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Jay-Z has had a busy summer in New York: along with the opening of “The Book of Hov,” a brand-new exhibit dedicated to the rapper at the Brooklyn Public Library's Central Branch, and popping up to support his missus during those history-making Beyoncé' shows at MetLife, the musician-slash-mogul has closed The 40/40 Club, the Flatiron District sports lounge he has owned since 2003.
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The venue at 6 West 25th Street—which was a favorite of star athletes like LeBron James and played host to numerous album-release parties, celebrity birthday bashes and appearances by the Obamas—ceased operations as of July 2023, according to Eater, but there are reportedly plans to reopen the club at a new NYC address sometime next year.
After launching the flagship 40/40 Club in Manhattan twenty years ago, which underwent a $10 million renovation back in 2011, Jay-Z added locations in Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Brooklyn's Barclay's Center (the performer is a part-owner of the arena) and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to his restaurant portfolio. (The Vegas outpost closed in 2008, and the Atlanta City club followed in 2013.)
The closure of the New York City location comes after years of hardship for the venue. In 2011, carpenter workers protested against The 40/40 Club over labor disputes. A year later, Jay-Z sued the lounge’s former chef Mike Shand for $1.5 million due to a failed revamping of the food menu. Also in 2012, the club was shut down by a DOH inspector for 69 health-code violations (the equivalent of a C rating), according to Eater.
Details on the whereabouts of the new NYC location are still to be announced; however, the venue's website places the timeframe of the reopening at February 2024. We expect that the new digs will have a similar sports focus as its predecessor (the place is named after "one of baseball's most prestigious achievements," a.k.a. hitting 40 home runs and stealing 40 bases in one season).