EAST WILLIAMSBURG — The owners of a loft-law building whose tenants are suing to fight eviction have withdrawn controversial plans to open a bar there, members of the Williamsburg community board said.
The owners of 13 Thames St. — a former Occupy Wall Street hub and arts collective where a motorcycle gang was allegedly paid to drive out tenants — had proposed to open a bar in the building after they evicted tenants.
But this month the owners, 13 Thames LLC, withdrew their liquor license application, members of Community Board 1 said at a full board meeting last week. The withdrawal came after distraught tenants passionately contested the plan.
"Tenants are waiting for the owner to let them back into their home," Marguerite Chandler, a longtime resident of 13 Thames St., said earlier this summer. "I have no idea why they've applied for this license when the owners obviously know the status of the units."
Gerard Proefriedt, an attorney for 13 Thames LLC, previously claimed he knew nothing of the plans for the bar and again said he knew nothing of the group's liquor license application.
The owners of 13 Thames LLC could not immediately be reached.
