Tribeca Residents Fear Shake, Rattle and Roll Out of New Karaoke Bar
Left: At a CB1 Tribeca Committee meeting, Howard Berman expresses concerns about drunken patrons from Gunbae congregating outside his building at 69 Murray St. Tamara Downey, at left, had said she worried about the karaoke bar adding to existing noise problems on the street. Right: Andy Lau, co-owner of Gunbae, responds to the residents' concerns. Photos: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib
UPDATED 10/15/14, 5:15 p.m.
The restaurant Gunbae will be reducing the number of karaoke rooms in its basement from seven to four, the applicants' attorney, Wilfred Glenn Romano, told CB1's Tribeca Committee this month.
The restaurant's soundproofing consultant, Tom Kaytt of Cerami & Associates, also outlined some noise-reducing measures: Frame drywall would be added to separate the establishment's party walls, and additional sound buffer space would be installed on the first floor to reduce sound transmission.
But the committee, wanting assurances that the proposed work would get done, asked the applicants to bring copies of the soundproofing plans to the full board meeting on Oct. 28.
"This can't get approved without very specific plans from Cerami," member Bruce Ehrmann said.
It’s not the 74-seat Korean BBQ, due to open in his building at 67 Murray St., that has Dennis Spates worried. It’s the possible onslaught of noise and nerve-rattling vibrations from the seven karaoke rooms in the restaurant’s basement that he and his neighbors fear.
“When Grady’s and Lilly O’Briens [former bars at the site, between West Broadway and Greenwich] had their musical events, the building shook,” Spates told the Community Board’s Tribeca Committee last month as they considered the restaurant’s application for a liquor license. “The bass sounds and the musical sounds were so bad that we couldn’t sleep at night. We frequently called the police [who] shut down the music.”
The restaurant, Gunbae (“cheers” in Korean), is co-owned by Andy Lau, who declared his neighborly intentions to the committee, saying that it is in the restaurant’s best interests to limit the sound to the basement.
“Our bigger part of business is the first floor,” explained Lau, who owns Bon Chon Chicken Restaurant in the Financial District. “We don’t want our customers to hear customers singing downstairs, so we’re going to try our best to not let that happen.”
Lau said the walls and ceilings of the rooms would be soundproofed and only restaurant staff—not patrons—would be allowed to control the volume of the karaoke machines.
“We suggest that a sound engineer work with you,” said Spates, “to make sure that the space is soundproof and the noise is reduced to a reasonable level.”
Spates, who said he was speaking for residents in nearby 69 and 71 Murray St., said neighbors also worried about the karaoke and other bar patrons congregating outside, especially late at night.
“By definition,” Spates said, “karaoke bars invite excessive drinking and noisy, raucous, uninhibited behavior.”
Lau, who had hoped to serve alcohol nightly to 3 a.m., was quickly informed by the board members that on side streets they favor serving alcohol only until midnight on Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Lau agreed to those hours, but said he would like to return to the board in the future and request extended hours. (The final decision is up to the New York State Liquor Authority.)
Even a 1 a.m. weekend closing time could still pose problems for neighbors, 69 Murray resident Howard Berman argued. “People congregate,” Berman said.
“We had that with Grady’s and we had that certainly with Lilly O’Briens and we pressured them a lot. There were cigarette butts [and] people urinating. It’s the hangout. If you close at 1 a.m., when do people leave? They’re still joking, they’re still singing on the streets.”
Other neighbors complained about food smells, a source of irritation to residents in the past.
“When Lilly O’Briens and Grady’s were cooking,” Loretta Thomas, Spates’s wife, recalled, “it was so bad that there were noxious fumes on the second floor [of 69 Murray St.]. There should be a heavy-duty, code-compliant exhaust system required there.”
Lau insisted that the restaurant’s exhaust system would meet city code requirements, and that he would be willing to take additional measures to reduce the fumes.
“There might be some smoke, but not grease piling up on your windows,” he said.
Despite the owner’s reassurances, the committee declined to vote on the license, saying that they wanted the management to return next month with more specifics about soundproofing.
“We’ve never had anyone come in with seven karaoke machines,” committee member Marc Ameruso said. “It’s a completely unique situation.”