COURIER L 6 IFE, OCT. 9-15, 2020
No longer on Bond
Boerum Hill reisdents mourn
loss of beloved longtime eatery
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Beloved Boerum Hill bistro Building
on Bond permanently shuttered
last month after nearly 13 years serving
patrons at the corner of Bond and
Pacifi c streets, saying their landlord
was unwilling to give them a fi nancial
lifeline amid a substantial loss in revenue
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately our landlord really
didn’t care,” said Phil Morgan at
a press conference outside the nowclosed
eatery. “He literally said multiple
times when I was re-signing my
lease in 2017, I told him how important
this restaurant is to the neighborhood,
and his response was, ‘I don’t
give a s—.'”
Morgan, who opened Building on
Bond in 2007, had four more years
left on his lease, but agreed to cancel
it on Sept. 18 after his landlord — Bay
Ridge-based Francine Realty — declined
to lower his rent.
The restaurateur tried pivoting to
takeout and delivery for about 10 days
after the city and state imposed sweeping
COVID-19 restrictions in March, but
decided to halt operations by the end of
that month because the lower revenue
failed to justify the cost, he said.
Over the following months, he
tried to negotiate to lower his $25,000
monthly rent, which quickly sucked
up federal small business loans, but
the landlord wouldn’t budge, Morgan
said.
“Other landlords are not willing
or capable. This guy was not willing —
he was defi nitely capable,” he said.
The building’s landlord, Brian Elgart,
responded to a previous request
for comment Tuesday afternoon calling
Morgan’s retelling “ridiculous.”
“He’s painting himself to be a saint
for the neighborhood, he’s full of crap,”
Elgart said.
The landlord claimed that Morgan
planned to sell the business to three
partners prior to the pandemic, but
that the deal fell apart once COVID
hit and that the restaurateur stopped
communicating with him and didn’t
pay rent since March.
“There was not one communication
asking can we defer something or anything
— none whatsoever,” Elgart said.
Morgan disputed this, saying he
was planning to add three partners
and was going to retain ownership of
the business along with them. He further
maintained that he had asked for
coronavirus concessions from Elgart,
but that the landlord’s dismissive response
broke down any negotiations.
“We were trying to renegotiate a
lease during the pandemic and his only
response was, ‘I have no questions, I’m
not interested,'” Morgan countered.
Building on Bond owner Phil Morgan outside
his shuttered restaurant in Boerum Hill.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
The entrepreneur’s departure was
a gut punch for locals, according to one
civic guru, who lauded him for taking
over what used to be a shabby cornerstone
and turning into a gem in the
middle of the brownstone neighborhood
from day one.
“This was a bodega that sold sour
milk and made too much noise. One
day it closes and this guy comes and
starts to work on the windows, there
was a soft opening and we went, ‘Oh
my god, we’re going to have beer,'” said
Boerum Hill Association president
Howard Kolins. “Even then before it
opened, it just felt right.”
A September survey of 161 borough
businesses by the Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce found that 37 percent of
them owed back rent with 53 percent
saying they see themselves struggling
during the coming three months.
An October 1 report by state Comptroller
Thomas DiNapoli painted a
grimmer picture, forecasting that between
one third and one half of all New
York City bars and restaurants could
shutter permanently within the next
months — potentially taking 159,000
jobs with them.
The situation prompted one local
business booster encouraged landlords
to be fl exible with their tenants
whenever possible, saying that working
with these treasured mom-and-pop
shops amid the current crisis can be
the difference between life and death.
“What I have found is that if a landlord
works with their tenants, their
tenants will survive. If they don’t, they
won’t. It’s just that simple,” said Kate
Chura, the executive director of the
Atlantic Avenue Business Improvement
District.
PH. D.
PA-C
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