CB1 Rejects Hotel's Beer and Wine License

By Nick Pinto
POSTED MAY 15, 2008

There are five seats at the bar of ‘beca, the restaurant in the new Duane Street Hotel at Duane and Church Streets. But in the six months the hotel and its bar have been open, it has yet to serve a glass of wine or beer, much less anything stiffer. Despite several appearances before Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee, each time the hotel owners have met resistance from a majority of the committee, with opponents claiming the license will lead to a disruption of the surrounding area.

The hotel renewed its effort to get a beer and wine license for the bar at a meeting of CB1’s Tribeca Committee May 14, and the history of local resistance once again came to the fore.

Opposition to the tiny 45-room hotel dates back more than eight years to its construction by real estate developer Sam Chang. Some neighbors felt that the way Chang secured permission to build the hotel was deceptive and underhanded.

Warren Pesetsky, a lawyer representing the current hotel owners, Hersha Hospitality, which took full ownership of the hotel in December, said any problems neighbors have with Chang should not be visited on his clients.

“The applicant had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in the construction process.  They purchased the hotel after it was completed and there is no continuing relationship there with the builder.”

 Neil Shah, the president of Hersha, said his company doesn’t want the bar to be a disturbance any more than neighbors do.

“Our entire positioning is about giving guests an oasis away from the city and to be a quiet, small, intimate place,” Shah said. “It is in our best interest to not have a loud, rambunctious bar.”

Shah added that the addition of a beer and wine license would add 12 employees to the hotel, and pledged to give preference to local applicants for those positions if the license is approved.

Some on the committee were not persuaded, however. CB1 member Bruce Ehrmann said the hotel’s fraught origins troubled him.

“In this instance I am aware of what I consider to be a rather unsavory and lengthy history with Hersha and Sam Chang,” he said.

Jean Grillo, a longtime opponent of the hotel, said that if the community board approves the license, “Basically what you’re saying is our night’s sleep, our noise factor, our discomfort does not count.”

John Atwood, a resident of 132 Duane St., seconded Grillo’s position, presenting the committee with a petition with 46 signatures from neighbors of the hotel.

But several others came to the hotel’s defense. David Cleaver of the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, said the hotel has been a good neighbor, hosting one of his monthly “meet-and-greets for local businesspeople and attending another—in a neighborhood furniture store, with alcohol.

When committee chairwoman Carol De Saram finally brought the issue to a vote, five members voted in favor of the license, with only two voting against. But because the remaining four members of the committee abstained, the measure failed. Consequently, the committee will not recommend the license application when it comes before the full community board May 27.

Even so, Andrew Durough, the new general manager of the hotel, said he was encouraged by the tally.

“When the vote came down I was very happy,” Durough said. “I expected the backlash to be much more serious. The five-to-three vote gives us a little more momentum going into the full board meeting.”

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