SOUTH STREET SEAPORT — It’s been more than six months since Calli Lerner has uncorked her wines or served a cold beer, but the co-owner of two Seaport bars that have been closed since Hurricane Sandy is getting ready to sling drinks once again.
Lerner, co-owner of Bin No. 220, a wine bar, and Keg No. 229, a craft-beer haven, still hopes to reopen her storm-damaged original locations on historic Front Street in August but, in the meantime, she's launching a small, temporary outpost on Pier 17 starting Memorial Day weekend.
Called "The Wine and Beer Station," the pop-up shop will run out of a former Bath & Body Works in the pier’s mall.
“We’re really happy to be working again,“ said co-owner Calli Lerner, who’s lived in the South Street Seaport with her partner Sandy Tedesco, who co-owns the bars, for the past 12 years. “It’s been strange, and tough, not to have a business for all these months.”
Lerner said she and Tedesco are working with the popular River to River festival, which sponsors free music events on Pier 17 and other waterfront spots in the city, but they hope to sling suds and wine outside of concert times, too.
"River to River's hub on the pier will be right next to us, so we'll sort of be like an event concession stand," Lerner said. "We're still working out our schedule, but we'll likely be open more generally as well."
Lerner’s wine and beer stand will join fellow shuttered Front Street shop The Salty Paw, which has also found a temporary home on the pier for the summer.
The pier's owner, the Howard Hughes Corporation, recently agreed to keep Pier 17 open through Sept. 9 before its massive, multi-million-dollar overhaul.
A slate of other fun events are running on the pier this summer to attract business to the Seaport, which still has many closed storefronts in the wake of the hurricane.
Lerner said she's happy to be back in the neighborhood, but she's also looking forward to reopening on Front Street later in the summer.
"It'll just be great to get back in our space, for all our loyal customers, our employees, the neighborhood — and us," she said.
