NYC’s Highline Ballroom Closing, With Plans To Relocate

Dino Perrucci Photography – HighLine Ballroom

New York City’s esteemed Highline Ballroom is being forced to close its doors after its landlord refused to renew the club’s lease. Owner Steve Bensusan broke the news in a statement released Friday that assured fans that plans are in the works to reopen at a new location in the Chelsea/Meatpacking District. 

The 700-capacity club, located at 431 West 16th Street between 9th Avenue and 10th Avenue, has made a name for itself in the past 12+ years for offering live music across a variety of genres, as well as being a killer spot to see major artists in an intimate setting including Lou Reed, Paul McCartney, The Killers, Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys, Artic Monkeys, Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and The Roots. 

Bensusan’s statement explains that Highline staff were led to believe for over a year that its lease being renewed was imminent, “However it is now clear that the landlord has other plans for the building. This is obviously a growing trend within the New York real estate market impacting various entertainment venues and businesses.” 

A final show date and programming hasn’t been revealed but the statement says the news is coming shortly. Shows are on the calendar through early April, along with a private event in May. Upcoming gigs include Jon B and Kahlil Daniel Jan. 26, Cody Ko & Noel Miller: Tiny Meat Gang Live Feb. 2, Ana Popovic and Porcelain Hill Feb. 12, Wifisfuneral & Robb Bank$ Feb. 15, and Corey Smith March 1.

The statement adds that the Highline is “currently looking at options” for the new location and hopes to announce plans soon. 

“It is a shame that we have to close our doors, though we are grateful for the support we have received from fans and artists over the years in making the original Highline Ballroom location a truly unique experience,” Bensusan said. 

As TimeOut New York notes, news of Highland’s closure follows the shuttering of fellow NYC night spots like Output and Cielo, which both officially closed as of Jan. 1. 

Output released a statement on Facebook Dec. 11 saying it was closing after six years, explaining that “a confluence of factors contributed to the club’s misfortune; rapidly shifting social trends, unfavorable market conditions and weakening financial outlooks coincided with the simultaneous emergence of multiple existential challenges unique to the club’s circumstances. … the day-to-day operators who founded the club and have been at the helm throughout, made the painstaking decision to reject compromise and instead close OUTPUT with the club’s hard-earned reputation intact.”

A recording on Cielo’s phone line confirms the club is permanently closed. 

Cornelia Street Café closed its doors as of Jan. 2 after 41 years in New York’s Greenwich Village. A 2017 feature story by the New York Times marking the club’s 40th anniversary reported that the milestone was being celebrated “cautiously as it watches its rent climb and establishments close along its one-block street in the West Village.” According to the Times, in 2017 rent at Cornelia Street Café was at $33,000 a month – “77 times what it was when the club opened (that’s not adjusting for inflation).”

A press release announcing Cornelia Street Café’s closure talked up the landmark venue’s history as an artist hot spot: “The Café has been the site of many firsts – it is the place where Philippe Petit (“Man on Wire”) strung a wire from the tree outside the cafe and danced across it juggling, where The Roches, a vocal group comprised of three Irish-American sisters started out; where Suzanne Vega sang her first songs, where Eve Ensler launched The Vagina Monologues.  Here a young John Oliver, Amy Schumer, and Hannibal Buress tested material. In the early 80’s Cornelia Street went Clean for Gene, clearing the downstairs for Senator Eugene McCarthy (the good Senator McCarthy!) to read his poetry, and for the famous neurologist Oliver Sacks to read his prose.”

Pollstar reached out to Highline Ballroom owner Blue Note Entertainment Group for more information about the club’s  plans but hadn’t heard back at post time. 

Sold-out shows at Highline in 2018 include an Oct. 14 gig by Lisa Stansfield that grossed $33,658 and a May 22 show by Myles Kennedy that grossed $15,500, according to reports submitted to Pollstar’s BoxOffice department.