Club King Joey Morrissey Opens M2 in Miami
New York & Hamptons Nightlife Legend
Joey Morrissey is a legend in the nightlife business, the creative force behind some of Manhattan’s and the Hamptons’ best-known mega-clubs, including Crobar, Mansion, M2 Ultra Lounge, and Pink Elephant. During more than 30 years in the industry, Morrissey pioneered innovations such as the use of promoters to bring crowds to clubs and the implementation of bottle service as a way to increase revenues. He also broke ground with an early YouTube channel in the days before social media.
Now, he’s brought his wealth of experience to Miami, partnering with longtime collaborator Jason Lin on M2 in the South Beach Art Deco district. The space, at 1235 Washington Avenue, was formerly music legend Prince’s nightclub, Glam Slam.
World’s Top DJs at Miami Music Week Opening
The 35,000-square-foot venue, the city’s largest club, opened during Miami’s Music Week in March, hosting a stellar lineup of 30 of the world’s top DJs, including David Guetta, alongside Morten, Adam Beyer, Carl Cox, Charlotte de Witte, and Sasha & John Digweed, over five days. “The big names did the main sets, and there were DJs in different rooms,” Morrissey said. “It was like a festival at a nightclub.”
Rock God Prince’s VIP Room
The star-studded opening week had David Guetta turning up to support DJ Morten, staying into the wee hours alongside DJs Hardwell and Maddix. Guetta played his new, controversial AI song, “Emin-AI-em,” which mimics Eminem’s voice, and sent the crowd into a frenzy. Music-industry tongues were wagging when Guetta showed up with his girlfriend, Jessica Ledon, in their first public appearance together after split rumors last year. Guetta was the first VIP to use rock legend Prince’s private, purple-themed room that overlooks the dance floor.
This bang-up opening week was the result of partnering with Ultra Music Festival’s Resistance, which specializes in underground DJs. The program will be ongoing, with over thirty events planned throughout the year, including several that happened during Miami’s Formula One Grand Prix weekend, which M2 kicked off with a party hosted by Diddy AKA Puff Daddy.
Art Deco Venue Updated With TLC
The building was originally designed as a casino and theater, with a ballroom, but has gone through many iterations over the years, eventually becoming a nightclub by the late 1970s. It was vacant for several years, until Morrissey and his partner took it over.
“It needed a lot of tender loving care, so we put in a whole new lighting system, sound system, redid all the bathrooms, redid all the infrastructure, the electrical, and everything,” said Morrissey. But they kept the look and feel of the space. Former owner Prince had remade the projection booth into a private room, and they’ve restored it to how it was during his reign, with new lighting and a new bar. The total cost was 15 million. With multiple entrances to the vast club, they can open up one side for more intimate parties of 300 to 400 people, or utilize the entire space, which can hold 2,000 plus.
South Beach’s Year Around Rebirth
“Miami is no longer seasonal, and that’s why we decided to open up,” said Morrissey. “We just felt that the city could support a mega club. It’s a full-time city now.”
Plus, he feels that South Beach is on the rise again after the harsh toll the pandemic had on area businesses. “A lot of the clubs moved to downtown Miami,” Morrissey said. But now the Washington Avenue area is picking up again, with new hotels like the Good Time Hotel and the Kimpton Surfcomber, and hot new restaurants, like Queen. “There’s a lot of investment into Washington Avenue right now,” he said.
“When you’re in the nightclub business, you usually go to a distressed area and see if you can make a deal. And this space is one of a kind, it’ll never be duplicated. You just can’t build something like this,” said Morrissey, who started opening clubs in Manhattan’s now-posh West Chelsea when it was full of vacant factory space.
Full Circle for M2 Brand
Morrissey launched the M2 brand in the 2000s in New York. It attracted an array of celebrities, including Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, and Diddy. The club was name-dropped by Nicki Minaj in her track “Up All Night” featuring Drake. They had taken over the space from Mansion, and as the West Chelsea neighborhood was being rezoned for residential, M2 relinquished its 20+ year lease and closed. Ironically, the South Beach club had also previously been occupied by Mansion. “The Miami deal came around, and I felt like I didn’t finish the whole M2 saga, and it being Mansion again, I just felt like M2 was the perfect fit for it.”
