Resort Launch Creates Oasis in Hell's Kitchen

Fall weekdays in the city are O.K., but summer holidays in Cancun are better. With that in mind, event producer Maneesh Goyal of MKG Productions invited guests to Splashlight Studios for a launch event that so fully transformed the space, it was as good as being on vacation at a Mexican beach—almost. The party celebrating the new Aqua resort in Cancun was overseen by Herb Karlitz, the hotel’s New York rep.
As guests arrived, shirtless men with six-pack abs and Bermuda shorts from ThePartyCrew.net offered them steaming towels for their hands. In the main party space, more half-clad men poured drinks at several bars, while female caterwaiters in bikini tops passed hors d’oeuvres and more drinks. Shimmering blue lighting mimicked reflections from moonlit seawater. At the center of the space, a room with transparent fabric walls housed an idyllic beach scene—complete with a palm tree, hammock, and a swimsuit-wearing couple tossing around a beach ball—while a model in sunglasses read magazines and sipped drinks adjacent to a small reflecting pool near the door. DJ Cassidy spun low-key music like mellow, Latin-inspired beats and Bob Marley. The focus of the event were three tasting stations, where chefs Patricia Quintana, Franco Maddalozzo, and Michelle Bernstein prepared foods from their restaurants at the resort: Azur, Siete, and MB, respectively.

When the party wrapped up, guests leaving the Javits-adjacent oasis—with full bellies and margarita-clouded heads—were likely wishing their downtown trains would carry them much farther south than Battery Park.

—Alesandra Dubin