During the final hours of their very successful Kickstarter campaign to reopen their doors, Shea Stadium announced earlier today that they will need to relocate due their landlord not renewing their lease so they can open a nightclub on the first floor. This news is absolutely heartbreaking as Shea Stadium has hosted many events in their current location since 2009, which were all recorded. We’ve seen bands like Pile, Julian Casablancas + The Voids with Blood Orange and Big Ups, Death Valley Girls, Titus Andronicus, PWR BTTM, Downtown Boys, Guerilla Toss with Mannequin Pussy and more, The So So Glos, and obviously, METZ. Shea Stadium was also kind enough to host Impose’s Northside and CMJ Music Marathon showcases back in 2013.
Although Shea won’t reopen at 20 Meadow Street, we wish them the best of luck finding a new location. Their Kickstarter campaign is still open for a few more hours and there’s a fundraiser concert at Baby’s All Right on Sunday, April 30 with Ó (formerly known as Eskimeaux), Chris Gethard, Big Ups, Sharpless, and a solo set by IAN SWEET. More information about the show can be found here.
Impose has covered many events that happened at Shea in the past and you can view them here.
The announcement Shea team posted earlier today on their Facebook page is in full below:
Dearest showgoers,
We wish we had better news to close out what has been such an incredibly successful and heart-warming few weeks. The love you’ve shown Shea has affirmed that there was truly no better way we could have spent the past eight years.
In the time since we last spoke we’ve been busy assembling our team of professionals to help guide us through the process of reopening. Last week, we were set to file our first paperwork with the city when our landlord, who had supported our cause since day one, revealed he was no longer on board with our plans. Without his signature, it’s impossible for us to move forward with our mission to bring Shea back. After a fantastic near-decade relationship with our landlords and their family this reversal comes as a complete surprise.
So why did they choose to deny us so suddenly? Sadly, their brand new plan for 20 Meadow Street includes a nightclub of their own on the ground floor and no Shea Stadium upstairs. By refusing to sign the paperwork they’re using this moment as an opportunity to force us out of the space and off of the block we’ve called home since 2009. We’ve exhausted our options over the past week, presenting several scenarios in which the two spaces could potentially coexist, but they’ve made clear that their intentions are to move forward with their foray into nightlife without us in the picture.
While we’re disappointed by this ironic turn of events, we consider it a lucky break that we were able to get this news *before* the end of the Kickstarter, and to allow everyone to consider that their donations will be re-purposed to find and lay our roots down in a new space. The work and costs involved with moving to a new location hang on a much larger scale than our previous goals and while we’re cautiously optimistic about our future in another location, we’re faced with a whole new degree of uncertainty. We promise to keep you posted on our progress with full transparency and to refund all pledges if we’re not able to find a new headquarters that does justice to our time on Meadow Street.
This will likely be a long process with less concrete timelines. Finding a new location can take months and we plan to honor the faith you’ve put in us by finding the best home for what you’ve come to know and love from our crew. There’s also a chance that space doesn’t exist for us in NYC 2017, and Shea Stadium becomes part of its history instead, but we won’t know until we get out on the streets and start looking.
We want to thank you all again for your continued support in the past few months. Without you this would have been a certain death blow to Shea, and it’s only because of your help we have the chance to work towards building something greater.
In the meantime, watch this space for updates on the immediate future of 20 Meadow Street and the hunt for… a new stadium?
always
A N L & The Shea Stadium Family
