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Liquor Authority Denies Application for 218th Street Bar and Grill

By Carla Zanoni | July 2, 2012 1:23pm

INWOOD — A bar and grill planned for an industrial stretch of Inwood won’t be opening its doors anytime soon after the State Liquor Authority decided to vote down its application for a full liquor license.

The SLA ruled against AJK 425 Corp.'s liquor license application for a new establishment at 425 W. 218th St., between Broadway and Ninth Avenue, after residents railed against the restaurant that they said actually intended to operate as a nightclub, and would bring added traffic and noise to the area.

During the June 20 SLA hearing, Authority officiators said they felt they had to deny the application, because of the joint protests against the establishment by the community board and the police precinct.

The application was denied, because of the “inappropriateness of this kind of an operation in a residential area” and the “credibility of the applicants,” the SLA member later added.  

AJK 425 Corp.'s owners did not attend the hearing and did not respond to requests for comment.

Residents who live along West 218th Street said they did not want to see a restaurant open across the street because they feared the noise and traffic that would accompany such an establishment. 

“It seems like asking for a full liquor license there is asking for a lot of problems,” said Inwood resident Barry Hoice in May, voicing concern that police enforcement would be a challenge. 

SLA members were also concerned that the owners had indicated they had invested $150,000 in the building, but Department of Building paperwork indicated they had spent upwards of $250,000 on the space, according to a recording of the hearing. 

“The feeling is that there is a lot of money invested here, but they are not accounting for it,” said one SLA member during the hearing.