Landmark bar Downey's is for sale
The bar - a fixture at Front and South Streets since 1976 - was the subject of a "Bar Rescue" in 2011.
Not one but two Philadelphia-area bars seen on the Spike TV show Bar Rescue are in play.
Osteria Calabria in Glenside - shown last September in a Jon Taffer renovation that its owners never entirely bought into - has closed as the building was sold. It is planning to resurface in Huntingdon Valley.
Now comes word via a press release from Colliers International that it has the listing for Front and South Streets, the home of the Irish bar Downey's, which was featured on Bar Rescue's first season. The Philadelphia Business Journal pegs the asking price at $2.9 million.
Jack Downey opened at 526 S. Front St. in 1976 and sold the business and property in late 2003 to Dominic Centofanti, his chef. Centofanti has not had it easy.
Ten years ago this weekend, the apartment upstairs was the scene of a suicide, as Centofanti's brother shot their mother and turned the gun on himself.
In May 2011, Taffer and crew taped a makeover of Downey's - which turned out to be less than two months after the city shut down the bar for two days after a disastrous health inspection. The episode premiered in July. All this unpleasantry followed a bankruptcy filing in 2010 and a threatened sheriff's sale in 2011 to satisfy nearly $2.4 million owed to Wells Fargo and the city.
Court documents suggest that Downey's tax issues have been resolved. It is on a payment plan with the city over real estate taxes. It's still operating.
The listing from Colliers says the restaurant, liquor license and apartment are included.