This was the second time they had come before the Board. (The new venture is from the same group who appeared before the CB3 in November with the idea of a restaurant/lounge "that involves all the senses," including the now-legenedary smell machine.)
In April, CB3/SLA told the group — going as Not A Bookstore LLC — to do more (and better!) community outreach. They will appear again before the CB3/SLA committee on Monday.
For starters, they dropped the cutesy Not A Bookstore name and are going by Avenue A Hospitality LLC. The group did meet with neighborhood power brokers last Thursday.
Meanwhile, more about what's coming to 200 Avenue A is on the CB3 website. (Warning! PDF!)
The concept: An "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" open seven days a week. According to the CB3 questionnaire, their proposed hours are 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Sunday through Tuesday; 11 a.m. - 4 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday. In total, there will be 19 tables, with a capacity (bar included) of 150. No TVs, though the yet unnamed art gallery-restaurant will employ a DJ for "ambient background music" and have "occasional acoustic" music.
In any event, this will be a more challenging sell now that the liquor license for this address has expired.
6 comments:
why does an "art gallery" need a full liquor license and hours of operation until 4 am?
Agreed. Open until 4am? Just call yourself a bar and get it over with.
The people standing outside my apartment asking me to sign their petition to open called themselves another coffee/tea shop. Wow, what a reversal of ideas.
Yeah, they asked me to sign the petition and told me they were an art gallery. If anyone is going to the community board meeting, please tell them that they should toss out that petition. They weren't honest with people about wanting to serve alcohol.
The hours are being pushed by NY Nightlife Aaaociation People who are either on the CB SLA committee or who work behind the scenes helping future club/restaurant owners with everything from getting signatures to tipping them off on how they can get in. This is one part of it. The other is now with places like the Bagel Shop soon to be at Avenue A and Keith Masco's Diner which will be open 24 hrs. a day. They catch the crowds coming from the clubs, bars, restaurants. A Bagel Shop doesn't need to be open 24hrs. Everyone just wants to take advantage of our neighborhood at the expense of the community.
And I suppose the champagne at the art openings will be served by dwarves dressed as pirates?
If you feel you've signed a petition under false pretenses, it is best if you write a letter to CB3 and explain what happened. You don't have to go to the meeting, you can send an email to info@cb3manhattan.org. It takes 1 minute, as long as it took you to write the comment on this blog and will actually make a difference, more of a difference than commenting here. Thanks.
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