By Albert Amateau
A group that owns a restaurant and bar in Hempstead, L.I, is seeking cabaret and liquor licenses for a new club on the east side of Hudson St. north of Canal St. with a capacity for 550 patrons.
The proposed club in the 9,800-sq.-ft. ground floor space at 250 Hudson St. at the corner of Dominick St. worries members of the Friends of Hudson Sq. because it is a block away from Club NV on Hudson at Spring St., also with a capacity for more than 500 patrons.
“NV has created havoc in the neighborhood for a couple of years with several shootings, not to mention noise and club card litter” said David Reck, a member of Community Board 2 and president of the Friends of Hudson Sq. “Another club that big a block away would be too hard to take,” he added.
Lynne Distasio, her son Damian Distasio and Salvatore Cacciato, owners of Lobster Bar and Restaurant in Hempstead, are applying for licenses for the club under the corporate name of D&C Nightlife NYC. The application lists “tapas house/cabaret” as the type of premises.
Their application submitted to Community Board 2 on Aug. 10 for recommendations had a seven-page petition with the names of neighborhood residents purported to be in favor of the new club, Reck said. “The petition was nonsense; it had every address on the street, buildings with no residents at all. They withdrew it and agreed it was in error,” Reck added.
Community Board 2 is scheduled to vote on a recommendation for the licenses this month and the board’s business committee has scheduled a hearing at 75 Morton St. for 7 p.m. Sept. 14.
A year and a half ago Mike Bergos, owner of Club New York in Times Sq., withdrew his application for cabaret and liquor licenses for a new club he intended to open at 250 Hudson St. Bergos gave no reason for the withdrawal but Friends of Hudson Sq. opposed his club application.
The site is on a block zoned for manufacturing where clubs are as of right and require no special land-use permits. But it is across the street from the area rezoned last year from manufacturing to mixed residential and commercial.
