4 FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2018 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Old Pipin's Pub site sold for record $6
million; restaurant will not be returning
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICK@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
The saga continues.
More than a year after permits
were first filed on what
was to be a new, six-story development
at the former site of the storied Pipin’s
Pub, the property has been sold to a
new developer with new intentions,
and for a record price.
As of last summer, the multi-million
dollar project – which was
supposed to encompasses 9701 Third
Avenue as well as the long vacant
site next door once occupied by J.T.’s
Restaurant – was slated to include
20 apartments within 23,154 square
feet of residential space on five floors,
four per floor.
On the ground floor, Pipin’s – a
multi-generational family business
and mainstay in Bay Ridge that, since
the initial sale, has relocated to a “popup”
location at 9023 Third Avenue,
the former home of Circles Grill – was
eventually to have had its homecoming.
The old Pipin’s site has been sold to a new developer for a record $6 million.
However, those plans have
changed, according to Pipin’s
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Meaghan McGoldrick
co-owner Stephen Oliver.
“The deal fell through for the people
we first shook hands with,” said
Oliver, who owns and operates Pipin's
alongside family members Anthony
Bartholomeo and Paul Pandolfi. Oliver
explained that, with the deal taking
much longer to come to fruition than
all parties had imagined, changing
tax abatement laws had prevented
the original developer from moving
ahead with what he referred to as a
“short-term" plan.
From there, he said, anyone with an
interest in buying the site (its building
already demolished), “wanted nothing
to do with a bar and restaurant.”
“We’re really up against a wall right
now,” Oliver said, stressing that, while
he and his partners are working to ensure
a long-term lease at their current
site, one thing is certain for the Pipin’s
family as it gears up for the pub’s 50th
anniversary next December — “We
have full intentions of keeping the
Pipin’s name going.”
Original plans for the development
included outdoor parking for two
cars, an eight-car garage underground,
a roof deck and a rear yard
for residents. The site is zoned R6A,
which means apartment buildings
as tall as 70 feet can be constructed
(with a setback if the structure
exceeds 60 feet), with a commercial
overlay permitting businesses to
occupy the first floor of the structure.
The site has an as-of-right floor area
ratio (FAR) cap of 3.0, a measurement
that reflects the ratio between the total
floor area of the building and the
square footage of the lot on which it is
built. The higher the FAR, the denser
the building.
Earlier this month, the corner property
was sold to new buyers, with Bay
Ridge realtor Charles Fabbella of Ben
Bay Realty Company of Bay Ridge brokering
the deal, for a record price of
$6 million. Coming down the pipeline,
he told this paper, are 20 high-end
luxury condos. The current developers,
he added, are reworking the site’s
old drawings, “making it even more
top-notch.”
The project, Fabbella added, “will
absolutely benefit our community”
and still include a commercial ground
floor.
As for Pipin’s, Oliver said he and
his team are currently pursuing at
least a 10-to-12 year lease. “We want
to put some money into the store; we
want to make it the best that it can
be,” he said, “but more than anything,
we want to keep our Pipin’s family
together.”
Pipin’s operated at the corner of
97th Street and Third Avenue from
December, 1969 to August, 2015. It has
been at its pop-up since October, 2015.
The coming condominium could be
done in as soon as 18 months, according
to Fabbella.
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