Bay Ridge Gets Tough on Liquor License Applications

With a bustling Third Avenue location, a cool, subtly lit atmosphere and an impressive Puerto Rican-themed menu, Logan’s, the new restaurant on Bay Ridge’s 71^st Street, seems to have almost everything it needs to bring in customers—everything, that is, except alcohol.

Logan’s is still waiting on its liquor license.

And community opposition prevented the opening of another establishment, Ibiza, which would have become the largest liquor-serving nightclub on Third Avenue.

There’s no question: Bay Ridge’s Community Board 10 is getting tough on new liquor license requests. The board doesn’t have the power to grant a license—that’s the job of the New York State Liquor Authority. The community leaders and residents, however, are weighing in heavily to recommend or oppose who gets to sell liquor in the neighborhood. And their efforts are working.

“If a new establishment is reluctant to be a serious partner with the community in maintaining our neighborhood’s safety and quality of life, our office will do everything in its power to make sure they can’t open their doors here in Bay Ridge,” said City Councilman Vincent Gentile, whose district includes the neighborhood.

Logan’s Executive Chef Ralphael Abrahante thinks he still has a chance to win neighborhood approval. He has already agreed to have no live music, no DJs, and no open doors. But he fears the venue’s rowdy past is what is standing in the way of getting the license.

“The community vented [at me] at the community board meeting about the history of the location which, I felt, was a little bit unfair to me, because I am new,” Abrahante said.

CB10 District Manager Josephine Beckmann said that while the board has a good working relationship with the existing bars and restaurants in Bay Ridge, the board strives to protect the community from public nuisance. The board reviews the history of establishments previously located at the site of new liquor license applicants and evaluates the background of an applicant, she said.

In the case of Logan’s, the board has been especially strict. Its busy corner location formerly housed a bar that had incidents involving prostitution, money laundering, underage drinking and drugs.

Gentile said such rigorous reviews of new establishments are essential for a neighborhood like Bay Ridge. The state liquor authority grants the licenses, but a negative community recommendation is often an insurmountable obstacle for new bars and restaurants.

There was a four-month struggle to prevent the opening of Ibiza. The community board’s tough policy and residents’ opposition finally caused the proposed new restaurant and lounge on Third Avenue to withdraw its application for a State liquor license. Gentile, in a press statement, called it a “quality-of-life victory for Bay Ridge,” to keep the “inappropriately large bar” from opening.

Ibiza’s address on 8214-16 Third Avenue was previously the site of an infamous nightclub, Level, that was shut down in 2009 after residents’ complaints of underage drinking, excessive noise and fighting at the location.

“It was terrible,” said Lori Willis, a resident on Third Avenue, when talking about Level. “It was so loud, there were drunken people passed out on my lawn, people urinating on my driveway… It was unbelievable.”

In order to prevent similar problems, Bay Ridge residents became very vocal in opposing the granting of a liquor license to Ibiza.

The community board, however, set forth a series of stipulations for its approval of Ibiza’s liquor licenses, one of which was that Ibiza would not apply for a cabaret license. Although Ibiza management’s agreed, the board discovered that Ibiza was advertising its location on websites as being “Brooklyn’s hottest new nightclub” where New Yorkers could come and “dance now.”

The board also said that although the owners of Ibiza insisted their future establishment would solely be a “restaurant and lounge,” their

testimony before the community board suggested otherwise: their kitchen was scheduled to close at 11 p.m., but their bar was slated to remain open, with a live DJ, until 4 a.m.

Those apparent discrepancies led Gentile to ask the New York State Liquor Authority to deny Ibiza’s request for a liquor license, which led to Ibiza dropping its application.

“We encourage responsible business owners to be forthright and abide by the restrictions we impose to protect the community,” CB10 Chairwoman Joanne Seminara said. “The Ibiza owners grossly misrepresented their plans to the Board and therefore, we hope that our request to deny their application contributed to their withdrawal.”

The crackdown by the Bay Ridge’s community board seems to have its origin in a bar brawl in August this year on 64^th Street that resulted in five people being hospitalized with stab wounds. The karaoke bar had been allowed to open in late 2009 despite the board’s apprehensions about its proximity to a public school.

Beckmann said that the board is trying to balance the needs of the liquor serving establishments and the residential community in Bay Ridge.

“Nightlife establishments such as restaurants and bars are a vibrant part of our community. However, since we are a heavily residential community, concerns about businesses that may be disturbing quality of life of nearby residents are taken seriously,” she said.“Homeowners and residents are also stakeholders and have an investment in our community and, without a proper balance, the economic and community impacts could be far reaching on both sides.”