Swan Dive pizza shop and bar — an eight-year fixture in Rochester’s East and Alexander neighborhood — is likely closing at the end of the year.
The eatery’s lease is expiring, and co-owner Nick Ryan says the business is struggling with the city’s downtown entertainment district. A "for lease" sign is now up on the front of the building.
“Our position right now is we've been trying to negotiate our lease to just more favorable terms,” Ryan said. “We're up at the end of the year and, as it stands, it seems like that (closure) is what it's looking like for us.”
The entertainment district was put in place last September in response to a nearby shooting. From 10 p.m. Saturdays to 2 a.m. Sundays, the district is barricaded, requiring patrons to enter through a security checkpoint.
Mayor Malik Evans created the district restrictions as part of his Gun Violence State of Emergency. But Ryan said that practice has created a worsening perception of public safety in the neighborhood and driven customers away.
“If you go down Sixth Street in Austin by the University (of Texas), they have that, and it's good,” he said. “It makes sense, right? And no one cares about it, because they're all out for the same thing. They want to be safe. They want to have a good time. I think maybe it was kind of a rash reaction from the city to immediately just be like, ‘There was one more incident,’ and then that just sparked the change immediately.”
Swan Dive isn’t the first business to claim hardship from the district. Axes and Ales, the axe-throwing bar on East Avenue, announced its closure over the summer. Owner Beau Warren referred to the district as a “police state” and cited a precipitous drop in business following the launch of the barricades.
A city spokesperson said there are no plans at the moment to pull back or change the entertainment district.
The issues facing businesses in the East End and the effect of the entertainment district will be explored in depth in the November issue of CITY Magazine, available on newsstands Oct. 30.
