Iconic Poncey-Highland watering hole Manuel’s Tavern on Friday, May 29, was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. National Park Service.
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Atlanta Preservation Center announced the designation in a Facebook post on Monday.
“Established in 1956 by Manuel Maloof, this popular Poncey-Highland neighborhood restaurant and bar is ‘associated with the undercurrent of Atlanta’s political and social realm,'” the organization wrote on the social media site.
“Manuel’s Tavern has long been recognized as a space welcoming to all, regardless of race, sex, or social status.”
Ahead of its 60th anniversary in 2016 Manuel’s underwent a minor renovation, and in 2019 Manuel Maloof’s grandson and namesake opened sister concept Manny’s Grant Park.
“Wow,” Manuel’s Tavern wrote in a Facebook post sharing Atlanta Preservation Center’s announcement Monday.
“We are so proud of this. In the middle of everything going on, we’ve received this really cool honor.”
The Tavern’s circa-1922 commercial building boasts an interior with “historic features” including “plaster walls with wooden wainscoting, terrazzo floors, and beadboard ceiling.”
The National Register of Historic Places, created as part of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, is the official list of “historic places” that are “worthy of preservation” in the United States.
As of 2019, there were more than 95,000 properties listed in the National Register.
In Atlanta, Manuel’s joins the likes of the Fox Theatre, Atlanta Biltmore Hotel, and the Oakland Cemetery on the list.
10 Responses
$25k a month overhead for a place barely open, limited staff, and already reduced rent. Something wrong with that picture
Not sure what his rent is, but add power, water, insurance and other monthly cost and I do not doubt that is is close to that. I know the rent for our bar is $15000.
I was shocked to learn they don’t own their building. Considering how long they’ve been open at that spot, I would have thought the Maloof’s would have purchased that real estate years ago.
They did own it, and sold it several years ago.
Interesting, any idea why they sold?!
https://atlantaintownpaper.com/2015/02/manuels-tavern-set-for-renovation-after-building-sold/
To quote from that article:
“The Maloof family is selling nearly 1.6 acres of property on the corner, which includes the Tavern building.”
I hate to say it, but in retrospect, selling just the parking lots, and keeping the building itself, would have left them in a much better shape now.
I totally agree, and I’m not really clear as to how they benefitted by selling the building. I suppose the new property owners/developers did/paid-for the
extensive renovations to Manuel’s.
But geez, Maloof must have gotten a boatload of money for those properties. And yet they’re crying poor and doing a GoFundMe? Seems like something was
mismanaged somewhere along the way…
A lot of times it’s a balance sheet game where the rent debt looks better than a massive mortgage debt. Makes no sense to me though.
For a 30-something year old that wants to live in Buckhead or Midtown, sure– a mortgage and all the the things that go along with
homeownership could look daunting as compared to renting.
That’s not the case here.
Unless they’ve done a bunch of cash-out refis etc, they should have very
little, if any, mortgage payments. There are so many tax benefits to
owning a building. You could put the building in an LLC and rent it to your business if need be. Very few businesses have the privilege of
owning their own building– they were one of the lucky few.
Manuel’s has been a gold mine. People go there to drink (heavily). Booze has a huge markup.They (pre-pandemic) had a built-in clientele. They blew through their PPP money, and didn’t come up with any
creative ways to keep more money flowing in– guess they just thought they were ‘all that.’
Damn, I would have thrown weekly (socially distanced & masked) block parties out in their back parking lot or something.
Unless I’m missing something (which wouldn’t be the first time) I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Manuel’s…