Manhattan

Neighborhood Pubs in Path of Penn Station Expansion Will Be Razed by Port Authority

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By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN WEST — The owners of the beloved Blarney Rock Pub and Hickey's Bar, which have stood side-by-side on 33rd Street since the 1960s, don’t know exactly when they will be forced to close their doors, but they know that day is fast approaching.

Mike Higgins, who owns Blarney Rock, and Jim Hickey, the owner of Hickey's Bar, received letters from the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey earlier this month informing them that their buildings had been marked for demolition.

The letters stated that 137 and 139 West 33rd Streets, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, stand in the path of one of the largest transportation projects in the nation: The $8.7 billion ARC (Access to the Region's Core), which will bore two giant new tunnels under the Hudson River and expand Penn Station.

The authority has sent approximately 3,500 letters to landlords and owners in recent weeks, including 93 Manhattan businesses that will be either fully or partially displaced by the construction, Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said.

But aside from the initial notification of their imminent closure, many of those impacted said they've heard nothing from the Authority and they still don’t know when the bulldozers will arrive. They say it's a frustrating way for the businesses to live out what could be their final days.

"Nobody knows anything," said Higgins, who has managed Blarney Rock for the past five years.

The first words he read about the giant construction project were in a local Irish publication, he said. Since then he's had to rely on newspapers to keep appraised of his pub's fate. He guessed that the bars have about two years before the construction forces them out of business.

James Donovan, 48, who's been serving pints of Guinness to the regulars at the buzzing Blarney Rock since 2007, said staffers have been holding their breath, waiting for world.

"We're totally in the dark," he said.

Marsico said the Authority has reached out to property owners and that the letters include contact information if owners want to know more. The spokesman noted that the Authority has not yet finalized a time line for the demolition.

But no matter when it happens, regulars said they'll be devastated to lose their favorite pubs.

"I've been coming here for 27 years. It's like home," said New Jersey carpenter Jim Carroll, 50, one of the dozens of construction workers from across the boroughs who pack the Blarney Rock every day from morning through night.

"It’s a brotherhood," he said. Losing the bar "would be like you lost your mother or your puppy died."

Electrician Jaime Garcia, 48, from Woodhaven, Queens said he was "in shock" when he learned that the bar he's been visiting after work three times a week for the past 16 years would be forced to close.

"That's ridiculous," he said, his mouth wide in disbelief.

Once empty, the buildings will be razed to make way for a fan plant to ventilate the new station, property location details reveal.

Hickey's bartender Barry Murphy, 54, who lives in Astoria, Queens, said the planned takeover of the bar has left him fuming.

"That the city can come here and use eminent domain to take people's jobs away and put them out of work… It isn't right," he said, looking out at the sparsely packed bar with its dark wood paneling, Christmas lights and wooden fan ceilings.

Marsico said the Authority is hopeful it can reach agreements with property owners without invoking eminent domain, which allows the state to seize private property without owners' consent as long as they are compensated.

But Higgins says he and the owners are considering plans to fight the city and will attend a public meeting July 7 to discuss their concerns. A Facebook page urging the pub to "say no to eminent domain!" already has 443 members.

For Jim "Old Man" Hickey, it's a different story.

After 43 years in business, the 74-year-old says he's ready to throw in the towel if the city demands that he leaves.

"I've had enough," he said.