Ciao, Manhattans: Tracy Westmoreland Needs a New Investor

​It's only 11 weeks old, but Tracy Westmoreland's Prospect Heights bar, Manhattans, is in danger of ending up in a place even more chilly than a certain region of the Russian Federation. As Brooklyn the Borough originally reported, Westmoreland's newest dive has found itself on tenuous ground since its main investor announced he needed to pull out of the deal a few weeks ago.

Now, Westmoreland -- whose illustrious Midtown dive, Siberia, was a beloved haunt of both liver-impaired journalists and erstwhile barflies like Anthony Bourdain -- is seeking a new investor, and he's casting a wide net. "You can post my number," he tells Fork in the Road. "I don't think enough people know about this yet."


The bar, on Washington Avenue and St. Johns Place, has "a 15-year lease, and the owner can't tear the building down without cause," Westmoreland says. "The rent is $3,000 a month. It's got a great reputation. Everything is good. It's like having a Lexus without gas."

The growing number of bars and restaurants in the area, he adds, is "off the hook. Washington Avenue is going to be the new Bedford Avenue."

That said, much as Westmoreland likes the neighborhood, he's not a die-hard loyalist. "I want to keep the bar, but I don't know what the reality is," he says. "If someone wants to open a place in Manhattan, just tell them to call me."