Pleasure Island’s Local Pains

Brooklyn Ink ran an article yesterday about an Avenue U establishment that’s having trouble just opening its doors.

The story, which Sheepshead Bites’ Erica Sherman first covered back in May, centers on nightclub Pleasure Island (816 Avenue U near East 9th Street), which hopes to open in the same location as a previously shuttered business known simply as Pleasure.

On May 17, opposition to Pleasure Island at a community board meeting put the brakes on the club’s liquor license. Nearby residents, many of whom are Orthodox Jews, cited examples of illegal parking, noise and littering while Pleasure was at the same address.

From Brooklyn Ink:

Owners of Pleasure received violations for parking, noise, serving alcohol after hours and failure to permit an inspection, among many infringements. “It was lots of problems, lots of drugs, lots of drunk kids,” said Konstantin Krivonos, 42, owner of the building next door at 824 Avenue U.

Shteynshlyuger, who identifies himself as the 90 percent owner of Pleasure Island, has defended himself by saying he was never affiliated with the previous nightclub. “Nobody talked to me,” he said. “Nobody asked me a question. We invested more than $40,000 to create a nice place. Suddenly, we were an adult club.”

Actually, one of the principal owners of Pleasure, Marat Zagorin, also has a ten percent stake in Pleasure Island.

“They just thought they were going to reapply,” Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo told Brooklyn Ink, “come back as the same rowdy crowd, and no one was going to notice.”

Owner Mark Shteynshlyuger continues to insist that Pleasure Island will be a respectable, low key lounge/restaurant, not a sleezy night club with strippers, as some have said. The club’s paperwork for its liquor license indicates that the business did not apply for a cabaret license, which a strip club or large dance club would need. Shteynshlyuger, who is from the area, has the support of some in the neighborhood. Joseph Cayre, chairman of Midtown Equities Group and a member of the local Jewish community thinks Shteynshlyuger’s name has been unfairly dragged through the mud.

“Mark is a great guy, who’s invested a lot to make his business upscale,” said Cayre. “Nothing rowdy, nothing topless. Those things are terrible, and I think people smeared his name who said them.”

Another liquor license hearing for Pleasure Island is expected sometime later this year.