Reprieve: Ruby's Bar And Paul's Daughter Offered Long Term Leases!

(Flickr User Skyliner72)

There's a dramatic twist in the endless saga of the Coney Island boardwalk: two longstanding Mom & Pop enterprises are being offered long term leases by the same company that worked so hard to drive them out. Beloved boardwalk dive Ruby's Old Tyme Bar & Grill and classic snack shop Paul's Daughter were supposed to vacate by the end of the month. But at the eleventh hour, foreign amusement company Zamperla is offering them an eight year lease, NY1 reports. But what about the year-round upscale sports bar and cappuccino complex Coney Island so desperately needs?!

You'll recall that Zamperla had enlisted Miami developers to come in and make the boardwalk a year-round destination, the kind of place where—as one developer put it—you could "read your book outside on this nice boardwalk, sit in nice comfortable chairs and have a nice cappuccino or ice coffee." But the Post reports that the deal has collapsed, in part because Coney Cones, the ice cream parlor they opened on the boardwalk in July, "has been a huge bust."

So instead of going into summer with empty shells where Ruby's and Paul's Daughter used to be, Zamperla is trying to win them back. No deal has been finalized, and Ruby's owner is not commenting during negotiations, but the Post hears that if they stay at their existing locations, they would "have to agree to significant capital improvements, staying open year-round and filling new jobs locally." Aw, no more falling through holes in the floor at Ruby's? That's part of the charm!