Owners Of Former Sidewalk Cafe Building To Add A 5th Floor

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The new owner of the building where the now-closed Sidewalk Cafe was located wants to add an additional story to the building, public records show.

Penn South Capital filed plans with the Department of Buildings to build a new fifth floor and rooftop to the building at Avenue A and Sixth Street, according to DOB records dated Wednesday. The residential units, however, would go from 11 units to 10, the records show. EV Grieve first reported the DOB filings.

Sidewalk Cafe, the bar and restaurant known for its live music and antifolk music scene, shuttered after about three decades in the East Village in February. Soono after, Penn South Capital bought the building for $9.6 million.

At the time, Parag Sawhney, who founded Penn South, told Patch the company "is committed to preserving the building's unique history."

"We have a new restaurant tenant that will keep the open mic tradition alive," he said by email, referring to the bar and restaurant space's owners Laura Saniuk-Heinig and Alyssa Sartor, which took over Sidwalk Cafe in December.

"We love the East Village and believe in preserving what make it so special," Sawhney said. "We had a very peaceful transition from the previous landlord who also owned and managed Sidewalk. That owner has now retired from business and had no interest in staying on as our tenant."

The new building owners have been renovating the interior of the building for weeks. DOB records show renovation work is ongoing in the cellar through the fourth floor.