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Firm that plans Brooklyn Mirage purchase still talking 2026 season, even after demo filing
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Oct 23, 2025
Modified Oct 23, 2025
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By
Ryan Kailath
Published Oct 23, 2025
Modified Oct 23, 2025
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A judge has cleared the way for private equity firm Axar Capital Management to buy Brooklyn club conglomerate Avant Gardner for approximately $110 million, two months after the beleaguered nightlife empire filed for bankruptcy.
The deal includes ownership of the Brooklyn Mirage venue, which a lawyer for Axar said would undergo “construction or possibly demolition … in order to get the facility ready for a 2026 season” during a bankruptcy court hearing Thursday.
Avant Gardner filed demolition permits for the Brooklyn Mirage space earlier this month, leading to widespread speculation that one of NYC’s largest music venues would be destroyed. This is the first indication since those permits were filed that the Mirage, which has been closed since 2024, may reopen, as the company had previously said in an August statement.
Axar previously agreed to float Avant Gardner up to $45 million to cover its costs and allow it to continue operating its active venues, including the Great Hall and Kings Hall, during the bankruptcy process. In purchasing the company, Axar will assume further liabilities including Avant Gardner’s court fees and “priority claims” like unpaid tax bills and rent, lawyers said during the hearing.
While Avant Gardner had framed its bankruptcy as a necessary reset after what it described in a statement as “months of financial distress,” court filings and testimony paint a more dramatic picture; one in which the entertainment operator’s collapse was the beginning of a broader struggle for control and repayment playing out between opaque private equity firms and unhappy creditors.
During Thursday’s hearing, held in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, lawyers described the sale as the culmination of months of tense negotiations between Axar and the many parties to which Avant Gardner owes money about who would get paid back, when, and in what amount.
“Axar went from what we consider to be a considerable foe to frankly a friend,” said Mark Franke, a lawyer representing a committee of several of Avant Gardner’s “unsecured” creditors, who are at the back of the line to get repaid.
The list of those debts ranges from $1.87 million owed to the South African DJ Black Coffee to $1,100 owed to Frick Frack Blackjack, a comedy experience involving a fedora-wearing gambler named Marvelous Marvin.
But lawyers for a group of “merchant cash advance” lenders objected to the Axar settlement plan and questioned whether the process was fair. Merchant cash advance is a sort of payday loan for the business world, in which companies can borrow against their uncollected invoices and projected revenue. Avant Gardner had obtained large sums from such lenders, including TVT Capital and InstaFunding.
Judge Mary Walrath ultimately overruled their objections and sided with the creditor committee, which said the deal on the table would avoid a costly court fight that could sink the company outright.
Representatives for Avant Gardner and various creditors and lenders did not respond to requests for comment. Axar Capital declined comment.
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Ryan Kailath
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