Northern Territory (12 Franklin St.) is closing for the winter, and summer 2019 will be the popular bar’s last at the current Franklin Street location.
You can come to say goodbye in person to the Northern Territory crew at their Winter Hibernation Party on Saturday, Nov. 17, from 4 p.m. – close, where Greenpointers staff will be guest bartending with pumpkin spice hot mulled apple cider, a crowd favorite from our Samhain Fall Market.
Owner Jamie Toll says the cold winter months bring a large reduction of customers along with significantly less foot traffic near the once-barren waterfront region at the border of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.
The rooftop lounge at Northern Territory closed during the previous winters and is a major draw with its beautiful views of Manhattan during the booming summer months.
“Because next summer will be our last summer, it doesn’t really make sense for us to stay open for the winter months. What we would see on a summer’s day we’re seeing as little as three quarters less profit,” he said. “It was a biting the bullet moment. We decided to pay the rent and lick our wounds,” Toll said about closing this winter for the first time.
Despite the seasonal discrepancy, Toll and managing partner Katie Bruce would like to stay at the bar’s current Greenpoint location.”It’s definitely picking up every year,” said Bruce in regards to winter business for the bar, which opened in 2014.
Bruce and Toll met as early employees at Berry Park and witnessed both the rapid transformation of McCarren Park and Franklin Street into viable business regions over the past decade.
Toll moved fulltime to New York from Australia in 2003 and recalls the days when the L train was considered ‘no man’s land’ heading into Brooklyn at night. With the impending L train shutdown, he sees a potential to get a fair rent nearby in Williamsburg while the Canarsie Tunnel is under construction, as there are now few undeveloped areas remaining in North Brooklyn. “Nothing’s come up in the neighborhood…unless something really amazing comes up, we’ll probably head toward Williamsburg,” Toll said.
The team began planning their next move after their landlord announced that the entire block of Franklin Street between Meserole Avenue and N. 15 Street will be razed for a seven-story office and manufacturing building expected to open in 2021.
