Barcade’s Chelsea Location Sells for $3.4M

“I think Chelsea is on fire,” Chris Okada, the head of Okada Acquisitions, told Commercial Observer. “It’s still extremely trendy. The buildings and everything is changing.”  

The property spans 6,500 square feet at the Chelsea location between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, Mr. Okada said. That amounts to 4,000 feet on the ground floor and 2,500 square feet in the basement. The rest of the 59,500-square-foot, 12-story building is office space, building records show.

Mr. Okada said he’s been chasing the property for close to three years, even before Barcade opened in June 2014 with its craft beer and 1980s video game machines. But an initial deal fell through, he said, and he kept pursuing it until this deal closed last month.

“I’ve been trying to buy this for a couple of years,” he said. “We never got a contract. I stayed on top of it.”

Barcades have been popping up all over trendy neighborhoods throughout the city. The first locations were in Williamsburg at 388 Union Avenue between Powers and Ainslie Streets, as well as in Jersey City and Philadelphia. The Chelsea location, which had begun applying for community approval for a liquor license in late 2012, finally opened last year following a lengthy remodeling, according to DNAinfo. It was the first of the locations to have a full kitchen, serving up high-quality pub food.

Mr. Okada hasn’t been just a fan of the Chelsea space, but the bar, too, since he threw a happy hour there last night to celebrate the purchase.

The seller of 148 West 24th Street, listed in property records as Rye, New York-based Guru State, could not immediately be reached for comment.