Mazaar Lounge Pulls Out Of Community Board Meeting At Last Second

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Located in what residents have termed "Hell Square," a nine-block area bordered by Houston, Delancey, Allen and Essex streets, Mazaar Lounge has been one among multiple venues that have become a source of strife for residents. The lounge was scheduled to present at a meeting for Community Board 3 Monday evening for a renewal of its liquor license, but it cancelled at the last minute.

A representative for Neighborhood group LES dwellers tells Patch that the lounge — which opened in Spring 2015 and is owned by Foundation co-owner Joseph Torres and Cozy Cafe principals Khaled Boghdedy and Sherif Beshir — is not operating as a "tavern" (as it is licensed) but as a "nightclub" with "cover charges, dancing, live performances and exceeding its permitted 4x a week promoted events and happy hour time frame." Further, the representative says, "There is concern that the premises may be exceeding its legal capacity at times, and may pose a public safety risk for residents and patrons as a result of its use of celebratory pyrotechnics on the premises."

"They blast music until insane hours, seem to have parties that go until 4am every night, and operate as a club,” one building resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told Bowery Boogie.

LES dwellers and other residents say that the problem goes back to March 2014, when Mazaar Lounge secured its liquor license without the benefit of public scrutiny; it pushed the license through Community Board 3 as a "restructuring" rather than as a request for a new license.

A representative from Community Board 3 said that: "This matter is being rescheduled until February so that the attorney for the licensee and our assistant district manager can be present to address community complaints. The next meeting date is February 6th. We have sufficient time with this renewal to hear it in February."

Mazaar Lounge did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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