Famed gay bar Boots & Saddle has lassoed a new West Village space as it prepares to leave its Christopher Street home of roughly 40 years amid soaring rents, The Real Deal has learned. The new space will be more than triple the size of its current digs.
The western-themed bar inked a 10-year lease last week for 2,600 square feet on the lower level of 92-100 Seventh Avenue South, also known as 52-58 Grove Street, according to Josh Singer of the Heller Organization, who brokered the deal along with colleague Adam Heller. That’s quite an upsize from its longtime 700-square-foot space at 76 Christopher Street.
The three-story building, owned by Duell Management Company, formerly housed the Actor’s Playhouse. The bar is expected to open there in April, Singer said. Asking rent is about $70 per square foot, or $15,000 per month, he added.
Boots & Saddle co-owners Ron Silver and Rob Ziegler made plans to leave Christopher Street in September, as rents approached $20,000 per month. But Community Board 2 rejected the bar’s liquor-license application for a potential new space at 37 Barrow Street and 47 Seventh Avenue. The board then approved the liquor license for 92-100 Seventh Avenue, according to DNAinfo.
Other retail tenants at the building include Peruvian eatery Panca and Casa Oliveira Wines & Liquors.
“We expect this part of neighborhood to welcome them,” Singer said.