New Club from the Opium Group???

[sobe2004]

From the Palm Beach Post:

A well-known Miami-based nightclub consortium has been exploring the establishment of a danceteria as a late-night regional party destination in calm-obsessed Palm Beach.

Reps for the Opium Group -- owner of the celebrity-heavy Opium Garden, Mansion and Prive champagne-from-a-straw clubs on Miami Beach -- have been in furious negotiations with the owner of a ballroom in the Palm Beach Hotel, C.J. Van Schaffelaar, to lease the 17,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the historic condo high-rise.

Page Two hears Opium was hoping at one point to have the club up and running, nightly Thursday through Sunday, by the end of the year. It was planning to drop $1.5 million to spruce up the inside, then charge $500 minimum for a table of five.

Van Schaffelaar said the talks recently slowed because of several issues.

"I already have all the proper licenses," he said. "But the access could be a problem."

If it opened now, partyers would have to use the condo building's lobby to get in and for bathrooms. So, Opium needs to negotiate a separate deal with another owner and build a special entrance. That means the tough condo association and tougher town council would get involved.

In the late '90s a nightclub, 251 Sunrise, operated near the hotel. Condo owners with windows above were so ticked off that 251 owners Allen Heise and Jim Fazio tried to buy them out to keep them from calling police, sometimes nightly.

Town Councilman Norman Goldblum remembers.

"Do you know how many residents are going to be calling if a new place opens?" he asks. "We will not change our ordinances, and they say a nightclub must be closed by 11 p.m."

Opium Group is playing coy. "We're always looking for opportunities for expansion, and Palm Beach is one...." said spokeswoman Vanessa Menkes. "We have not decided upon one particular space."

Real estate agent Leslie Linder, who took the group's investors to the old hotel and other locations, would not comment.

[armaniP]

they should holler at me and open up the new spot in HOMESTEAD lol.

Where the new Disney Theme Park will be built.

[V. Barbarino]

sorry I can't post it, but as soon as i can I will drop the big opium news..

[Devilicious]

yeah i heard about this, and i'd rather it not be happening :-\

[pod]

It's called capitalism.

[tiltmiami]

Originally Posted by Mr

sorry I can't post it, but as soon as i can I will drop the big opium news..

i know that one...Its HUGE

[armaniP]

So what do you guys know about it? :

i think it's a bluff... the opium group is too unorganized. Mostly everyone that goes to any of the events, get's raped at the door. No pun intended tilt, cause the venues are pretty nice.

Any of you know Michael Capponi? I'm asking if any of you guys know him personally though.

[dgrutman]

we are not doing palm beach and the big news that saleen is hinting too is not happening. we are going to open a new club in miami but it wont be where everyone thinks it is.

[Untouchablepurple]

amika !

[macboy]

At the behest of Dave Grutman, the Opium Group has acquired Ringmaster Productions.