Tapas bar portion of Floridita to close in face of preconstruction

Locals looking for their fill of Spanish appetizers will have one less option soon.

In January, owner Ramon Diaz plans to close the tapas bar portion of neighborhood staple Floridita Tapas Bar & Restaurant, which occupies three storefronts in University-owned buildings on Broadway between 125th and 129th streets.

Diaz’s announcement is the latest development in an ongoing conflict between him and Columbia over the impact construction work for the University’s planned 17-acre campus in Manhattanville has had on his business. He says business has been down 30 percent since preconstruction utility work on water, gas, and sewer lines began in September. University officials maintain that the work is essential and that all possible steps have been taken to mitigate the effects on locals.

The replacement of aging water mains and electrical conduits on Broadway between 125th and 129th and on 129th between Broadway and 125th has been in progress for weeks, and has involved the closing of parking and traffic lanes. The work outside Floridita, located on Broadway, has taken place at night, which Columbia officials cite as an effort to minimize business disruptions.

“They’ll close up the street during the night—they start at 9 and they won’t reopen until 6,” Diaz said. “They do away with parking for two weeks—customers will just stop coming because they can’t find parking.” Even when parking reopens, he added, “It’s too late—the damage is done.”

University spokesperson Victoria Benitez declined to comment on the closing of the tapas bar because, she said, Diaz has not officially notified Columbia of his intention to do so. Earlier this year, in response to Diaz’s complaints that construction was hurting his business, Benitez said, “We have worked hard to ensure that Mr. Diaz is both fully informed of these developments and that they do not affect Floridita’s business, which we hope continues to thrive.”

Floridita—which, in addition to the tapas bar, includes a main Cuban restaurant and bakery—is a popular destination for neighborhood residents and Columbia students alike. On campus, the Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification—a group that opposes components of the Manhattanville expansion plan—has organized several events in the past year in support of Diaz.

“Ramon has worked very hard to keep his restaurants in business, despite the many hurdles that he has faced as a result of Columbia’s expansion,” Katie Miles, BC ’10 and a member of SCEG, wrote in an e-mail. “SCEG has been consistently disappointed with the way that Columbia has handled itself as a landlord to Mr. Diaz. We think that the closing of the Tapas Bar is indicative of how hard it is for businesses, tenants, and community organizations ... to survive in West Harlem, in light of Columbia’s plans.” She cited the Eritrean Social Club’s eviction over the summer from its longtime center on 125th Street as another example.

“Taken on its own, the University’s abrupt decision to renovate a gas pipe that serves Floridita only, cutting valuable lifelines such as parking, pedestrian traffic, and general business-friendly atmospherics, is perplexing,” SCEG member Ben Totushek, GS, wrote in an e-mail. “When looked at in the context of the expansion’s history, however, particularly Columbia’s failure to sustain any broad-based community support (minus a select few groups and politicians) for the plan, the move is simply par for the course.”

Vicky Gholson, a member of Community Board 9 and the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, called the closing of the tapas bar “regrettable.”

“That’s the only sports bar and restaurant in the area that’s affordable,” Gholson said. “It would behoove the University to try to work out some sort of arrangement to maintain that service to the community at that location.”