Whiskey Soho closes, locals and traveling athletes must look elsewhere to get arrested!
Clubs change hands, names
By Sharon Ginn, Times Correspondent
Published February 15, 2008
The demise of Whiskey SoHo this week doesn't necessarily mean things will be quieter on the corner of Swann and Howard avenues.
Post Properties has received the approval for its long-planned residential project and gave Whiskey SoHo the notice to vacate last month, said Larissa Rydin, marketing manager for the popular nightclub and lounge. Work on the four-story, 192-unit apartment complex with 19,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space could begin soon.
Atlanta-based Post Properties purchased the Whiskey SoHo site and surrounding property for a total of about $12-million in 2005, according to the Hillsborough County Property Appraiser's Office. Original plans were for condominium and retail units to be built on the site, but city records show Post submitted new plans in July that changed the residences to apartments.
The project received final city approval on Jan. 31. Post representatives could not be reached last week for further details.
Whiskey SoHo's closing on Sunday is coinciding with the debut of a new nightclub property by the same ownership group. The Kennedy is set to open within the next few weeks at the former site of Bahasa Lounge, which closed in July. The new club, located at 2408 W Kennedy Blvd., will be a "boutique lounge," Rydin said.
Like Whiskey SoHo, Hyde Park Caf, Cheap, SoHo Pizza Joint and other nightspots and restaurants in and around SoHo, the Kennedy is owned by a partnership led by Tommy Ortiz.
Most employees of Whiskey SoHo will be transferred to the Kennedy or other Ortiz businesses, Rydin said.
The Kennedy will have a different atmosphere from Whiskey SoHo. "It's a lot of dark woods and very luxurious," Rydin said. "Nothing like we've ever done before."
The Kennedy will initially hold only 100 or so people, Rydin said, but will expand as stages of construction are finished.
The club will be open only Thursday-Saturday at first, from "early evening until 3 a.m.," she said.