By Patrick Hedlund
2 a.m.’s the new 4 a.m.?
Nightlife denizens who don’t swill at city bars until after the witching hour might want to adjust their clocks two hours back, according to recent reports claiming that Downtown communities are looking to make 2 a.m. closing times the new standard.
The growing trend, reported by both the New York Post and Sun newspapers, raised the alarm that the city’s community boards have been colluding with the State Liquor Authority to strong-arm nightlife establishments into shuttering earlier.
However, S.L.A. spokesperson Bill Crowley told Mixed Use that more than a quarter of the on-premises liquor licenses his agency has approved across Manhattan from the beginning of the year through this month were for establishments with 4 a.m. closing times.
“I didn’t look over stats carefully enough to determine whether there’s a trend or not,” Crowley admitted, adding of the 87 establishments approved for licenses since January — 21 of them for 4 a.m. — many included “diners” and “pizza places.” “We’re still continuing to approve places for 4 a.m.,” he said.
Community Board 3 district manager Susan Stetzer also denied that the boards and S.L.A. are conspiring to staunch late-night operations, stating that many establishments work with the community to set acceptable closing times.
“Our community board has never, ever at any of the meetings said we want to vote this way on this kind of thing,” said Stetzer about the idea of a sweeping plan to force bars to close earlier. “Maybe people should talk about it, but there has not been a policy set,” she added, reiterating that determinations are made on a case-by-case basis. “It’s always an agreement; no one can make anyone do anything.”
The board might question why a food-service establishment would need a 4 a.m. closing time and request that it shut earlier, Stetzer noted, but added that it all comes back to the goal of quieting the already oversaturated residential areas.
“The big issue is not when they close,” she said, “the issue is the noise on the street.”
Syms looking up?
Discount retailer Syms might be looking to build a high-rise above its flagship Financial District space after buying air rights from an adjacent building, according to the New York Post.
The four-story, 40,000-square-foot building at 42 Trinity Pl. could now rise as high as 16 stories with the purchase of air rights from 44 Trinity Pl., reported the Post, citing city records.
Syms could still buy neighboring air rights from nearby buildings, at 46 Trinity Pl. and 67 Greenwich St., although no record of any deals currently exists.
The first air-rights purchase, inked late last year, came a week after the retailer announced a plan to de-list and deregister its shares, allowing it to cease reporting its finances publicly, according to the Post. An attorney for an investment firm that sued the company to block the move told the paper he believed the suspicious timing of the deregistration shows that Syms was trying to avoid disclosing it to minority shareholders.
Rental bounty on Exchange
A 57-story, converted-residential building in the Financial District recently put 350 of its rental units on the market.
The 1931 building at 20 Exchange Pl., one of the tallest in the Financial District and once the fourth-tallest in the world, is offering studios to two-bedrooms starting at $2,500 per month.
The 800,000-square-foot, limestone-clad structure, formerly the City Bank Farmers Trust Building, just opened phase one its “tower units,” according to owner and developer Metro Loft management.
The building includes design by Cross and Cross, Art Deco architectural detailing, and a domed lobby with gold-toned travertine floor, decorative nickel and bronze, and red marble columns. Located a block south of Wall St. on a trapezoidal plot bordered by Exchange Pl., William, Beaver and Hanover Sts., the units will feature modern kitchens, marble countertops, hardwood floors and 11-foot ceilings.
Hudson Sq. Dishing
Hudson Square continues to bolster its position as the Downtown hub for media companies with the recent announcement that satellite-television broadcaster Dish Network would be making its entrée into the neighborhood.
The network inked a six-year lease for two floors at 185 Varick St., between Houston and King Sts., for its first-ever sales office in Manhattan, confirmed Grub & Ellis senior director Ira Rovitz, who represented the company. The deal comprises nearly 29,000 square feet of space for Dish Network, which features hundreds of channels and counted about13 million subscribers last year after launching in 1996. The new tenant also retains the building’s naming rights in the deal.
“They didn’t want to be in Midtown,” Rovitz said, noting easily accessible transportation options helped court the Colorado-based company.
Asking prices in the building were in the $46-per-square-foot range, Rovitz confirmed, and the satellite-signal provider plans to fully move in by August. The six-story building also houses offices for electronic mail provider Pitney Bowes and American Express.
