Source: Paul Morigi / Getty
One of the most beloved party destinations in Miami remains closed leaving thousands of partygoers and many rappers no place to call home in South Beach. The brains behind Club LIV is discussing his game plan.
As spotted in Billboard Magazine, David Grutman conducted in an in-depth interview with the music industry periodical. Since March the nightlife hotspot, which in the last ten years has become a must-visit for any rapper that is in town, has been closed since March due to the pandemic.
In June, the city gave the green light for restaurants to reopen but for many the move was premature. The events guru revealed that he too thought that the coronavirus wasn’t going to be a concern for long.
“We thought the world was back,” he explained. “I was naïve enough to think that we’d turned the corner.”
But positive cases quickly spiked soon after throughout Florida to the point that the Sunshine State became the unofficial epicenter for the pandemic. Six weeks later he voluntarily shut down his doors for all his local businesses from his hospitality empire.
“We were allowed to reopen and bars were not, yet people were drinking like crazy at our place, so it was one of those mixed-signal things. It built up a lot of animosity,” Grutman added.
Prior to the outbreak, Club LIV was figuratively printing money with an estimated 10,000 plus partygoers attending every weekend. Thus, it is no surprise that Grutman gets frequently asked when the nightclub will re-open.
While he has some strategies in place that will help patrons party in a thoughtful manner, like five-minute rapid testing and putting ultraviolet disinfecting lights inside the vents, he is unsure if it is enough without a vaccine present.
“Everybody has their own ideas of what’s going to happen, second wave, no second wave,” Grutman said.
Recently, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez explained “we take a more cautious approach here in Miami-Dade, we are still not out of the woods.”
Let’s hope we can get back to normal times soon.
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Photo: Getty
