Is Great Lakes Going to Dry Up?
Some Slopers on Brooklynian are wondering whether Great Lakes, the much-loved bar on 5th Avenue and 1st Street, is in danger of closing. A “For Lease” sign was put on top of the building, and the property is being shown by Massey Knakal. Great Lakes’ lease is up in April, according to Kari Neering, Massey…
Some Slopers on Brooklynian are wondering whether Great Lakes, the much-loved bar on 5th Avenue and 1st Street, is in danger of closing. A “For Lease” sign was put on top of the building, and the property is being shown by Massey Knakal. Great Lakes’ lease is up in April, according to Kari Neering, Massey Knakal’s director of public relations, who says it’s likely that the bar will close then. A source with knowledge of Great Lakes’ situation says the bar probably isn’t going anywhere, though. “The landlord is looking around to see how much interest there is in it,” said the source, who asked not to be identified, “but this sort of thing happens all the time, and it doesn’t mean the bar is going to close.” Time will tell, apparently.
Great Lakes … For Lease? [Brooklynian] GMAP
guest at 9:30AM posted: There are very few vacant storefronts on 5th and 7th, so the demand is great.
Man, you need to take a walk around the neighborhood. Talk about being out of touch with reality.
1:23 The bar has apartments over it. You can’t provide heat for the bar only. If the bar will pay for its heat, it will pay for the entire building’s heat! The only option they will have is to get their own heating system.
The heat is not a dealbreaker. When the lease was signed gas was selling at $30 a barrel. I did not expect utility costs to increase so much, or for the area to improve as much as it has.
Secondly, because the area has improved…so did the foot traffic and the local buisnesses. If a buisness makes 15k per week (as opposed to 3k per week when they opened)…why should I charge them $2000 per month rent if the going rent for the area is $5000??? Sure, they can move to the Gowanus…but foot traffic will be very different and buisness income would deminish a great deal. Once and if the Gowanus improves as well as park slope did, they you will see rents skyrocket in that area!
There are very few vacant storefronts on 5th and 7th, so the demand is great. If all the rents on 5th and 7th were low, then the area would be filled with bodegas instead of the trandy resturants. Crime would be on the rise as well because merchants will have less interest in the buisness district(think BID).
Very sad to hear this.
I met my wife at GL, proposed to here there a year later. Needless to say, it’s an important place for us.
Plus it will be very awkward going back for anniversaries if it becomes a bed & bath boutique.
To the purported landlord who just posted,
Isn’t it the tenant’s responsibility to pay the utilities? If your heating bill is the dealbreaker, why not make a modest rent and make them pay the heating bill?
That way, if they decide to keep it 65 degrees inside, in the winter, they can TRULY call it great lakes, and those who frequent can all wear sweaters.
Seems like you already have your mind made up (like all the rest of the landlords on 5th & 7th) to get top rent. That way, you ensure the neighborhood of vacant storefronts.
Everyone’s moving to Gowanus anyway where it’s $1 per sq. ft and easy to walk to.
3:57 Its not as simple as lowering prices. The operating costs for the building has gone up a great deal. Just to heat the bar during the winter months costs me 2k per month, and that does not include insurance, real estate taxes, and a mortgage.
If the building was making so much money, I would not have a 9-5 job!
On another point, I would rather keep my present tenant and would accept lower rent then 8.5k/month simply because I get along with the tenant and the bar adds character to the area.
Trust me….I can easily rent out the space to a dunkin donuts and get top rent, but I would rather not (thats why we have park slope south).
yes, I always wondered why they prefer to leave storefronts empty than to rent them out at prices people are willing/able to pay.
All you landlords trolling brownstoner today…how about lowering your prices.
Because I see an awful lot of empty storefronts on both 7th and 5th and the economy certainly ain’t gettin any better..
What the hell are you waiting for?
3:08 And the bar I rent pays about $20 per sq foot.
3:11 no fancy accounting needed.