When the building housing now-defunct Brooklyn house/techno oasis Output was sold for $7.4 million in 2014, clubbers knew it was only a matter of time before the club – which opened in 2013 – would be gone from gentrifying Williamburg. So when the legendary venue eventually closed its doors on January 1, 2019, speculation was rampant about what would replace the hallowed nightspot.
This month it was revealed that the former site of Output on Wythe Avenue is being converted into an 18,000-square-foot event space and Japanese bar/restaurant.
The space will include a 772-person capacity ballroom, 70-person capacity cocktail bar and a 300-person capacity rooftop terrace that has a retractable roof, according to Joshua Kaiser, a representative of building owner Zach Weinberg, who spoke before Community Board 1 on October 10.
“The former tenant was not popular for their sounds,” Kaiser reportedly said to the community board during his presentation.
Now, here comes the hard part for anyone who appreciates a good sound system – especially one created by Funktion-One, one of the world’s leading purveyors of club systems: “We have taken out a $1.5 million sound system. We’re replacing it, and have full intention to have largely ambient sound projected in all of these rooms. These are meant to be events that you can attend and have a conversation and be heard when you speak.”
Community board members were told that the space is expected to open the space in late February or early March 2020.
The reps from the as yet unnamed venue, who are currently doing business as Space Factory Williamsburg, told the board that it intends to hire locally and offer the space to nonprofits to host fundraising events.
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