As the Stockton University and South Jersey Gas buildings have been rising a block away, there’s been some new interest in the closed bar on the corner of Harrisburg and Atlantic Aves in Atlantic City. But owner Gabriel Elkaim, a frequent customer when the property was better-known as Grabel’s, hasn’t felt ready to sell yet.
“It’s a very, very good spot,” Elkaim said.
Elkaim said he used to go to Grabel’s all the time when he lived in the area. He used to know the owner, Harry Grabel.
Elkaim bought the bar for $300,000 in 2009 from the bank, property documents show. Harry and Dorris Grabel had sold the property in 2005 for $970,000 but the bar’s brief stint as O’Grady’s ended in foreclosure just two years later.
The current owner was coy about the offers he’s received, but said he thinks the property has a lot of potential. “It could be a mini supermarket, a restaurant or a bar,” he said.
“I think it’s a very upcoming area… The college, the gas company – everything is coming up.”