HQ Nightclub and HQ Beach Club, the final pieces of the new Revel Hotel and Casino entertainment venues, were announced this morning. HQ will be overseen by the Las Vegas based Angel Management group and will be a combination of 85,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor day and nightclub space. The nightclub will be a four floor, 40,000 square foot space that will offer a different experience on each floor and include its own rooftop space. The European-inspired beach club will be approximately 45,000 sq ft of outdoor space right on the boardwalk and it will feature the same sort of raucous pool parties that Las Vegas is famous for. Along with Ivan Kane's new burlesque joint, HQ is the second nightclub space at Revel and joins a host of other major hospitality projects that are hoping to make Atlantic City hot again.
Atlantic City's peak season is during the summer, but this giant space is going to be open year round. But how Angel and Revel fill the place during Atlantic City's long winter months seems like a giant question mark. The current team seems to have a good sense of how to program the space with big name acts to help get people in the door, but getting customers to show up week in and week out is much different than having a splashy opening celebration.
It seems likely that they will turn to bringing big name DJ acts to try and get the South Jersey and Philly customers. But that is a much different customer set than Las Vegas where people come to party, and New York, where people can party every night of the week. This is why making big nightlife work in Atlantic City has always been such a tricky proposition. The Borgata has pulled it off to a certain extent with Mixx and mur.mur, but nothing like the Revel is banking on. It's going to be an interesting summer.
· Revel Coverage [~ENY~]
· Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]