The Plan: NYC’s First Flight Club Aims for a Bull’s-Eye at 31 Union Square West

The first rule of Flight Club is to find a historically significant building to lease.

Founded in 2012 by British friends Steve Moore and Paul Barham, Flight Club — a U.K.-based chain of fanciful pubs for darts aficionados — has grown into an international event venue that brings people together with food, fun, drinks and, of course, darts.

Flight Club, which State of Play Hospitality operates in North America under license, is getting ready to open its first New York City location — but 12th in the U.S. — at 31 Union Square West. Built between 1902 and 1903, 31 Union Square West was previously headquarters to the Bank of Metropolis, and then served as the home of the Blue Water Grill restaurant from 1996 to 2019.

A space with a unique history in an active restaurant and entertainment hub was key in the search for Flight Club’s first New York City spot.

“The brand owners in the U.K. have always sought out historic, architecturally significant, beautiful buildings,” said Toby Harris, president and CEO of State of Play Hospitality. “That’s always been a pillar of the brand in the U.K., and it’s wonderful that we managed to find such a building in New York.”

The Union Square West location is designed to reflect the overall Flight Club aesthetic. But its hoped-for clientele — a blend of corporate clients and social guests — will also encounter elements unique to that space due to the property’s vintage.

“The building dates to the earliest days of the 20th century,” Harris said. “It’s a spectacular space, and we’ve tried to retain as many original features as possible, starting with the ground-floor banking hall that is blessed with the most wonderful, stunning marble on the walls, and some amazing mosaic tiles on the floor. And then a grand marble staircase that connects the ground floor to the basement spaces.”

As part of the renovation, Harris said State of Play Hospitality removed a mezzanine level that was part of the configuration of Blue Water Grill, and which resulted in lower ceiling heights. A low ceiling is great for a restaurant, but not so much for a vibrant entertainment venue where darts will be flying around.

“We had to rip the mezz out, which then exposed more of the marble and more of the stunning sort of cornice ceiling,” Harris said. “There are very high ceilings, and we have the Flight Club ring lights — which are a core brand feature — throughout.”

The overall aesthetic of Flight Club is an upscale and whimsical Victorian English pub.

“We firmly believe when you walk into a Flight Club, it needs to be obvious that we are a cocktail bar, an upscale environment, and somewhere where you immediately get a sense of quality,” Harris said. “The bar is always the centerpiece … and you have lots of cabochon lighting and fairground features, so it’s very uplifting. It’s high energy.”

That uplifting sense of whimsy extends to the areas where guests can test their dart-throwing skills. Known as an oche — rhymes with “hockey” — each play area has different themes, including hot air balloons, animals and old-time fairgrounds.

State of Play Hospitality is aiming to open Flight Club at 31 Union Square West in late September or early October, with an eye toward adding more venues across Manhattan.

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com.