Back in August, news broke that a 24-year-old out-of-town developer had plans to erect Philadelphia’s biggest nightclub.
In case you didn’t believe the project was real (like I didn’t), I visited the site of the 1,000-person venue, 1209 Vine Street, just last week. Yes, NOTO (short for “Not of the Ordinary”) is a thing, and yes it’s still happening.
With doors slated to open at the end of November, a lot about this development has come to light in the last few months.
Right now, the site is mostly dust and debris — the remains of Wakisha Charter School — but a stage at the front of the venue is visible through the haze and the club’s mezzanine level that is just steel bars now, is beginning to protrude above the ground floor’s 2,900 square-foot main room.
“Looking at this, I know it’s hard to believe it will be open next month,” James De Berardine, NOTO’s young director told me as we walked through the space. “But it will be,” he said.
By the time the structure is complete, it’s expected to house 24 bottle service tables, 27 restrooms, a VIP room and three bars ranging from 22 to 42 feet long. And in the lobby, guests will be greeted by a 7-foot-by-7-foot chandelier made of old perfume bottles salvaged from a hotel in London. The space will also have a 420-square-foot LED wall and an L’Acoustics sound system shipped in from the Netherlands.
And changes to the building aren’t the only areas taking shape with NOTO. De Berardine added four local nightclub gurus to his team — Ryan Dorsey, director; Zach Seidman, director of hospitality and marketing; Jeff Bowell, director of operations; and Steve Sauls, operations manager. Together the team holds a combined 53 years of experience working in nightclubs from Atlantic City to Vegas. And that’s including De Berardine’s zero years of experience.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/business/2016/10/11/noto-nightclub-philadelphia-opening/#X70vWqeBBzEKoOSr.99