LOWER MANHATTAN — When news broke that the 34-year-old bar Raccoon Lodge was closing because its building was being torn down for a luxury high-rise, there was an outpouring of appreciation for the dive and lamentations for its end.
Its planned spinoff bar, however, is not exactly feeling the neighborhood love.
The new venue, called the Lodge, is trying to open at 20 Warren St., less than two blocks from the Raccoon Lodge's 57 Warren St. location.
But for local residents who crowded a Community Board 1 meeting Wednesday night, the location seemed worlds apart.
The Lodge — owned by a longtime manager of the Raccoon Lodge, Derek Michalak, and two of the bar's loyal clientele, lawyer Richard Yellin and entrepreneur Ewan Palmer, who was not at the meeting — met fierce resistance from the neighbors who packed the meeting.
The new bar, which has no involvement from the previous Raccoon Lodge owner, was hoping to get CB1's TriBeCa Committee's support for its liquor license bid. But because of the residents' pushback, it did not.
Yellin, who said the new bar would employ most of the Raccoon Lodge's bartenders and staff, tried to convince the crowd that the Lodge would try to maintain what had become a "cultural institution" in the neighborhood — a relaxed placed where people from "all walks of life" could come and get a drink.
While there were some debates about just how well behaved the Raccoon Lodge crowd actually was, the main argument was simply that the block of Warren Street, between Church and Broadway, was much more of a quiet side street with less foot traffic and numerous families and small children.
"This will fail," said Seth Haber, a resident of a neighboring building, who like many of the residents brought his child with him to emphasize how many kids lived on the block. "This location is a dud."
Haber also added that he loved the Raccoon Lodge, and offered to invest with them if they opened someplace else.
Another bar, called Tara of Tribeca, had a somewhat short-lived tenure in that space and shuttered in December.
Neighbors also made the usual complaints about bars, arguing that even without live music or DJs, there would be noise, people would smoke on the street, talk loudly, and act annoyingly and drunk.
Another point of contention were the hours. The Lodge, which also hopes to be a restaurant with upscale gastropub fare and a kitchen that stays open until closing, scaled back its 4 a.m. closing to 2 a.m. on the weekends.
That was still too late for the board, which ultimately said it didn't think the bar should open in the space. But if the State Liquor Authority decides to give the Lodge a license, the board asked for a midnight closing on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends.
Those times, Yellin said, were not economically viable for a bar.
While the Lodge didn't get community board support for its liquor license request, it could still get approval from the SLA, as a board's support is only advisory.
"It's easier to knock down buildings in TriBeCa than to open new businesses," said Lodge co-owner Michalak before leaving the meeting.
