Family-Run LES Restaurant To Close After Rent Hike: Advocates

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — A local restaurant plans to close after nearly 25 years in New York City because its rent is expected to double, according to an activist group working to support the business.

El Maguey Y La Tuna, a Mexican restaurant on East Houston Street, will close this year, the Street Vendor Project, an initiative that supports local vendors, said in a Facebook post.

The family-run restaurant first opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1993 before moving to the 321 E. Houston St. in 2002. Now, the LES landlord is doubling the restaurant's rent, from $7,000 to $14,000 a month, owner Maria Cortez told the Lo-Down. Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch seeking more information.

The Street Vendor Project, part of the nonprofit Urban Justice Center, said Cortez was considering opening a food cart to continue serving food to the Lower East Side and East Village communities. The group added that it was reviewing ways to continue supporting the family-owned business before it closed its doors.

Patch was not able to contact the building's landlord for comment on the reported rent hike.

Spiraling rents have forced numerous independent businesses to shut their doors in Manhattan as pricey real estate and competition from chain stores and online retailers have made it increasingly difficult for mom-and-pop shops to get by. Local business owners in the East Village are asking city leaders to create a "special business district" that would restrict the number of new chains that could open in the area. While that proposal is being reviewed by local leaders, multiple longtime bars, restaurants and shops have closed their doors in the East Village and Greenwich Village, among other neighborhoods.

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