In the vicious battle between Bowery condo owners and the neighboring clubs that keep them awake at night, it's beginning to look like the angry apartment dwellers will win: earlier this week, four-month-old EMM Group-owned basement jazz club Bow shuttered its 199 Bowery space, and today, Eater NY reports neighboring Asian fusion restaurant The General, also run by EMM Group, has closed temporarily due to a "permitting issue."
The EMM Group has been fending off complaints from 199 Bowery residents for a while now; in addition to The General and Bow, the building houses nightclub Finale, and condo owners say they're infuriated by the venue's loud music and long lines. Apparently, EMM Group had promised the Community board they'd only be installing a restaurant, bakery and soft jazz club, so it came as an unpleasant surprise to them when Finale's big speakers rolled in. Residents have asked a Manhattan judge to revoke the venues' liquor licenses; now, Eater says The General shut down at 8 p.m. last night "due to a permitting issue," and Bowery Boogie reports there's a DOH sign in the restaurant's window announcing that the venue's been operating without a permit (a statement from EMM Group says they hope to reopen the restaurant soon.)
Bow, meanwhile, closed permanently over the weekend, which the EMM Group presumably hopes will win it some goodwill from the community board. And last week CB3 denied Finale a liquor license alteration that would have helped keep it in line with the permits EMM Group had obtained for it. R.I.P., East Village Nightlife District.
