Something a little apocalyptic is going on at 25th & 10th, formerly Joe’s Tavern

Neighbor John writes in with a question: what’s going on with the dilapidated building on 25th & 10th (pictured here)? We took a walk down there and can confirm that the scene is a bit apocalyptic—we couldn’t even make out what the old bar sign used to say, and we see a Polymarket banner posted with questions that are provocative to the point of insanity (“What are you voting for?” - and then “Retirement” “Gun Control” “Climate” and “Housing,” as though I can hop on my phone right now and make $50 betting against housing…). Anyway, we did a little digging and there is actually quite a bit of history here—here is what we found:

As detailed quite colorfully in this blog, that very old sign says “Joe’s Tavern,” and Joe appears to have closed his tavern around the late 1980s or early-1990s‍. (Also, a man named Martin Grealish appears to have owned a saloon in the same spot in the late 1800s; seriously the blog post is worth a read). The property has been owned by NYC (designated as Block 722, Lot 74) for as far back and we can trace property records. From the city’s perspective, the entire lot is currently valued at $3.073 million (Zillow estimates $5.1 million) and the building has one commercial unit (i.e., Joe’s former spot downstairs) and three residential units above, at least two of which appear to have people actually living in them, based on the air conditioners and shades in the windows.

So what does this all mean for purposes of your neighbor’s original question? The tavern that was formerly Joe’s has been out of service for nearly 40 years and the owner doesn’t have any incentive to do anything about it because the owner is the city and isn’t paying anything in property taxes. For things to change, someone who really loves a fixer upper will have to come along and buy the place off the city, probably for pennies on the dollar.

In the meantime, from the comfort of our apartments and phones, we can all continue to bet on gun control, retirement, “climate,” and housing. We’re short all four, if you were wondering.