Despite the wintry weather, Slake held an industry party on Thursday to celebrate their opening. The Midtown nightclub, formerly named Rebel (and The Wall for a brief time), has a maze of staircases and rooms decorated with street murals, chandeliers and a disco ball. For the party there were multiple DJs and a cage dancer. There was also a mesmerizing aerial artist outfitted in a suggestive, black two-piece ensemble twisting, spinning and flipping on two huge chains over one of the bars. In addition to the abundance of places to grab a drink, the venue’s best feature may just be all the couches and cozy seating tucked into its corners, making it easy to slip out of the crowd with a cocktail to enjoy a more intimate conversation.

Slake is managed by Tom Ballinger, son of Webster Hall owner Lon Ballinger. The gigantic space, only a block from Penn Station, has four rooms on three different levels, which can accommodate parties from as small as 75 people to as many as 1,000.

For Slake’s upcoming events, go to: www.slakenyc.com/events