Birdsall House to open in early 2010

One of Peekskill’s landmark taverns plans to reopen as a part of the city’s future and a reminder of the city’s past.

The former Connelly’s bar on Main Street, under the guidance of new operators Tim Reinke and John Sharp, will be called Birdsall House in honor of one of Peekskill’s founders, Daniel Birdsall, who played host to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War.

The new Birdsall House is targeting February for its launch date. The restaurant and bar will feature nearly two dozen New York state craft beers on draught and a unique menu.

“It’s not going to be your typical pub fare,” Reinke said.  “We won’t be serving just a traditional burgers and fries menu. The idea is to make the food a little more interesting and affordable as well. We’re calling it a gastro-pub.”

Reinke and Sharp signed a lease with the Connelly family in November to run the new operation. The Connellys ran their bar at the Main Street building beginning in the 1940s after moving from a previous location just down the street that started in 1935. The senior Mr. Connelly was granted the first liquor license in Peekskill following the lifting of Prohibition and may have been the first to operate a legal bar during the 1930s in all of New York state.

The new Birdsall House will feature the famed length of the space bar that regular Connelly’s visitors remember and the booths that came from the original site. The wall in the front of the space will contain historical reminders of the area’s history of Revolutionary War times. George Washington gave command of West Point to Benedict Arnold at the Birdsall House on the other side of Main Street and General Washington used the site as his area command post for the Continental Army.

The new operators have a lot of experience in the restaurant business. Reinke is a partner in the Blind Tiger, a restaurant and beer bar at 281 Bleecker St. in the Village that’s been in operation for ten years. Sharp has worked in the business since he was 16 and his running his own place for the first time.

Both men are sold on the potential that Peekskill offers as a destination area for dining out and entertainment in the region.

“I moved here five years ago from New York, and I’ve always seen the potential of the town,” Sharp said. “I believe all the building blocks are here. It just needs people to come in and put the finishing touch on it. Hopefully that’s what we’re helping to do.”

As more restaurants open in the North Division and Main street area, more people will be drawn to Peekskill, he believes.

“I’m very confident in downtown Peekskill. It’s the place to be,” Sharp said. “I think it’s a great area for upper Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley as a destination spot for entertainment and meals.

“The key to any town coming back is people being on the streets. And people won’t be on the streets if they don’t have a reason to be there. The more places that open, the more people there will be on the sidewalk and that changes everything.”

Both Sharp and Reinke appreciate the help they received in getting in touch with the Connelly family, who had many inquiries about the space.

They contacted Peekskill councilwoman Drew Claxton and the city’s economic development specialist Chris Marra who helped them reach out to the Connellys and sign the lease for the building. Mr. Connelly’s surviving son Jim and the rest of the family were looking for the right operators to reopen the business. His brother Steve passed away in December of 2008.

 “They’re very sensitive about this space because their father ran it for 50 years and they grew up here,” Sharp said. “They worked here when they were 18 so they were very particular about what was going to happen in the space. It took two years but we finally got them to lease us the space.”

To read more about the Birdsall House, go to www.birdsallhouse.net