Galli Restaurant on Rivington Street Just Closed Down for Good
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Extra, extra – Galli Restaurant on Rivington Street is now out of business. It was a sixteen-month run for the Italian eatery, the second outpost for the brand. Not a total shocker, though, given recent events.
Mere days after the real estate listing for the corner restaurant went live, owner (and LES Partnership board chair) Michael Forrest – who’s also the landlord of 98 Rivington Street – decided to pull the plug on the venture. The roll-down security gates have been shuttered since early last week. One sign remains on the doorway for a prior private event (closing party?). And the phone line is disconnected.
As reported, Forrest seeks $25K in monthly rent for the 3,200 square-foot space, plus key money of an additional $375K. That’s $10K more than the asking price from just a few years earlier after ‘inoteca left. The Craigslist advert is quick to tout the full liquor license, sidewalk cafe, and eighty feet of “all glass frontage.”
This turn of events was all but predicted back in April 2014, when the license was first considered. Opposition led by the LES Dwellers at the time argued that the added value of a liquor license would be incentive enough for Forrest to sell the business down the line. An opportunist move. For his part, though, the landlord-owner tells us…
I did not ‘add value’ by securing a liquor license. Inoteca had a 4am full liquor license with NO stips. I agreed to a 2am closing with a litany of other stips.
If anything I DECREASED the value of the space.
Meanwhile, many in the neighborhood still long for the lost Italian joint, ‘inoteca. They lasted more than a decade at 98 Rivington, but folded in February 2014. Almost two years to the day. Crazy.
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