GRAMERCY — Plug Uglies is pulling the plug on its home of nearly 20 years to move across the street.
The neighborhood bar is vacating its space at 257 Third Ave. on Saturday and moving a bottle's-throw away to the former Exchange bar spot at 256 Third Ave., according to the owner.
It's former home is slated to be demolished to make way for a new development project that will eat up five buildings from 253-261 Third Ave.
“We had a great run in this space, and since the opportunity to move across the street came up, it worked out pretty well,” said Brian Stapleton, who runs the bar with his father, Michael.
The new location has already opened on a reduced schedule, opening at 6 p.m., but will run full-time once the original bar closes, he said.
Stapleton and his dad opened Plug Uglies in 1997 after his father retired from the police force. Stapleton himself was a firefighter at the time, and the bar, located around the corner from the 13th Precinct station house, quickly became known as a hangout for New York’s Bravest and Finest.
Stapleton was happy to have his friends at the bar, but he and his father were not looking to operate an insular cop bar. They wanted Plug Uglies to be a local watering hole that people from the neighborhood could call a home away from home, and with the help of a 22-foot shuffleboard table, that dream came true, Stapleton said.
“We’re proud to be a bar that people in the neighborhood go to, especially now that a few other places nearby have gone by the wayside,” he said.
The move will give the Stapletons the opportunity to upgrade the bar even further, said Brian Stapleton, who added that the shuffleboard will be coming along to the new location.
"Over the years Plug’s became a little rundown, but you run the risk of alienating your clientele if you make it too nice,” he said. “We’re adding some signature cocktails and some nicer wines, but you’ll still be able to get a shot of whiskey and a High Life.”
The news of the bar’s impending eviction came about six months ago, just before the building's landlord Apex Investments and Property Markets Group (PMG) sold all five buildings to Alfa Group in August for $69.6 million, according to a report by The Real Deal.
Apex Investments and PMG initially planned to develop the site into new affordable housing, but ultimately ended up selling the properties off, the report says.
The city has already given the OK for the demolition of 253-255 Third Ave., according to Department of Buildings records. A representative of Alfa Group declined to comment on the firm’s plans for the block.
For Stapleton, there were no hard feelings thanks to his ability to move across the street. But the eventual demolition of the bar will bring to an end a long history of the building as a watering hole, according to an employee.
“There’s a lot of history in this place,” said Nicole Ofeno, who was tending bar on a recent weekday. “It’s good for us that we’re moving, but it’s kinda sad that the space will be gone.”
