Tunnel

Tunnel was a nightclub located at 220 Twelfth Avenue, in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It operated from 1986 to 2001. The nightclub was located within the Terminal Warehouse Company Central Stores Building, also known as Chelsea Terminal Warehouse, which is now part of the West Chelsea Historic District. History Tunnel, less popularly and incorrectly also known as "The Tunnel," was owned by Boaz Aharoni, a real-estate developer, and Elli Dayan, founder and former chairman of Bonjour International, a company best known for blue jeans. The club was built in a space which was formerly a railroad freight terminal. Dayan sold the property to Marco Riccota in January 1990. Peter Gatien acquired the 80,000-square-foot nightclub in 1992. Tunnel closed its doors late in 2001 due to non-payment of rent and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's quality-of-life campaign. Gatien had been accused of drug trafficking, charges he was acquitted of, although he and his wife pleaded guilty to tax evasion and were deported to Canada in 2003.