Beatrice Owners to Open New Club in … Jersey?At one point Smith and Mills owner Matt Abramcyk was toying with the idea of opening a Skee-Ball bar in the financial district, but now it looks like he has a bigger project on the horizon — in Atlantic City! The Times reports that he and his Beatrice Inn partner, Paul “brother of the actress Chloë” Sevigny, are teaming with Curtis Bashaw, a developer of the Mondrian in Soho, to turn a former Atlantic City Howard Johnson into the Chelsea, a boutique hotel with a Stephen Starr restaurant. A spokesman for the project tells the Times that the Beatrice team is “going to be in charge of celebrity wrangling, including bringing Paul’s sister’s friends down” to a fifth-floor lounge. Chloë has gone to AC for a Morrissey concert, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Our favorite part of the story? When the Times reporter gripes about getting turned away from the Beatrice.
SoHo Meets HoJo In Atlantic City [NYT]
NewsFeed
Beatrice Currently Closed to Everyone, Not Just YouGawker reported earlier today that the Beatrice was closed last night, though “no one knew why.” Co-owner Matt Abramcyk fills us in. In order to address noise complaints, Abramcyk was doing renovations to facilitate quick entry and exit to and from the club. However, someone failed to apply for a permit to do some plumbing work. “When [the mayor’s task force] shut construction down,” Abramcyk says, “they left us with our pants half down, since we were doing it to satisfy them.” He’s working with his lawyers to get his pants back up in time to open tonight — not that it matters to the 99.9 percent of the city that can’t get in anyway.
Paul Sevigny’s Beatrice Inn Shut Down Last Night [Gawker]
Openings
Smith and Mills: The Smallest Next Big Thing Ever
Last November we were the first to predict that the Beatrice would be the hipstaurant of the season. Um, we told you so? Now from Beatrice (and Employees Only) partner Matt Abramcyk comes another contender — this one occupying a former carriage house in the Tribeca nether lands. Smith and Mills is one of the smallest restaurants we’ve ever set foot in, but on this, its opening day, we don’t think it’s too early to say it may just be the next big thing.