Monday, December 28, 2015

[Updated] New life for the Nevada Smiths space on 3rd Avenue



Although the Coors Light neon remains illuminated in the windows, Nevada Smiths has not been open since The Marshal paid a visit back in September.

I expected to either see some for rent signs up this fall ... or the football/soccer mainstay at 100 Third Ave. to reopen its doors.

Neither of those scenarios ever played out, though.

However, there is a new proprietor in line to take over the three-level space between East 12th Street and East 13th Street. An entity going by Food For Third LLC is on CB3's SLA committee meeting docket in January for a new liquor license. The notice with the application includes Bruce Caulfield's name as the applicant. CB3 hasn't posted the questionnaire online just yet, so there aren't many other details about the new operation, and whether soccer will remain the main draw.

As for Caulfield, since 2003 he (with two business partners) has run the train-themed Tracks Raw Bar & Grill in the LIRR level at Penn Station. He's also a partner in Harp Raw Bar & Grill on Third Avenue near Grand Central.

According to a feature on Caulfield in Crain's from November 2014, he dropped out of Hunter College 40-plus years ago to start running an outdoor newsstand where he worked the graveyard shift on East 53rd Street. He later operated a newsstand inside the Daily News Building on 42nd Street.

The revamped Nevada Smiths opened here in April 2013. The new space, which reportedly cost $3 million to outfit, included 20 Plasma TVs and two life-size projection screens.

Nevada Smiths was previously down the block at 74 Third Ave., a location that closed in November 2011. The buildings at No. 74-76, as well as an adjacent parking lot, were eventually demolished to make way for the luxury residential building (The Nathaniel) that now houses the Westside Market.

The SLA meeting is Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Updated 5 p.m.

This applicant is no longer on the January docket.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Nevada Smiths is closed, and here's what's next

Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smiths

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

Here then, where Nevada Smiths once stood

The Marshal seizes Nevada Smiths on 3rd Avenue

[3rd Avenue and East 12th Street circa 2011]

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well Nevada Smith went the way of J. Peterman and Company stores --- a victim of its success and bloated belief in its own press releases. :(

Anonymous said...

Bring back prohibition, please.

nygrump said...

If they reopen they will need to repurchase all the outdated plasma screens. I think the City should mandate these be turned off during those 100 degree days in summer. Those huge billboard sized electric ad screens should be shut off at 85 degrees.

Anonymous said...

Original Nevada Smith's had a much better vibe for watching some footy.

I don't have much faith in this section of 3rd avenue, crap places fill up, so why try, just toss in another generic crap house.

Anonymous said...

@9:37am: Amen!

Well, at least the silence (relatively speaking) was nice while it lasted.

I'm actually waiting for someone to go Nevada Smith's one better, by opening something really huge - convention-center sized - and name it the Drunkatorium. Then everyone who wants to get tanked can do it in one location and leave the rest of us alone. Preferred location: a west side pier.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh remember the time when 3 commercial floors had something good like a sex club or a bath house.