With Nuchie's on market for purchase, city officials, owners looking into option that would see building demolished

BRISTOL – City officials and Mike Pasqualicchio said they are working together to explore the potential future sale of the iconic Bristol venue Nuchie's or other options for its future in a grant application process.

"The Nuchie's building is on the market for sale," Bristol Economic and Community Development Director Justin Malley said. "We (the economic and community development office) help all kinds of folks, folks that are selling their commercial properties and folks that are looking for commercial tenants. We help businesses in all sorts of different ways."

Malley said he started working with brothers and Nuchie's owners Mike and David Pasqualicchio in the exploration of the venue's future after the property went on the market in 2020. One option that came forward, Malley said, was the potential to apply for a competitive Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

"The grant program is designed for flood prone properties and properties that are within a flood zone and or in a difficult placement near a floodway," Malley said. "The purpose of the grant program, you can apply to FEMA to have them purchase the property. The reason for this is that FEMA pays out flood insurance claims on the most flood prone properties and FEMA created this program for certain properties. It made more sense to buy them and have them demolished than to continue to pay out flood insurance claims (many times)."

Malley said it was a difficult program to qualify for but told the Pasqualicchio brothers it may be worth exploring. The building is still on the market for sale as well, however.

Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said the 164 Central St. location was economically viable for interested business entities as it played host to many events throughout the years. It is set atop the underground Pequabuck River. The grant application is simply another option for the brothers to explore.

"We have to complete a grant application to determine if the property is even eligible or not," Malley said. "At the same time, it may sell on the open market and that's OK."

The director said nothing was set in stone, however, and the office would still need to seek City Council approval before any grant application could move forward.

"We weren't necessarily looking to retire but we were forced out of business," said Nuchie's co-owner, Mike Pasqualicchio. "We were in business for 45 years."

The Nuchie's proprietor said he and his brother weren't typical owners and did whatever job needed doing around the banquet hall, whether that was washing dishes or cleaning the floor.

"We did every aspect of the job," Pasqualicchio said. "We had talked about retirement but weren't necessarily ready for it. Covid closed us down. We decided going back would be too tough for us at our age in our 60s. Here we are trying to sell the building and business."

Pasqualicchio said he felt the business had built a good reputation over the years and area residents would be hard pressed to find anyone that would speak ill of it. He said there weren't a lot of individuals looking to go into the banquet hall business at the moment as pandemic-related troubles continue for many and selling the property had become a bit of a challenge in itself.

The owner said he felt there were good opportunities though for young individuals looking to start a business in restaurants or a similarly themed industry as the building has much of the already needed equipment and accoutrements for such ventures. He said he and his brother have had several conversations with interested parties but no deals had been struck yet.

Pasqualicchio noted flooding had never impeded the operation of business at Nuchie's. There had been water in its basement less than a handful of times that he could remember over its several decades of operation. He noted the basement had a pump. Nuchie's latest problems came about as a result of the same problem that many other businesses have faced over the last year, a pandemic.

"We're facilitating various options for them as they transition to retirement, but this is owner driven," Zoppo-Sassu said.

Pasqualicchio said he and brother David had not applied for the FEMA grant as of yet, but "weren't close to a wrecking ball by any means." He said he and his brother had seen one of their best periods of business they could remember before the pandemic hit, but it had drained them, as many other businesses, of a lot of resources.

Nuchie's is currently going for $590,000 and its realtor is Scott Bayne with Bay-Mar Realty.

"It's fully stocked and wouldn't take you that long to go in there and get the business running," Mike Pasqualicchio said. "It's a great opportunity for anybody that has an interest in banquet or restaurant business for that kind of price, but it's covid that's killing it."