Hell’s Kitchen’s far west side has long been a nightclub hub — and despite the shadow of now-shuttered venues like Pacha and Space Ibiza, a new crop of clubs has come to the forefront, thanks to Dream Hospitality Group’s George Karavias.
Karavias, who is also in the process of opening Dream Hospitality’s first Italian restaurant, Tucci (located at 643 Broadway) has run the New York-based entertainment group since 2014, and is now at the helm of both Musica (637 W50th St — corner of 12th Ave), originally opened by the Cipriani Group in 2022 and Harbor (621 W46th St bw 11/12th Ave), for which he took over operations in 2021. The two large-scale clubs each boast over 1,000-person capacities, as well as smaller sub-venues Whisper (adjacent to Musica) and The Stafford Room (connected to Harbor), all of which have hosted celebrities, prominent DJs and musicians like Offset and Noizu.
Coordinating big concerts and even bigger crowds is old hat to Karavias, who has been informally part of the nightlife scene since he was a Brooklyn-bred teenager. Initially his aim was to pursue an architectural degree from NYIT and follow into the family construction business, but then George dipped his toe in the nightlife industry by bringing friends to teen nights at his uncle’s club in Queens. “By 18, I was running all the promotions for the nightclub and the programming,” he told W42ST as we sat in one of the celebrity-earmarked VIP rooms at Whisper. “[I realized that] this is what I love, this is what I wanted to do and I knew it.”
A decade after founding Dream, he’s grown the hospitality business into a citywide empire with hands in the programming and promotion of bars, clubs and restaurants across the five boroughs, in addition to spring break beach locales like St Maarten and Miami. “We controlled pretty much all the nightlife in New York,” said George, “meaning we would work with venues, to run the nightlife for them — program the DJs, program the parties and bring the people.” Before the COVID-19 shutdown of 2020, they hadn’t explored taking over any properties, but “after the pandemic, there were good opportunities that came to us,” he added. “It was actually a crazy time because you didn’t even know if people wanted to go to nightclubs after the pandemic.”
As shutdowns lifted across the city, Hell’s Kitchen and the far west side were ripe for a nightclub renaissance, due to the generously-sized spaces and ease of operation, said George. “What we did [with Harbor and Musica] was we created a culture where we don’t compete with ourselves,” he explained. “Harbor focuses on all different types of music — we do everything there. We give all different types of promoters opportunities and private events at the space.” Over at Musica, home to a centralized DJ booth and multiple Studio 54-esque disco balls, “we’ve really focused on dance music,” said George.
For George and the team at Dream, a focus on creating a welcoming and inclusive environment is paramount. “PRIDE weekend is already booked out!” he said. “Everybody knows we’re open book and we are not exclusive, everybody says we’re more welcoming than others, especially for tourism — we want to really focus on bringing tourists here and making sure they have a good time.”
George hopes to expand Musica and Harbor’s reach into additional ticketed events, because they have the operational ability to accommodate the crowds and for the consumer, attending a show at Harbor or Musica is “cheaper than a venue like Terminal 5.” But regardless of the programming, their biggest priority is in ensuring that local patrons become regulars. “We’re strong believers in return business — treating staff the right way and making sure it’s a happy and healthy environment to work, and for the customers, [it’s about] making sure they have a good time so they can come back,” he said. “ In hospitality, it’s all about return business. If you lose the customer the first day, they’re never coming back.”
And as for the future of nightlife on the West Side, “dance music is mostly now pivoting to Brooklyn, but we’re trying to bring it back to Manhattan, and I think we’re doing a good job,” said George. “That’s what we’re really focusing on — to do a great job.”