EAST VILLAGE — Lit Lounge will reopen in mid-September, about a month and a half after it quietly closed over the summer.
The 14-year-old bar will reopen in its longtime space on Sept. 11, following a “much needed deep cleaning and even more crucial maintenance and repairs,” it announced on Facebook Sunday evening.
“[Co-owner] Erik foss and friends will be spinning dance jamms all night,” Lit Lounge promised on the site. A sign announcing the reopening was also posted on the venue’s door, according to EV Grieve, which first reported Lit Lounge’s reopening.
Foss and co-owner David Schwartz said they planned to close the Second Avenue dive and adjoining art gallery this fall and reopen a new Lit Lounge in Brooklyn during an interview with the website Club Planet. The bar appeared to have closed earlier this month, according to EV Grieve.
Foss and Schwartz did not immediately return requests for comment.
Allan Mannarelli — who wants to move his bar, The Cock, from 29 Second Ave. into the Lit Lounge space at 93 Second Ave. — said Lit's air-conditioning units and security measures were recently upgraded, including the addition of new cameras.
Meanwhile, another notice with Mannarelli’s information has been posted outside Lit Lounge, informing residents of Community Board 3’s SLA Committee meeting on Sept. 1.
Earlier this month, the committee rejected his liquor license application over concerns about noise, sidewalk congestion and the reputation of Mannarelli’s past establishments in the neighborhood.
Mannarelli said he would appeal to the state directly for a liquor license, but asked the committee to reconsider his application, saying that he planned to reach out to the East Fifth Street Block Association — which spoke against The Cock — so that they could come up with an agreement.
He also noted that the full community board would not decide on his liquor license until the end of September since Community Board 3 does not typically meet in August.
Mannarelli and Stuart Zamsky from the East Fifth Street Block Association said Mannarelli reached out to the neighborhood group, but it declined to meet with him.
