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Art-Themed Bar Backers Bypass Community Board for Liquor License

The former Superdive space at 200 Avenue A.
The former Superdive space at 200 Avenue A.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

EAST VILLAGE — Care for some art with your aperitif?

Community members are crying foul over a proposed art-themed restaurant and bar seeking to open in a controversial former saloon on Avenue A.

Supporters of the plan to open a gallery-style venue that includes a bar and late-night hours decided this week to bypass the local community board in their bid to secure a liquor license for the now-notorious former Superdive space at 200 Avenue A.

After three failed attempts to earn Community Board 3’s approval for the application, the team behind the “salon-style” space appealed directly to the State Liquor Authority Tuesday in their quest for a license to serve alcohol.

Back in May, Board 3’s liquor-license committee roundly rejected the proposal to turn the one-time keg-service spot into an art space featuring "ecologically, politically and scientifically aware" works.

Residents held homemade signs to protest a liquor license application for the former Superdive space at a May 16, 2011, community board meeting.
Residents held homemade signs to protest a liquor license application for the former Superdive space at a May 16, 2011, community board meeting.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

The project’s backers also requested a full liquor license, with the intention of staying open until 4 a.m. four nights a week, a move the committee thought would lead to just another late-night establishment on an already oversaturated block.

In order to sidestep the board, the applicants went straight to the SLA this week — but not without some resistance from the community.

Both CB 3 and City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez penned letters to the liquor authority expressing their opposition to the proposed venue, citing the applicant’s desire to have a full-service bar, live acoustic music and a DJ, and stay open till 4 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

“These are times that bars are open for business while galleries are unlikely to be open through most of the night,” Mendez wrote in her letter to SLA chairman Dennis Rosen. “That said, it appears that the gallery is incidental to a full-service nightlife establishment.”

A State Liquor Authority spokesman said that the full SLA board will vote on the application — a requirement any time there’s opposition to a would-be establishment — after a judge writes a recommendation based on Tuesday’s hearing.

“The licensees who are cognizant of what kind of area they’re moving into and how they’re dealing with neighbors, that obviously makes a difference in [the SLA board’s] decision,” said spokesman William Crowley.

Additionally, given the fact that the proposed venue lies within 500 feet of at least three other liquor-serving locations, the SLA requires the applicant to prove a public benefit of the establishment before approving it.

“Community sentiment and community opposition is very high on the list of things that they look for when voting on an application,” Crowley added of the SLA board’s decision.

In her letter, Mendez suggested the applicant scale back their desired hours of operation and try for a license to serve beer and wine only, as a way to meet in the middle.

“This kind [of] operation seems much more suitable for a gallery,” she wrote, “and would give this new operator an opportunity to prove his willingness to work with the community.”