The decades-old McQuaids Irish Pub on 11th Avenue and W44th Street in Hell’s Kitchen has officially closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Irish bar, which has been operating in the neighborhood since 1994 — and before that, for many years in Chelsea on W23rd Street — was recently sold to investor Fation Syla.
While the closure represents the loss of a neighborhood institution, Syla sees the potential to usher in an exciting new chapter for the space. “It was no secret that it couldn’t be an Irish pub anymore. The area has changed so much,” he said. “So for me, it was deciding between investing half a million dollars into this place and changing it and revamping it and being in the restaurant business or just leasing it to somebody that’s already in the restaurant business that does this for a living.”
Syla, 28, is no stranger to the area, having started working at age 15 washing cars up the street at Mercedes of Manhattan. “That’s where I got my start. I was always into the motor, it’s something I do till this day and that’s my passion.” He subsequently founded and grew Enthusiast Auto Works in New Rochelle, NY, which services the needs of exotic vehicle owners from around the USA and Europe.
Now Syla’s property investment firm, F&K Management, has purchased the six-story, 15,000-square-foot building for $7.3 million, taking over from Tom McQuaid, his son children Tommy, Colm, Mark and Cathy, and partners.. The upper floors, originally built on top of the single-story bar by the McQuaids as office space, have sat vacant since construction finished in 2020.
“These guys are blue-collar people who had to keep coming up with $70,000 or $80,000 a month, which gets tired quick. And they had a balloon payment coming due,” Bernadette Brennan, a commercial broker with the firm Serhant who helped market the property told Crain’s. “We’re seeing this more and more lately.”
Syla plans to reimagine the building for modern hospitality uses. “We’ve had talks with somebody wanting to take the whole building and put in a dumb waiter. They were planning to have one kitchen to service the whole building,” Syla said of the vision to potentially develop a ground-floor restaurant, rooftop bar, and event spaces/dining experiences in between.
Though Syla has ruled out revamping the pub himself, he hopes to bring in experienced restaurant operators. “You just have to find the right tenants to put in there and then the clientele will always come,” he stated optimistically.
While McQuaids may have closed, Syla’s ambitious plans could flip the script to open a new chapter of hospitality on the far West Side. The idea of a rooftop will certainly be attractive to those who will mourn the loss of The Press Lounge later this month.
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Regulars of McQuaids have been sad to see it go. Davis Janowski would pop by on the way back from Manhattan Kayak Club: “Some of us at the boathouse used to regularly stop in for drinks and food after trips,” he said. “It was also quite entertaining to watch the (seemingly long) construction of that multi-story structure over the top of the bar without disturbing the bar itself.”
Deborah Heard named McQuaids one of her favorite places when she shared her West Side Story last year. “It’s heartbreaking to no longer see McQuaids Bar. It’s not the same when you walk by and not see the presence of the patrons outside, their silly comments about my barking Jack Russell. You will definitely be missed. Wishing the McQuaids family all the best,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ellen Hunter, who prides herself on having dined in every Michelin-starred restaurant in NYC, said on Instagram: “I walked by today, and my heart broke! Gonna miss you guys so much. Thank you for all the amazing memories,”
“Thank you first to all of the pub’s great regulars for making us a part of the neighborhood from 1994 until the present,” the McQuaid family said in a statement sent to W42ST last night.
“It has been truly an honor with so many great memories. It’s been nice to watch Hell’s Kitchen grow into one of the best neighborhoods in the city during that time. Thank you to everyone in the community for their support.”
I grew up 530W46th
worked at UPS three times in my life McQ’s was a great lunch or after (lol) spot
I’m going to miss it. Yes, as the sneering quote from Bernadette Brennan says, “they’re blue collar people.” These days in Hell’s Kitchen, I guess fewer and fewer of us are. McQuaids was one of the first places to reopen after the Covid lockdowns. Being able to go out and get a pint was such a joy in such a bleak time, even if I had to drink it on the sidewalk. That’s one of the many good memories about McQuaids that I will keep.
Myself and my husband have many great memories of McQuaids we had all three of our baby shower big parties there last party 2010 sad to see them go great family.
Loveeeeee Tom. Loveeeeeed McQuaids. I worked at Honda Manhattan back in 2013 and it was afterwork happy hour spot that turned into my favorite bar! I will NEVER forget this place. I just can’t.
This big hearted bar helped pave the way for every bar in Hell’s Kitchen. Our sincere gratitude. You will be greatly missed.
Not understanding how a 28 year old has so much money?
Lots of media talk about poor millennials – but NYC luxury buildings and restaurants are packed with millennials and Gen Z who apparently are actually quite affluent.