On the CB3-SLA docket: New operators for East Village classic Lucy's on Avenue A

With reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated: 5/6 — the applicant has withdrawn the application for the May CB3-SLA committee meeting.

The owners of Golden Age Hospitality, whose portfolio includes buzzy establishments like Le Dive, The Nines and Deux Chats, seek to take over Lucy's, the decades-old East Village favorite that has been closed since late November. 

According to public records, Golden Age reps are on Community Board 3's SLA committee meeting docket for May. To date, only the application is online. The questionnaire, which includes more details about the method of operation, has yet to be posted. 

Multiple tipsters have told us that Golden Age Hospitality's Jon Neidich was a big fan of Lucy's and was interested in buying the bar. (We're told Neidich once lived in the apartments above the bar at 135 Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street.)

During several conversations in February, Ludwika "Lucy" Mickevicius told EVG contributor Stacie Joy that she had many potential suitors for the bar and may have a role in the new incarnation. 

Neidich did not respond to previous emails about taking over Lucy's. We also contacted Golden Hospitality partner Craig Atlas, whose name appears on the CB3 application. We also have not reached Lucy, who has owned her namesake bar since 1987, this spring. (Her home phone does not have an answering machine, and we have not seen her at the bar in more than six weeks.) 

Meanwhile, there has been some activity inside the bar... in recent weeks someone has been stacking boxes and cleaning...

As we first reported, attorneys for the building's new landlord served her with a 30-day Notice of Termination in early February with a demand to vacate the space by the end of the month. 

Her lease expired in May 2015, and she was on a month-to-month arrangement with the previous landlord. Lucy told us that her last rent was $8,000 per month, and the new landlord, as of late December (West Lake 135-139 Avenue A LLC), is asking for $25,000, though there might be some willingness to negotiate. 

The bar (aka Blanche's Lucy's Tavern) has been closed since November when some paperwork issues forced what was to be a temporary closure.

From February: Lucy with Avenue A bookseller Jen Fisher. (Photo by Stacie Joy) 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Exclusive: Lucy discusses the future of her iconic East Village bar