Love and Park Nightclubs File For Bankruptcy

The two nightclubs filed Chapter 11 petitions last week to ward off their creditors and ensure the pending sale of Love, a four-story mega club, goes off without a hitch.

Frankly, I am surprised they last this long. They were both my least favorite clubs in DC. I tried both of them only once and that was my last. Although, four-story mega type of clubs sound exciting and has had a great success in other cities and States, but the model doesn’t work for Washingtonians. Most Washingtonian are two sophisticated to go clubbing in places that looks like junk yard. I would say Ibiza is next to file for chapter 11.

The filing isn’t the first woe that’s befallen Barnes’s Love, which first opened in 2001 as Dream. Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that police forced the club to shut its doors after a stabbing took place there New Year’s Day. The stabbing, which wasn’t fatal, was the third violent incident that happened at the club within the span of a week, and the District’s police chief called on managers to bump up security. At the time, Barnes posted a response on the club’s website professing his respect for the chief’s decision and promising to carry out her demand. The club, which was also damaged by the record-breaking snowstorms that pummeled Washington this winter, was later cleared to reopen this spring.

Park, which opened a few years ago amid the K Street renaissance that saw trendy nightclubs sprout up on a street usually reserved for stodgy lobbyists and lawyers, said it was current on its monthly obligations. It sought bankruptcy out of concern that creditors of Barnes and Love would pursue its assets, which were used to cross-collateralize much of their debts.

In its Chapter 11 petition, Park said it has up to $50,000 in assets and between $1 million and $10 million in debts. Both clubs reported assets and debts each in the range of $1 million to $10 million.

Not sure what the hell Park was thinking when they decided to open one block from Lima, one of the best in town and happens to be my top favorite clubs.

Washingtonian prefer to go to Lima or L2 type of clubs not Miami or Vegas type of nightclub that Park and Love represent.

Inside Lima:

Inside L2:

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