Restaurant Hurt By Occupy Wall Street Closes, Donald Trump Takes Over

A local New York restaurant that saw business drop off as Occupy Wall Street protests erupted nearby has finally shut its doors -- and will be taken over by the ultimate 1 Percenter, Donald Trump.

The real-estate magnate, who owns the building at 40 Wall Street, where Milk Street Cafe was located, has retained the restaurant hall for "pennies on the dollar," according to a source close to the deal, and will turn the all-kosher cafe into a Trump Street Bar & Grille.

In early November, Marc Epstein, owner of Milk Street, which had moved into the space in June, claimed that metal barricades police had erected in response to the nearby Occupy Wall Street protests were impeding access to his cafe's front door. Amid slumping sales, Epstein was forced to lay off 21 of the restaurant's 120 workers. Though police ultimately removed the barricades in front of the cafe, the barricades on the street remained, creating a "siege mentality" that continued to hurt foot traffic, Epstein said.

"In the end we could not continue to lose money while foot traffic had dwindled down to that level," Epstein recalled. "The barricades, which I'm told are still there, not directly in front of the space, but to the left and right down Broad Street, cut the legs out from underneath us," he added. "Everyday that they're still there reaffirms that I made the right decision to close."

Steve Lafiosca, Trump's director of commercial properties, told the Tribeca Trib, a local news site, that operators of Trump Street Bar & Grille will try to retain as many of the employees as possible. Lafiosca didn't mention the barricades on Broad Street, but told reporters that he suspects Milk Street Cafe's all-kosher theme, which Trump will do away with, played a role in the restaurant's downfall.

Epstein, for his part, is now refocusing efforts on Milk Street Cafe's 30-year old Boston location where he said business is fine. "I have no plans to expand beyond Boston any time soon," he added.

 

Comments

[CAELadyJane50]

03:33 PM on 01/13/2012

In my opinion, Donald Trump is New York's philanthropist to save from total dispair. I remember a while back there was an ice skating park that the city could not afford to maintain to keep open, so Donald Trump came to the rescue and bought out the ice skating park to keep it open and in full operation during the winter months. Now he bought out this restaurant which prevents the area from looking "haunted" as I call it. In my community downtown, some of the shops on "Main Street" closed or went out of business which made the center of town feel eerie, scary and haunted. I wish we had somebody like Donald Trump in my community to help keep the center of town alive.

[Roelvdwegen]

06:26 AM on 01/13/2012

Not hurt by OWS but by the NYPD and its policing of something which didn't need to be policed.

[Martycrayfish10]

12:14 AM on 01/12/2012

uh oh, way to help the 1% OWS

[lambdin1]

02:05 PM on 01/10/2012

Gee, if only I had daddy's money then I could compete with DT. Oh, that's right Dad did not have any money! I wonder if Donald Trump lowered the rent for himself?!?

[dcol]

01:38 PM on 01/10/2012

"The Donald" is most certainly an opportunist. Fits right in there will the GOP. Wonder why he quit them?

[Americanwoman55]

12:55 PM on 01/10/2012

The sprawling menu by executive chef Steven Mettle includes peppercorn-rubbed roast beef, eggplant parmesan, a grilled chicken banh mi sandwich, a "Battery Park" salad with blueberries and spiced pecans, a sushi volcano roll and a caramelized onion focaccia flat bread. Most main dishes cost $10 to $13.
Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110623/downtown/milk-street-cafe-opens-large-lunch-crowds-on-wall-street#ixzz1j4xr4xCZ
Here's an excerpt form an article of the opening a bit over a year ago. This was a nice place but maybe it just could not make it.

[Americanwoman55]

12:07 PM on 01/10/2012

If the restaurant was not viable then Donald the combover would not have stepped in to buy it before the ovens were cool. Don't blame the OWS for this. More to the story than this.

[Martycrayfish10]

12:15 AM on 01/12/2012

Hmmm, I wonder if similar logic could be applied to Mitt Romney's record at Bain.... nah, the class warfare and typical liberal talking points are too irresistable for HuffPost

[snesich]

04:30 AM on 01/10/2012

How come we're not seeing stories about all of the local eateries that were helped by OWS, making record sales and profits because of the protests.

