Per ownership: "Our lease has come to an end, and renewing wasn't an option."
As we noted on July 18, an applicant was on the July CB3-SLA docket for a new liquor license. The operators include Keith Siilats, a founder of an e-commerce company for financial-service firms, who also happens to own the building.
Siilats told Eater last month that he plans to open a similar bar in the same space.
And there was more background:
Siilats says DeRossi and co. hadn’t been paying rent for a while — a fix that he says was solved after he bought the business from the prolific East Village restaurateur and bar owner. DeRossi acknowledges that they hadn’t been paying Siilats directly, but only because they had sued him years ago for illegal construction that was impacting business, such as flooding the space when it rained. Their attorney had recommended that they keep the cash in escrow, according to DeRossi.
“After years of fighting with Keith in court it came time to renew our lease, as we could not come to an agreement with him we all just decided to go our own ways,” DeRossi writes.
Anyway, Mayahuel closed after service last night. There were some tributes on Instagram.
No word yet on when the new establishment might open here. CB3 approved the application last month. (A PDF with the minutes of the meeting is here.) The venture was described as a "a full-service Moroccan and Mexican fusion restaurant."