#saki bar hagi

[notesonnewyork]

One to Watch

While meandering past 152 West 49th Street the other day, I was startled to find Iroha, Sapporo, and Saki Bar Hagi all shuttered. Discarded fixtures and empty booths nodded off behind the wobbly window gates. Many years ago, I often dined in these places with a friend I had hoped would be more than ephemeral. Hagi, in particular, was a basement refuge suffused with something palpable from “old New York.” I could never put my finger on what it was though.

Back in January, the manager of Iroha told grubstreet.com that “We’re closing because the building hasn’t been able to be repaired for 40 years, and there are structural issues we are no longer able to ignore.” Fair enough. And in the past two weeks, the Department of Buildings (DOB) has issued work permits that support that assessment. One authorizes a renovation to the commercial space on the first floor, a second allows an upgrade to the apartment units on the five floors above, and a third enables crews to repair a structural joist below apartment 2F. 

But, as always, I’ve learned to be suspicious of these things. In the past 18 years, the DOB hasn’t written a single structural violation for the building. In fact, the only active violation against 152 West 49th Street is for the condition of its elevator; or, in others words, it’s been on the fritz since 2016. As a resident complained to the DOB as recently as three months ago (on November 9, 2017):

The elevator has been out since Sunday and there are 6 floors in this building. Three people have been stuck in the elevator since November and the Fire Department had to come three times for people in the elevator.

So, did the building owner oust the restaurants to upgrade the property or initiate some other ambition? Before the DOB approved those work permits the past two weeks, a resident registered this complaint on January 22, 2018:

They have been gutting out apartments and breaking walls without permits. When I asked about the permit he told me that everything is fine and [they’re] working on the permit and they don’t have it yet. 

When the DOB investigated the concern on February 16th, however, it didn’t find any “construction work in progress in apartment #6B at the time of inspection.” But, with the planned improvements to come, will the people who presently live in the building’s 30 apartments be forced to move? Moreover, is the 87-year-old structure just being prepped for a future demolition?

Given the major real estate deals happening on this square block of the city lately, I wouldn’t be surprised. 

Jack Cohen’s Comjem Associates purchased 152 West 49th Street for $30 million in 2014. Additionally, the firm picked up the address behind it--163-165 West 48th Street--for $19 million. It also bought 167 West 48th Street next door for $8.25 million in 2013 and 721 7th Avenue--aka 169-171 West 48th Street--next to that for $22.9 million in 2009. All in all, an $80.15 million investment. Each of these addresses connect to form an L shape between 48th and 49th Streets, so Comjem could potentially merge the lots, bulldoze what’s there now, and erect something more massive with all the unused development rights. Perhaps little restaurants like Iroha, Sapporo, and Saki Bar Hagi didn’t fit into the plan. We shall see.

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(Photo by Riff Chorusriff. View of 152 West 49th Street and the sign on the door of Saki Bar Hagi. February 15, 2018.)