The owners of Pete’s Tavern won the right to continue operating a sidewalk cafe. Image credit: Marina Chetner
Landlord was required by lease to consent to tenant’s operation of a sidewalk café, absent a good-faith basis. DMF Gramercy Enterprises, Inc. has operated Pete’s Tavern, a sidewalk café at 129 East 18th Street in Gramercy, Manhattan, and claims to be the longest continuously-operating bar and restaurant in New York City. DMF Gramercy has operated Pete’s since 1964 when it entered into a lease with the building’s then-owner. The current owner is the Lillian Troy 1999 Trust. To operate the café, DMF Gramercy requires a license from the Department of Consumer Affairs, to which the Trust and their predecessors consented over the years. On March 7, 2012 the Lillian Troy 1999 Trust issued a letter to DCA indicating it would not consent to a renewed sidewalk café license.
