The owners of the Third Street Cafe have bought the bar next door.
The owners of an embattled Midtown bar have bought the bar next door, adding another wrinkle to their long conflict with the city.
Last Friday, the owners of the Third Street Café, Tony Paliometros and Frank Karnouskos, closed on the purchase of the former Taproom, according to the Dauphin County Recorder of Deeds. The bars are located directly next to each other along the 1400-block of N. 3rd Street in Harrisburg.
Chris Wilson, attorney for the Third Street Café, characterized the purchase as an opportunistic investment. He said that his clients’ plans are not yet firm, but, at some point, they hope to knock down the interior wall separating the buildings to expand their business.
Wilson added that Paliometros and Karnouskos would like to make substantial improvements to the former Taproom as part of the expansion.
“My clients are interested in investing and making the property better and the business nicer,” he said.
The Third Street Café has been locked in conflict with the Papenfuse administration since March 2015, when the owners received notification that the city was revoking their business license. The city then refused to issue the bar a 2016 business license.
The bar owners appealed both the license revocation and the denial to the Dauphin County court. Several months ago, Judge Andrew Dowling rejected the city’s argument that the bar was a magnet for trouble. He also said that state laws trump local regulations for establishments that hold liquor licenses. He then ordered the city to issue the Third Street Café a business license, a decision the city has appealed to the Commonwealth Court.
Coincidentally, the city also revoked the Taproom’s business license last year. Owner Dave Larche did not appeal and closed down his business at the end of 2015. Several months ago, he put the property on the market for $129,000, eventually selling it to Paliometros and Karnouskos for $92,000.
Wilson said that the building’s new owners hope to work with the city as they go about renovating the property. He acknowledged that the long-dilapidated block is undergoing rapid redevelopment, which may lead his clients to rethink their business model, possibly expanding food and drink options.
Last year, the sleek, new Susquehanna Art Museum opened directly across the street and, this year, ModernRugs.com began renovating two large, long-blighted buildings on the block—the former home of the local Volunteers of America and of Midtown Paint & Hardware. Just yesterday, Mayor Eric Papenfuse received permission from the Harrisburg Architectural Review Board to begin façade improvements to the properties that he owns on that block at 1421-23 N. 3rd St.
Papenfuse declined comment for this story.
Author: Lawrance Binda
