The beloved Washington Heights restaurant and bar Coogan’s was due to close this spring after a rent hike couldn’t be negotiated down, but then Broadway hit Hamilton’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda got involved.
Coogan’s, originally an Irish bar, has been a mainstay in the neighborhood for 32 years, witnessing Upper Manhattan’s transformation from a place known by outsiders by its crime stats into a gentrifying neighborhood people are starting to flock to.
Miranda frequented Coogan’s as a kid and, when he heard it was closing because landlord New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s upped monthly rent to $40,000 per month, he and about 15,000 others objected loudly, according to the New York Times.
Miranda’s father, political consultant Luis A. Miranda Jr., along with borough president Gale Brewer got involved in negotiations between the hospital-turned-landlord and Coogan’s coming to an agreement yesterday afternoon; the restaurant/bar is now no longer closing as a lease extension has been agreed to, the Times reported. Details about the length of extension and rent have not yet been released. [NYT] — Erin Hudson