Penn South Capital Buys Sidewalk Cafe Building For $9.6M

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Penn South Capital has purchased the building where the now-closed Sidewalk Cafe was located, records show.

Records show Parag Sawhney, founder of Penn South, purchased the building at 94 Avenue A for $9.6 million in mid-March. The sale comes a month after the former bar, restaurant and open mic night venue Sidewalk Cafe shuttered in February after more than three decades in the East Village. EVGrieve first reported on the sale.

The East Village bar was famous for its antifolk music scene, where up-and-coming artists like Regina Spektor, Beck, the Moldy Peaches, among others performed.

In December, new owners Laura Saniuk-Heinig and Alyssa Sartor took over the live music venue, bar and restaurant, which have sparked concerns over the future of the space.

Sawhney of 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. "We love the East Village and believe in preserving what make it so special. 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."

Saniuk-Heinig, the general manager at The Bar Room on East 60th St. and Lexington Ave., has previously told EVGrieve they want to keep "the music aspect of the room still alive."

The new building owners, Penn South, own various buildings in the East Village and Lower East Side. In 2017, Penn South and two other real estate companies purchased 101 Stanton St., and before that, Penn South nabbed a 7-story building at 215 East Broadway. The real estate investment firm resold the East Broadway building last year, per its website.

Department of Buildings permits are on file for an interior renovation of the first floor, as EVGrieve noted. Wednesday afternoon, workers were on-site clearing out the ground floor.