Parking could plague Island Park partiers

Eateries concerned about space amid construction

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With Memorial Day approaching, many Island Park residents are getting ready to spend some warm summer nights at the waterfront restaurants Island Park is known for: Paddy McGee’s, Coyote Grill, Jordan Lobster Farms and the catering hall Warehouse 5.

But with the ongoing construction of the King Kullen shopping center — which has closed off the area’s main parking field — some residents are concerned that the start of the club season on Barnum Island could lead to more traffic and noise on residential streets.

John Vitale, who owns all four of those establishments as well as the King Kullen center, said he recognizes the possible problem and is working to address it. Part of the parking area, he explained, is expected to be completed this week, just in time for the unofficial start of summer. “As long as we don’t have a monsoon in the next week,” he joked.

Vitale’s other plan is more long-term. “We’ve added an outdoor seating area at Paddy McGee’s,” he said. “We’re trying to emphasize more of the restaurant and the day business, and trying not to be … as much of a club.”

Vitale said he wants to try to distance Paddy McGee’s and Coyote Grill from the “club” image they have taken on and make them more family-friendly restaurants by attracting more business during the day and early evening than late at night.

He also said that the only one of his establishments that he really considers a “club” is Warehouse 5, which is open to the public as a nightclub on Tuesday nights.

“We have it pretty much sequenced out so that when Warehouse is open on a Tuesday, [patrons] can use some of the parking from Paddy McGee’s and some of the adjoining property,” Vitale said. “There’s a game plan in place.”

The waterfront bars will also have more parking thanks to another restaurant, Montego Bay, which is not owned by Vitale. “Montego Bay is not opening,” Vitale said, “and we have an agreement with [the owner] to let us use some of his parking.” An automated message at Montego Bay says that the restaurant will not be open for the 2012 season, but does not say why. Calls to the owner were not returned as of press time.

Vitale’s ultimate goal, he said, is to shift the times that patrons visit his establishments, spreading business out over the week instead of having most people come at night, as is the case now.

“Paddy McGee’s gets lumped in as a club, and we’re trying not to run it as a club,” Vitale said. “We’re trying to run it as a casual, more family-friendly daytime place. That’s the goal. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”