It’s been more than six months since the walls fell in on Chumley’s, and residents of the West Village are wondering when the beloved former speakeasy is going to reopen.
“It’s taking forever and it’s been very disheartening,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation.
Workers were shoring up a wall inside Chumley’s on April 5 when the brick chimney separated from the wall and fell into the restaurant. No one was hurt, but the damage revealed that the nearly 200-year-old building’s structure was severely compromised, forcing the bar, which opened in 1926, to close.
Initially, the folks at Chumley’s said the popular bar and restaurant with no sign outside would reopen around Oct. 1.
Owners say the delays are due to several “surprises” engineers found when they inspected the building, including asbestos and the erosion of the foundation.
“We’re all working together to try and get it done,” said Chumley’s owner Steve Shlopak.”Just how we’re going to get it done, though, is unclear. At this point, we’re kind of operating on faith.”
Chumley’s future rests largely in the hands of the building’s owner, Speakeasy 86, LLC.
According to city finance department records, Speakeasy 86 bought the building in 2004. The company is listed as “care of” Sentinel Real Estate, a multibillion-dollar company owned by John Streicker, father of Margaret Streicker Porres, who is employed by Newcastle Realty as the managing agent at 86 Bedford St.
She said contractor bidding closed Wednesday and they hope to begin work soon.
But some neighbors are angry it’s taken so long, and don’t like the eyesore on their otherwise pristine block.
“The whole situation has sucked out a piece of the heart of the neighborhood,” said Anne Marie Paolucci, who has lived on Bedford Street for 14 years.
Shlopak said that once construction starts, it shouldn’t take long to get Chumley’s up and running. He’s hoping to have the bar open by Thanksgiving and if all goes well, he and his partners would like to purchase 86 Bedford.