from their downtown rivals on those nights.
Call it the “Midpacking District.” Not since Studio 54 in the 1970s has Midtown been so hot.
The people who pack these clubs tend to be a bit older and more professional. This crowd typically heads into work at 8 a.m. and wants an after-dinner drink that doesn’t require a half-hour trip to the Meatpacking District, followed by the hassle of getting past a rude doorman. In the Midpacking District, it’s not who you know, but whether you made a reservation.
“I finally have a place I can send my clients,” says Philippe general manager Tim Pappas, as he circles Lavo’s spacious dance floor, a rarity in Meatpacking District clubs, where every inch is usually crammed with cocktail tables. “People are tired of having to travel downtown. It’s wonderful.”
Julian Mason, a 30-year-old who hosts corporate clients two to three days a week on behalf of his Midtown software firm, welcomes the new vibrancy of what is — by day — the drabbest spot in Manhattan.
“The trick with entertaining is finding something near the office. It’s difficult to ask people to travel,” he says.
While clubs have existed in Midtown before (notably Au Bar, which inhabited Lavo’s current space and closed in 2007), these new spots are attracting people who don’t live in the neighborhood. Even more surprising is that the downtown elite is joining the party, including 27-year-old SoHo resident Natalie Harger. Until a month ago, Harger says she might’ve spent a night at Meatpacking District club Le Bain. Tonight, she’s partying at Covet.
“I think Midtown is coming around,” says Harger. She adds: “It’s like people are thirsty for a new place to go. It’s an older crowd. More of an Upper East Side crowd.”
Danielle Emscat’s Murray Hill apartment is an equal distance from the Meatpacking District and Midtown. Lately, Covet has been her boite du jour — or nuit, rather.
“Downtown is more artsy and hipster. Here it’s more professionals,” says 23-year-old Emscat, who gives the nod to Midtown men: “Downtown they’re more grungy and dirty. Up here they’re cleaner.”
As if on cue, 26-year-old Eric Trump, the well-groomed youngest son of The Donald and Ivana, wanders into the room.
Meanwhile, two night-life promoters famed for their “Day & Night” parties at Merkato 55 in the Meatpacking District are now hosting a weekly Midtown bash at the Plaza hotel. Brothers Derek and Daniel Koch launched their Saturday “Day & Night” brunch bashes at the hotel’s Oak Room earlier this month. Derek doesn’t think it would’ve caught on a year ago.
“We had to build up that party before we could carry it over [to Midtown],” he says. The Oak Room has also amped up its nighttime programming in recent months. On Sept. 29, Lady Gaga popped in and played a few songs.
Meanwhile, the Kimberly Hotel’s all-weather, rooftop boite is already a hit among companies like BMW, which has booked it for its upcoming holiday party. Here, a deejay spins pop and soul tunes at a Thursday party, where big spenders sip $16 cocktails such as “The Midtown,” a bourbon-based drink.
“Last night we had two guys spend $4,000 on four bottles of rosé,” says Branimir Kostic, the general manager at Upstairs at the Kimberly Hotel. Kostic says that Midtown is seeing the return of big spending. “It’s coming back.” Still, he admits that uptown revelry is a bit more subdued than downtown. “We can’t go that wild,” he says of the Kimberly. “It’s a hotel.”
But Lavo’s deejay lineup reads like that of any Meatpacking District club. Last Friday, Dutch deejay Tiesto, who commands as much as $100,000 per performance, attracted lines around the block.
Lauren Lane, a spinner who works at downtown clubs like Cielo and Santos Party House, is even considering picking up a few shifts at Lavo. “They’ve made it a destination. If you can get people to come uptown from downtown,” says Lane, who lives in Chelsea, “it says a lot.”