Even the right-wing, Murdoch-owned New York Post admits it: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/favored_pizzeria_making_big_dough_9j5G8H1kVQMCQgrPPL7rWO

[Wolfman Thomas]

08:03 PM on 01/09/2012

bring back the draft and these people will go

[Barbarian At The Gate]

11:33 PM on 01/09/2012

So will the young WallStreet traders.

[snesich]

03:16 AM on 01/10/2012

Yeah, they'll "go" alright...for the throats of those who forced them into servitude against their will.

You don't know much about history or military policy. Do you?

The main reason the US eliminated the draft was because there was so much outright rebellion in the ranks---and actual danger of commanding officers being shot by their own troops---that the Ruling Class decided it was no longer worth it.

Better to use the following to fill the needs of the US Military-Industrial Complex: Keep unemployment high enough---especially among the young, that they'll feel the military is their only good option AND spend billions on advertising and marketing to make a military career look "cool" and make sure you hit all of the places where the eyes of a teenager or twenty something male would be, on TV and/or the Internet.

Maybe you just hate these people that are working on behalf of everyone who isn't a millionaire, but I think what you're trying to say is that you wish the Occupy protesters were either in prison or dead. Did I get your meaning right?

[duey35]

02:48 PM on 01/09/2012

The Cafe owners and their emploees must have been the 1%ers.
OWS wouldn't hurt the working class people?

[Alex0393]

10:09 PM on 01/11/2012

Oh yeah, the guy that owned this is a gabillionzillionaire. He just needed a tax write off. Good job occuples! Way to help the 99%!

[Shap68]

01:56 PM on 01/09/2012

The reasons businesses don't make it are very complicated and subject to the owner's personal standards of financing and hee/his total business portfolio. A headline blaming OWS is like taking someone's self-serving press release and reporting it as news. Trump's spokesman said, deep into the story, that the reason for closure may have been the restaurant's concept as an all-Kosher eatery. The bottom line is that there are no facts in this story that support the headline.

[Martycrayfish10]

12:16 AM on 01/12/2012

I dont know, I wouldnt want to go to a restaurant if I had to walk through a bunch of unshowered neo hippie potheads

[Shap68]

03:28 AM on 01/12/2012

Marty,

Your comment has less to do with the story than the headline did. But thanks for sharing your social disinclinations.

[phantom power]

01:48 PM on 01/09/2012

Oh, you mean it's the Occupiers fault that no one wanted to spend $15 on a Pastrami Sandwich?!? Must be their fault!

[Barbarian At The Gate]

11:27 PM on 01/09/2012

The owner could have adapted to the environment and changed his menu to suit the circumstances. He could have made cheap food, call it the OWS special, and sell it in high volumes. There was a market of customers right at his doorstep and he missed the opportunity.

[phantom power]

10:26 AM on 01/10/2012

That's entirely true... and you're right in thinking that he missed a major opportunity to make some money. Truthfully though, that area of Manhattan is there to cater to a certain crowd, the Wall St crowd. Considering a number of Firms have left the are to go to Midtown, the owner should have been a little smarter.

[Americanwoman55]

12:32 PM on 01/10/2012

There is not enough information in this article to determine why this eatery closed. It could be lose of lease by building owner - Donald Trump. He is himself opening a restaurant now in this very spot so there is traffic.
It could be downsizing, it could be a personal decision
Blaming more people in the area does not make sense, more poeple means more business for an eatery.
selling just water would have brought in more revenue, soda and chips, simple sandwiches. SO SOMETHING ISN"T RIGHT HERE.

[M Decci]

11:12 AM on 01/09/2012

The law of unintended consequences.
The OWS in theory are supporters of the little guys which they call the "99%ers"; their actions caused the police to barricade the place, therefore having a 99%er lose his business, only to end on the hands of a 1%er.

Yet OWS supporters are not blaming the OWS but the 1%er.
Couldnt make it up. Comical.

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

10:50 AM on 01/09/2012

The consumate parasite prevails!

[goodmarina]

04:13 AM on 01/09/2012

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