The Campbell Apartment’s Mark Grossich has given up his court battle to save the famed bar from eviction.
Grossich spent $2.5 million restoring the former office of financier John W. Campbell, and after losing his lease earlier this year after 17 years, he sued the MTA, the bar’s landlord.
However, he has now given up his fight to save the bar, according to the New York Post.
“It sucks, it blows, it’s totally unfair,” Grossich told the Post.
Now on July 28, Grossich must turn over the Campbell Apartment to Scott Gerber, who owns the Irvington in the W Hotel in Union Square and co-founded The Whiskey with his brother Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s husband).
He plans to transform the Campbell Apartment to a hipper and more casual hangout.
“Right now, the image that people have of it very often is it’s a place to go before special occasions,” Gerber told the Post. “So if you’re going to a black-tie event at the Hyatt in Grand Central, you go in [to the Campbell Apartment] for a drink. That’s okay, you can be in a tuxedo. But it’s also okay for a guy or a girl to be in jeans or a T-shirt. That’s okay too. That’s the way people live.” [NYP] –Christopher Cameron