Vic Christopher, owner of Clark House Hospitality in Troy, shown in April of this year in an area of the company's Little Peck's cafe that has been turned into a small market. Little Pecks is within the larger Clark House building, at 207-217 Broadway. (Photo by Konrad Odhiambo.)
Konrad Odhiambo
The scene outside Clark House Hospitality's businesses in Troy on Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (Provided photo.)
Courtesy: Vic Christopher
The first business in the circa-1870s Clark House, at 207-217 Broadway in Troy, was The Grocery, as seen in 2013. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
Cindy Schultz
TROY — In a stunning development as restaurants emerge from the coronavirus-related shutdown, the main building of Clark House Hospitality, a company at the center of the Collar City's dining renaissance over the past eight years, was deemed unsafe by city code and fire officials and ordered closed Thursday. It was the first night for inside table service at two of the restaurants in the building, Donna's Italian and Little Pecks, since the state ordered dining rooms and bars closed in mid-March.
"Somehow they have come to the absurd conclusion that we have created a fire hazard with this building," said Clark House owner Vic Christopher. He said the building has been open for business, with all the necessary city permits, since fall 2013, when he opened a market called The Grocery there, and in its current form, with restaurants, retail and an upstairs bar, since January 2015.
"The city acted precipitously. There was no reason for it," said veteran Troy attorney E. Stewart Jones Jr., who is advising Christopher on the matter. "The city has a way of making things far worse than they have to be and getting in the way of progress," said Jones. "This is nuts."
The closure order affixed to the door of Clark House cites a section of city code titled "Unsafe buildings." The subsection listed on the order includes a variety of conditions that would justify official shuttering, among them being "structurally unsafe, unsanitary, or not provided with adequate egress, or which constitute a fire hazard, or are otherwise dangerous to human life, or which in relation to existing use constitute a hazard to safety or health by reason of inadequate maintenance, dilapidation, obsolescence or abandonment."
Christopher, who has been renovating the upper floors of Clark House during the coronavirus-related shutdown, said he invited city code and fire officials to tour the building with him and the structural engineer Christopher hired to work on Clark House. A previous fire chief had been in the building and patronized its businesses, Christopher said, but Fire Chief Eric McMahon, sworn in to the top post last year, has not. Christopher said McMahon expressed surprise and dismay at some elements of the building during the Wednesday tour, including an unfinished staircase the starts on the ground floor and lack of fire-suppression sprinklers on the third and fourth floors, which are not presently in use.
But, Christopher said, "We came to an agreement, a compromise. I thought we had an understanding about what they wanted to be done."
Instead, Christopher was notified by phone Thursday afternoon, and the closure order was put up on the building around 5 p.m. Thursday.
A statement emailed from Troy Mayor Patrick Madden's office Thursday night referenced the tour and said, "City staff witnessed a number of significant deficiencies, and the buildings were ordered closed." The statement further said Christopher had failed to provide engineering and architectural documentation related to renovations and thus no permit has been issued for the work.
Christopher denied that he lacked the necessary permits. "It doesn't make any sense. This has to be politically motivated," he said.
Jones echoed the sentiment, saying, "The city action is so disproportionate to the offense and so inconsiderate of reality of the situation and what's happening right now that there has to be more behind it. ... Obviously, these are political acts."
Troy Mayor Patrick Madden and McMahon, the fire chief, did not return messages left on their cell phones seeking comment.
Christopher vowed to file for an emergency injunction to allow Clark House's businesses to be open while he addressed the city's concerns. Jones, who cautioned that legal remedies are expensive and lengthy, said, "The city and Vic should work this thing out, and quickly."
Jones added, "Vic has been a life force for downtown. He's been a creative, entrepreneurial genius who brought a lot of new vitality and youthful energy with his restaurants. With somebody like that, you go to him and tell him what you think the problems are, and you figure out a way to get them fixed. There was no reason for (the city) to act so expansively."
The statement from the mayor's office said, "The city is responsible for protecting the safety of customers, employees and adjacent properties, and (is) prepared to work with the property owner to resolve outstanding issues.”
Clark House, a 12,000-square-foot, four-story brick building dating to the 1870s, was a former department store and hotel. It had long been vacant before being bought and renovated starting in 2013 by Christopher and this then-wife and business partner, Heather LaVine. A few months earlier they had opened a wine bar called Lucas C0nfectionery in another historic building they had purchased and renovated, at 12 Second St. A contemporary restaurant called Peck's Arcade, named after the 19th-century department store, opened in Clark House in 2015, and the contiguous spaces continued to evolve. Thursday was the official opening of Donna's Italian, a previous Christopher concept that he brought back to replace Peck's Arcade. Little Pecks served throughout the pandemic shutdown, and part of its space became a market and revival of The Grocery name.
In preparation for the reopening, Christopher put seven furloughed employees back on the payroll, bringing the staff to 21, and restocked food and alcohol to serve outdoor and dining-room customers at Donna's Italian, Little Peck's and Lucas Confectionery. He said the city's order precludes him and his team from using any part of Clark House, where the kitchen that supplied the wine bar is located. Since the Lucas Confectionery building was unaffected by the city's closure order, Christopher said, the team hoped to devise a plan to allow them to serve customers on Friday or over the weekend from the wine bar.
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Clark House in Troy shut down by city, safety cited - Times Union
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