It’s hard enough to open a nightclub in the Miami metro area given the already established foothold of the clubbing arena by mainstays such as Club Space and Do Not Sit on the Furniture and Story Nightclub, let alone to follow in the famous footsteps of Mansion. That’s what Icon Nightclub attempted to accomplish when they opened their doors at the tail end of December 2015.
Taking over the 30,000 square-foot, art-deco designed space formerly occupied by Mansion for the previous 11 years on Washington Avenue, whom shut their doors in August 2015, weren’t able to keep the doors open for even a year, nine months to be specific, before they crumbled to the high pressure and often cut throat approach for acquiring fresh and in demand bookings. A press release issued a few weeks before the club’s grand opening stated “We have a high bar to reach, as Mansion had an 11-year successful track record, and we are working hard to carry out and surpass the expectations that exist.” That mantra unfortunately did not to fruition.
Icon partner Emi Guerra went on record as saying “There’s going to be times where we’re going to want to see and hear up-and-coming talent and hopefully catch some of those people as they tour the U.S. We’re also going to want to see something that’s nostalgic — the meshing of some of the old with some of the new, and some of the new mixed with the old things we’ve grown to love.” The original plan of branching out from the overexposed and often repeated six month bookings stemming from the same talent pool never got off the ground; often snagging mainstream EDM artists with a splash of hip-hop acts, hardly standing out from the competition.
However, there are rare second chances in life to make a better first impression. “Miami Copa Room coming soon,” reads below Icon’s logo. That’s about as far as the bread crumb trail goes with the Miami Copa Room’s interwebs presence barely scratching the surface with any type of useful leads besides hinting at a new Latin concept possibly in the works. The address given is for Cameo at 1445 Washington Ave: another confusing bit of information. As the Latin community thrives vibrantly in the Miami area, this change could be quite the smart move as the most popular clubs in Florida, Mango, brought in an estimated $20 to $25 million last year. Only time will tell.
Via: Miami New Times
