Chapter House fire last night/this morning

[billhoward]

Brian Crandall (The Village Voice) and Mark Anbinder (14850.com) report progress on construction of the buildings that are replacing burned Chapter House and adjacent apartments.  The apartments appear to be on track for August occupancy.  There is still no tenant for the bar/restaurant space.

If ever there's a need for a GoFundMe campaign. Convince a couple of early-retirement Hotelies to take this on as community service. Pretty soon, Ithaca bars will come under the Endangered Species Act.

[Beeeej]

Brian Crandall reports good progress the building being erected where the Chapter House stood.  From his photos, I would guess that most alumni won't realize that it's a new building.  But I still haven't seen anything definitive about what will occupy the restaurant/bar space on the ground floor.

Monthly update from Brian Crandall
The owners are looking for a tenant for 3000 sqft at $35/sqft gross.

In case you weren't sure, btw, that's $35/sqft gross PER YEAR, not per month. It works out to less than $9,000/month.

[Robb]

Brian Crandall reports good progress the building being erected where the Chapter House stood.  From his photos, I would guess that most alumni won't realize that it's a new building.  But I still haven't seen anything definitive about what will occupy the restaurant/bar space on the ground floor.

Monthly update from Brian Crandall
The owners are looking for a tenant for 3000 sqft at $35/sqft gross.

In case you weren't sure, btw, that's $35/sqft gross PER YEAR, not per month. It works out to less than $9,000/month.

Yeah, but even if you could allocate $1 of every beer sale to cover rent, that's 9000 beers/month, or 300/day.  At 3 beers each, that's 100 unique customers each and every day of the year - Tuesdays in early June as well as the Saturday of the Harvard game.  Sounds like a dicey proposition to me - and, apparently, to every potential tenant who has studied the actual numbers.

[David Harding]

https://ithacating.com/2018/07/15/chapter-house-406-stewart-avenue-construction-update-7-2018/

...still looking for a tenant.

[David Harding]

https://ithacating.com/2018/07/15/chapter-house-406-stewart-avenue-construction-update-7-2018/

...still looking for a tenant.

A reply to the original post:

Excellent reporting but need to add three facts . First, the location, cause and origin of fire has never been proven and all indications are it started in alley between the chapterhouse and 4006. Second is that Goldman has just purchased 4006 Stewart avenue for cash a couple of months before fire and Third , the Chapterhouse has not been able to negotiate a lease compatible with its prior lease at same location in order to make it competitive and successful in college town where bars are a dying breed due to social networking and high operating expenses. We are looking at other locations to rebrand as Chapterhouse in college town close to our original location at 400-04 Stewart Ave.
John J.Hoey, President and CEO, Ithaca Brewing Company Inc dba The Chapterhouse .

[billhoward]

In my day, you didn't "rebrand" a bar. But that was before the Johnson School got really famous.

[jtwcornell91]

https://ithacating.com/2018/07/15/chapter-house-406-stewart-avenue-construction-update-7-2018/

...still looking for a tenant.

A reply to the original post:

Excellent reporting but need to add three facts . First, the location, cause and origin of fire has never been proven and all indications are it started in alley between the chapterhouse and 4006. Second is that Goldman has just purchased 4006 Stewart avenue for cash a couple of months before fire and Third , the Chapterhouse has not been able to negotiate a lease compatible with its prior lease at same location in order to make it competitive and successful in college town where bars are a dying breed due to social networking and high operating expenses. We are looking at other locations to rebrand as Chapterhouse in college town close to our original location at 400-04 Stewart Ave.
John J.Hoey, President and CEO, Ithaca Brewing Company Inc dba The Chapterhouse .

Wait, did he just accuse someone of arson? ::wow::

[marty]

https://ithacating.com/2018/07/15/chapter-house-406-stewart-avenue-construction-update-7-2018/

...still looking for a tenant.

A reply to the original post:

Excellent reporting but need to add three facts . First, the location, cause and origin of fire has never been proven and all indications are it started in alley between the chapterhouse and 4006. Second is that Goldman has just purchased 4006 Stewart avenue for cash a couple of months before fire and Third , the Chapterhouse has not been able to negotiate a lease compatible with its prior lease at same location in order to make it competitive and successful in college town where bars are a dying breed due to social networking and high operating expenses. We are looking at other locations to rebrand as Chapterhouse in college town close to our original location at 400-04 Stewart Ave.
John J.Hoey, President and CEO, Ithaca Brewing Company Inc dba The Chapterhouse .

Wait, did he just accuse someone of arson? ::wow::

If he did then he left out the terms of the insurance settlement.  For the arson to be profitable the insurance would have to pay more than the cash purchase price - else Goldman is breaking even at best.  Of course if the building had some type of fatal structural flaw then breaking even would be a good outcome assuming he trusts his structural engineer to keep quiet.

Have we any real estate attorneys on the forum (or real estate coercion conversion specialists)?

[David Harding]

Construction is done.  No commercial tenant.  https://ithacating.com/2018/10/02/chapter-house-406-stewart-avenue-construction-update-9-2018/