WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Popular local venue Apt. 78 will close its doors at the end of the year after a half-decade of hosting a mix of celebrity events and art exhibits.
Owner Jose Morales announced on Instagram that the venue at 4447 Broadway near West 190th Street is done, effective Jan. 1.
“Once the passion is gone, it's time 2 move on & that's what I'm doing,” Morales wrote on the Instagram post announcing the restaurant’s closure.
The venue opened in late 2010 with the intention of being a home away from home for the community, Morales explained, hence the apartment-style name and design of the space to feel like a living room.
Over the years, the bar hosted several creative and artist-friendly events, including the launch of the Bago Brunch with comedian Michael Diaz in 2011 and the first poetry slam and spoken-word competition in the area in 2014.
In 2012, Apt. 78 also launched its hip-hop summer series, which included a lineup of world-famous DJs and music producers, including Biz Markie and Questlove. It was also featured in the trailer and a few episodes of the short-lived MTV series "Washington Heights" in 2013.
The venue encountered its share of legal battles over the past year, including a temporary closure by police and disputes with Community Board 12 over its liquor license. It’s these same issues, Morales said in the post, that contributed to him losing his desire to keep the business running.
"There is pretty much nothing else I can possibly accomplish at Apt.78 that can make me happy at this point," he wrote. "I have honestly fulfilled that already."
Morales, who thanked the nonprofits, celebrities and schools that launched or celebrated events at the venue in the same post, said the venue will live on in some form.
“We will relocate the venue in 2016,” Morales wrote in post, “the brand will continue to grow.”
Morales said he's planning to open a new spot, called "Bodega Pizza," in 2016, but declined to provide further details.
He opened the burger joint Hello Bklyn in Williamsburg earlier this year, and had been working last year to launch a Mexican restaurant, Made en Harlem, on Frederick Douglass Boulevard before running into resistance from the location's condo board.