Anyone wanting a bite at Perfect Rack Billiards in Murray Hill have until Sunday. That's the last day the family-owned pool hall will be serving food. Cory Goff, who runs the 11-year-old business with his parents, said developer Sleiman Enterprises put up a fence at the end of its property last week blocking access to the restaurant's backyard which is interlocked with another property.
"Nothing can get back here," Goff told On Your Side on Friday. "We have oil that needs to get emptied ... our dumpster can no longer get picked up ... the kitchen produces a ton of waste."
Goff said the kitchen produces 50 percent of Perfect Rack's sales. "We had to layoff our (four) cooks as of Sunday, plus my mom," he added. The bar will remain open, but it may not be enough to sustain the business, according to a Facebook post Perfect Rack shared with its followers.
"We have attempted to have this resolved with multiple different building owners surrounding us to no avail," the Facebook post states. " ... but due to this fence issue, we are just trying to survive and not close our doors for good. This wasn't our decision or up for discussion, but something we are forced to do ... This issue is putting good, hardworking people out of jobs and effecting how we have operated for almost 12 years now."
Goff said the only other option was going to court, but that would cost $25,000. "We don't have that," he said.
Sleiman Enterprises released the following statement:
Sleiman Enterprises as adjacent property owner has exercised its rights to quiet enjoyment for our tenants located here.
The circumstance of an adjacent property relying on or passing through a neighbors parcel for access is not authorized and had created issues with respect to parking, use and control for activities off our site (legal or otherwise). There is no legal requirement or reliance for our parcel to serve as entryway to neighboring parcels. Our intention is to simply preserve access to our property, support our tenants’ needs and ensure our property is clean, safe and secure for tenants and their guests.
What we did was within our rights as property owners. Further, a fence had already been erected by the neighboring property owner, we merely added our own to uphold the principles of private property ownership.
