03 February 2011

Carmine's Will Not Return


I will be keeping Carmine's Italian Seafood in my Recently Lost Landmarks list, sad to say.

The South Street Seaport eatery closed last summer after 107 years. Soon after, the owner, Greg Molini, made some rumblings about reopening in a new space. I doubted this, knowing landlords and the real estate market. Sure enough, this week he revealed that plans had fallen through with the proposed new space, 29 Peck Slip. The "financials didn't work." In other words, the landlord wanted the moon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given that the real estate market is relatively weak, at least compared to past years, now should be a good time for a displaced business to look for a new location. My guess is that "the financials didn't work" is just a way of saying that a relocated Carmine's wouldn't generate sufficient revenues to make the move worthwhile.

Peter

Brooks of Sheffield said...

I don't think so. My experience, talking to small business owners, is that landlords think 2008 never happened. Rents are as high as they were before the recession.