The Beatrice Inn Is Relocating Next Door After Failed Rent Negotiations

It’s the end of an era — sort of — for West Village legend the Beatrice Inn. Chef and owner Angie Mar is uprooting the famed restaurant, which has been located at 285 West 12th Street, at the corner of West 4th Street, for nearly a century, and moving it one building over, the New York Times reports.

Mar will be shutting down the restaurant at its current location after New Year’s Eve, and plans to reopen in the spring at 283 West 12th Street, in the sunny space formerly occupied by upscale farm-to-table spot Blenheim. Mar tells the NYT that she “intended” to stay in the inn’s storied subterranean location, but rent costs were unsustainable in light of the pandemic.

Mar’s struggle to reach favorable lease terms with the Beatrice Inn’s current landlord, real estate firm Spirit Investment Partners, recently spilled out into the public sphere after the firm listed the space for rent on the market while still in negotiations with Mar. At the new space, Mar’s landlords — Sue and Mike Politis – are neighborhood fixtures and members of the family that formerly owned the Beatrice Inn for fifty years.

The terms of the new lease were not disclosed, but Sue Politis told the NYT that they “want to be fair” amid the pandemic and “just worked things out” with Mar.

Details for the restaurant’s revamp are still coming together, but it appears that the new version of the Beatrice may lean back from the deluge of red meat that Mar was known for at the inn, according to the report. The famed dry-aged beef will only be supplied in small quantities, for example, and the new menu will expand more on game birds and crustaceans.

As for the space, the photogenic velvet banquette at table 26 is traveling over to the new spot, according to Mar, and legendary French chef André Soltner is supplying glassware and serving dishes from his longstanding, acclaimed NYC restaurant Lutèce that shut down in 2004.

A set opening date for the new version of the Beatrice Inn has yet to be announced, and it is not clear yet whether another restaurant will be taking over the Beatrice Inn’s former location. Eater has reached out to Mar and Spirit Investment Partners for more information.

• The ‘Inn’ Is Out at the Beatrice, but History Still Holds Sway [NYT]