West Village Wine Bar Coming to Former Tapas Place

A new wine bar that plans to offer more than 100 different bottles by the glass will take over the former Carma Asian Tapas storefront in the West Village, despite uncertainty over when indoor dining will return to New York City, Commercial Observer has learned.

Temperance Wine Bar signed a 10-year lease for 3,000 square feet at S&H Realty’s 38-40 Carmine Street between Bleecker and Bedford Streets, according to tenant broker Steve Rappaport of Sinvin Realty. Asking rent was $90 per square foot.

The space includes 1,500 square feet on the ground floor and 1,500 square feet in the basement, Rappaport said. It also has a 1,000-square-foot backyard and 30 feet of frontage for outdoor seating.

“We scoured the city for the best home for Temperance,” Rappaport said in a statement. “This wine bar’s innovative approach, a proprietary system enabling 100-plus different bottles to be available by the glass seemed perfect for the Village. And 38 Carmine offered everything.

“Clinching the deal in the COVID environment was the outdoor seating in the gorgeous backyard patio and on Carmine Street,” Rappaport added.

Restaurants have been reeling during the coronavirus pandemic, which forced them to switch to take-out or delivery models, and the majority could not pay their rent in July. Thousands are not expected to survive.

The city indefinitely postponed the return of indoor dining on July 6, and on Monday Mayor Bill de Blasio hinted that it may not come back until 2021, Eater New York reported.

Restaurant owners previously told CO that outdoor dining has been a help, but it’s no replacement for indoor eating. They pleaded with the local government last week to develop a plan for the resumption of indoor dining with one trade group considering a lawsuit to force the return.

That hasn’t stopped some restaurant and bar owners from signing deals in recent months. Temperance’s negotiations for the space started during the pandemic and the amount of outdoor space sealed the deal, said Gavios Realty’s Aaron Gavios, who represented the landlord in the deal.

“We’re very excited to have this state-of-the-art wine bar,” Gavios said. “We think that there really isn’t any wine bar on the Carmine Street corridor and it’s very exciting to add that to the neighborhood.”

Aside from Temperance, other restaurant deals announced this month include food hall operator 16” on Center taking 13,000 square feet at the Starrett-Lehigh Building, UrbanSpace inking a deal to open a 10,000-square-foot outpost at Zero Irving and Greek eatery Avra Estiatorio signing on for 16,500 square feet at 1271 Avenue of the Americas.