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State Licenses and Permits
Grimoire Group, LLC, dba “Vie en Rose”, 133 West 30th Street (Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues), New York, NY, application for a new catering liquor license.
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, June 08, 2023, the following resolution passed with a vote of 31 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, Grimoire Group, LLC (“Applicant”), has notified Community Board Five of its intention to apply for a new catering liquor license for an event space located at 133 West 30th Street (Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues), New York, NY (the “Premises”); and
WHEREAS, The Premises is approximately 4,000 square feet on the ground and mezzanine levels of the space; and
WHEREAS, Current capacity of the Premises is approximately 100 persons; and
WHEREAS, Future plans for the Premises may include expansion onto the basement space for additional square footage and additional capacity; and
WHEREAS, The Premises is located on a mixed use block, with the nearest residential buildings immediately across the street at 130 West 30th Street and another two doors away at 143 West 30th Street; and
WHEREAS, Aside from several one-time catering permits issued for the space, the Premises has never before had a liquor license; and
WHEREAS, This block has several restaurants currently in operation as well as two to three additional restaurant operations which have been approved; and
WHEREAS, This block has a single lane of traffic with no loading zines; and
WHEREAS, This location, being home to the NYPD Traffic Control Division station house at 138 West 30th Street, already suffers from extraordinary traffic congestion; and
WHEREAS, Applicant proposes to operate an event space, specializing in “curated events” and “immersive experiences”; and
WHEREAS, Applicant works with “event teams” to promote the events and sell tickets, in order to maximize attendance; and
WHEREAS, Applicant stated that this method of operation requires late hours – at least until 3AM or 4AM - because the clients who book or finance these events require late hours to recoup their investments, and that they already have several parties booked which require late operating hours; and
WHEREAS, Applicant stated that this method of operation, involving “ticketed segments,” requires a velvet rope and sidewalk queuing, although at some point, using the basement space for queuing may be an alternative; and
WHEREAS, A “ticketed by segment” operation could produce as many as 500 patrons or more to every event (for example, 100 person capacity x 5 segments = 500 patrons over the course of an event); and
WHEREAS, Unlike a bar or restaurant operation, which may be busy from time to time during meal times or perhaps around a sporting event, the nature of a ticketed “events” based operation lends itself to maximum occupancy all night, every night; and
WHEREAS, Applicant obtained several one-time catering permits from the SLA and held “pop up” events at the Premises on October 29, 2022, October 30, 2022, December 31, 2022, and February 11, 2023, which caused great disturbance to the block, with unruly patrons crowding the sidewalks on both sides of the street as well as in the street itself, and which required a police response to control the mayhem; and
WEHREAS, A resident from the building immediately across the street from the Premises testified that patrons from the events were seen vomiting in the street as well as in the planter boxes in front of the residential building; and
WHEREAS, Residents of the block testified to the unruly nature of these events and provided photos and videos of the scene to document the conditions (see photos annexed); and
WHEREAS, Representatives from the 29th Street Neighborhood provided written and verbal testimony asserting that the operation is completely incompatible with this location; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five finds that an “events based” operation is not appropriate for this location and would have a material adverse effect on quality of life in the neighborhood and set a destructive precedent for existing and future operators on the block; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five requests that the SLA not issue any additional one-time catering permits for the Premises; and be it further
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends denial of the application by Grimoire Group, LLC for a new catering liquor license for an event space located at 133 West 30th Street (Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues), New York, NY.