This one seemingly took a lot of people by surprise at tonight's CB3/SLA meeting:
Alterations/Transfers/Upgrades:
To Be Determined, 168-170 Orchard St (trans/op) (L'Epicerie Cafe Charbon)
This is one helluva transfer. Epicerie Café Charbon, with its pâté maison and moules marinières, on the corner of Orchard and Stanton Streets, will be closing... and the team behind The Stumble Inn, Off the Wagon, Gin Mill, Jake's Dilemma, Down the Hatch and The 13th Step are taking over the space.
The CB3/SLA committee unanimously approved the transfer. A few details: The space will be a full-service tavern open from 11:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. The French doors will close at 10 p.m. There will be $1 drafts at happy hour, a private party room and DJs on occasion (no dancing, though).
No word yet on the name of the new bar.
Previously on EV Grieve:
13th Step owner discusses frat rap, telephone booths and bar names
17 comments:
This is really sad. Charbon is one of me and my wife's favorite places, the places owned by the new guys... not so much.
Wrong. So, so wrong. I give these new jackasses two months before they are forced to shut down.
oh noez, how can they approve that?
the names of the places these folks own are all odes to over indulgence.
that board 3 should pass this, without any apparent hesitation,
"The French doors will close at 10 p.m. There will be $1 drafts at happy hour, a private party room and DJs on occasion (no dancing, though))" is a big surprise.
glad i don't live nearby.
holy. fucking. shit. FUCKKKK. This is the worst neighborhood news I've heard in a long long time.
Very disappointing, but who are the landlords? Rents at many restaurant/bar venues skyrocket, forcing out perfectly successful institutions. This group, despite (or because of) its fratty taste and style, makes a lot of money, and is probably one of few groups that can cough up the money.
Just a thought- I have no knowledge about this situation in particular.
I'm torn. Not because a new establishment is being is instituted, rather as one of the early settlers, waaaay before the word gentrifier came in to play, most consumers wouldn't dare venture in to this crack/coke/dope haven....and now there are cries of dismay over the transfer of an over priced lease from one vapid leasee to another.
Say good bye to max fish and your saying goodbye to what once was. This hardly matters.
Scars to prove it.
That's really too bad, but that immediate area (Hell Square?) was given over to the dbag crowd years ago. RIP Cafe Charbon, Max Fish, etc.
Even ONE MORE REASON why I won't even bother to tread that six-block radius on a weekend night to grab some food from the Ludlow Street health food store when I need to gnosh. UGH!
damn! I loved the exterior of this place too!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo. Dammit!
Max Fish, now this. Oh, and Mars Bar.
Soon, there will be no difference between suburban wastelands with no character and our neighborhood.
This is a shame. I haven't been to this place in a few years but I liked it the few times I had. It's really too bad the people behind those awful bars are taking over.
CB3 is so clueless its laughable. This is exhibit A.
@Janos
Bingo. What we need is regulation of commercial rental space. How often do you see a storefront stay vacant for months, if not years, and then finally a frat bar moves in? Landlords in Manhattan, particularly in this neighborhood and a few others, de facto collude by accepting losses on their property in the short term by their willingness to leave storefronts vacant for long periods of time, and charging astronomical rents they wont budge on that only a busy bar, or popular restaurant with a liquor license can afford.
What we really need is a new city agency, or to create a new department within a city agency, that monitors market rents for commercial space and the length of vacancies/demand for the space. Has your storefront been vacant for over 6 months? Then the agency would compel you to offer it for lease at what the agency determines is a market rent. Still vacant 6 months later? Forced 25% reduction on the rent etc...
In New York City, land has a quasi-public function. The property value is literally created by the neighborhood residents, whose cultural production raises property values, and whose wants and likes attract "funky" 1st-wave businesses that further push up property values. Landlords have nothing to do with the creation of these property values, but they reap nearly all the benefits. And they also create externalities in their pursuit of profit. It's a textbook case for regulation that reallocates value towards those who create it, and therefore incentives more of it.
WHAT?! Ugh... Good omelets there. Charbon will be missed.
It was unanimous because one of the partners is fraternity brothers with David McWater from the mid 80's. This is on Stetzer
"So get up get, get get down CB3 is a joke in yo town."
With apologies to Public Enemy.
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