The much-anticipated return of Amy Sacco’s famed Chelsea hot spot Bungalow 8 at 357 W. 16th Street has ended in drama, Page Six has learned.
The local Community Board was so adamant that Bungalow — and Sacco — stay away from the space next to the Dream Downtown that it insisted the joint must not be called “Bungalow,” or involve Sacco in any way.
“[We] reached an agreement [the space] will not be called Bungalow 8 (or Bungalow anything) and that Amy Sacco ‘is not and shall not be an employee, owner or consultant’ at that location,” Community Board 4’s Robert J. Benfatto, Jr. told us.
Sources say that LDV Hospitality, which had partnered with Sacco on the new Bungalow 8, is now “scrambling for a new concept.”
“Now they need a new plan,” a source said.
LDV’s plan has been to open a gastropub. But when it partnered with Sacco, CB4 members grew nervous, fearing what was initially billed as a restaurant would become a wild, late-night-bottles-and-models party palace.
“The Bungalow 8 that was on 27th Street and Amy Sacco have nothing to do with a gastropub, nothing to do with food — only to do with bottle service, Page Six and celebrities,” a board member sniffed.
Last week the board asked that the space’s liquor license be put on hold till a Tuesday hearing. But LDV signed an agreement Friday to completely drop the Bungalow name from its plans on West 16th Street.
It’s unclear whether LDV, which reportedly bought the Bungalow brand from Sacco, keeping her on as a creative consultant, will now seek a different spot for their venture. LDV and Sacco didn’t return requests for comment.
Benfatto also denied reports LDV misled the board. “There has been some confusion . . . suggesting [CB4] had been ‘duped,’” he said. “This is not correct. [LDV’s] decision . . . to acquire the Bungalow 8 brand . . . occurred after they had . . . presented their application to the board.”