As far as we can recall, the space has been vacant since Gotham Pizza closed in the summer of 2018.
One short year later, we spotted workers gutting the space, one of them saying a Chinese restaurant was in the works here.
And that was that.
Today, the storefront remains empty.
A 14-day rent demand dated April 7 (2022) remains on the front door. The tenant, doing business as Flying Pig, owes some back rent — $281,134.68 to be exact (the monthly rent being $21,855) ...
The landlord is likely in possession of the establishment now. So we'll see what might be next someday.
But can anything bring back the joy here of the one, the only, the Funkiberry...
bring back New Amici pizza
ReplyDeleteI too miss the Amici pizza place. Such nice guys working there.
DeleteWith rent at 21-22 K a month - unfortunately nothing is coming back there
ReplyDeleteLandlord is crazy, b/c no one would sign a lease there for that amount of money.
ReplyDeleteEven Taco Bell picked the OTHER corner of that block (at 13th), and I'm sure they considered this corner as well. That should tell the 12th St. landlord something.
These days, a lot of these landlords bank ( no pun intended ) on businesses failing. A biz will sadly stay open for just a few months and close. The landlord gets to legally keep the security deposit, which is a big chunk of change, and then look for the next potential tenant / sucker. It’s evil.
ReplyDeletePredatory landlords must be held accountable.
ReplyDeleteHey, your local font troll may be stoned, but suddenly the Funkiberry signage seems exuberant and delightful in a retro-80s kind of way. Or maybe it's just that I long for those endless yogurt possibilities, to once again control the portions and the scene . . .
ReplyDeletethe graffiti is kind of hot too, to be honest
Re:3:26 The landlord gets to legally keep the security deposit, which is a big chunk of change, and then look for the next potential tenant / sucker. It’s evil
ReplyDeleteLandlord pays brokerage commission which adds up to be about the first years commercial rent. Tenant usually gets 2-3 months rent free. After eviction and non-payment drags on for months, don't see how a landlord "profits" from a closing commercial establishment.
Not sure where you get your info from, but as a former retail store owner in the East Village, I did not receive even one month free rent. I rented directly from the landlord, so there was no brokerage commission. And when my business finally closed because I could no longer afford the ridiculous rent, the landlord legally walked away with 4 months security, and re-rented the space about one month after I closed up shop. So your math is sympathetic to the landlords but doesn’t add up.
Delete@Anon. 8:42 - If landlords were that worried about it, and were hoping to avoid taking a financial bath and having paying tenants instead, maybe they wouldn't be charging such insane rents knowing it will leave their spaces empty for God knows how long.
ReplyDelete