Cliff Bell’s Owners Purchase Park Bar Building

The Park Bar is changing hands and will closed temporarily at the end of December. Reached by Eater, Cliff Bell’s co-owner Paul Howard confirms that he and his business partner Scott Lowell has purchased The Park Bar building. The new owners will take over the space effective January 1 and close for roughly two weeks to complete some minor repairs and updates.

The bar isn’t expected to change drastically, though the GoGo’s Hawaiian street food restaurant will be closing. “We’re going to do some renovations over time,” Howard says. “We’re going to change the concept in the kitchen but we haven’t decided yet [what will replace it].”

Howard says he and Lowell have been in conversations with Park Bar Building owner Jerry Belanger for some time about purchasing the building. Cliff Bell’s is located in a portion of the building. “We, of course, are interested in making sure that Cliff Bell’s is open for generations and the idea of a new landlord was never appealing,” he says of the decision to buy out Belanger. “We have a great relationship with Jerry.”

Howard declined to provide the purchase price for the building. As for The Park Bar’s staff, Howard says most of the employees “will stay if they choose to.”

In addition to Cliff Bell’s, Howard holds a stake in a number of bars around the city including Bronx Bar and Queens Bar. Each is partially owned by a different partner.

The Park Bar’s original ownership will bid farewell to friends and patrons with a party on December 2. Stay tuned for more updates on the transition.

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