Chuck’s to leave current location this month, but owner plans to be open for 2017-18 academic year
Ally Moreo | Photo Editor
Updated: Friday, April 7 at 1:27 p.m.
The popular student bar Hungry Chuck’s will leave its current location later this month but its owner said the bar will likely be open for the 2017-18 academic year.
The bar announced in a Facebook post Thursday night that it will be moving into a new location for the “Class of 2018” and that it is leaving its current location on April 20. Steve Theobald, the bar’s owner, said Friday that the bar will host students for the final time in its current spot on the night of April 18.
“We have to balance what is good for the restaurant and what is good for our customers,” Theobald said. “We had to balance what was good for class of 2017 with what will be good for the class of 2018, 2019 , and beyond.”
Theobald said he is “very confident” the bar will reopen for the 2017-18 academic year and added that he hopes to announce its new location before the end of the spring. He declined to say whether the new location will be a permanent or temporary home for the bar, though he said it will be close to its current spot.
The bar’s current location is slated to be demolished to make way for an eight-story mixed-use complex. Previously, Theobald said he planned to reopen the bar in the mixed-used complex after construction, but it’s unclear if that’s still plan.
Developers from BLVD Equities, a real estate development firm based in New Jersey, are planning to construct the mixed-use complex that will include retail space and residences.
Chuck’s has been in a legal battle with project developers over the bar’s future in its current spot. Theobald last month filed a restraining order against the developers, preventing them from conducting an asbestos abatement inside Chuck’s, something that would at least temporarily require the bar to close.
Chuck’s also filed a lawsuit last month that challenges the asbestos abatement and its lease termination notice.
Theobald said the lawsuit is still active but declined to go into further detail Friday.
—Enterprise Editor Jacob Gedetsis contributed reporting to this article.
Published on April 6, 2017 at 11:53 pm
Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu