Red Tape

Public Wants a Five-Seat Bar With Separate Entrance, CB2 Says Nope

Come on, it sounds cool.
Come on, it sounds cool.

During a dreary meeting that lasted nearly seven hours last night, CB2 exercised some dream-crushing on hopefuls like Toqueville/15 East and their quest for liquor service at the new Hyatt Union Square Hotel (their hearing was postponed). They also gave a big “talk to the hand” to Dan Rafalin, a partner at AvroKO’s Public, who proposed an alteration that would create a small bar with five seats in the spot’s “Monday Room,” complete with a separate entrance. But the concept was opposed by local residents, and fiercely so by board members like Robin Goldberg, who claimed the change would constitute a “separate entity” in a bar-saturated neighborhood. Grub Street asked a dejected Rafalin if he would take his case to the New York State Liquor Authority, to which he had no comment.

Public Wants a Five-Seat Bar With Separate Entrance, CB2 Says Nope