Taps Goes Up for Sale in North Sea
Rich Decker has listed for sale his pub and restaurant at 1271 North Sea Road—known since April 2013 as Taps.
“I got it to be as best as I could get it to be, run by an investor such as myself…” Decker says. “Now it’s time for a restaurateur to take it over—it’s ready to rock.”
Decker explains that he secured a 20-year lease on the property, and the lease is transferable. He is selling the remaining 19 years on the lease, listed for $525,000.
He says the restaurant business isn’t really about how many burgers and how much beer one can sell. “The restaurant business is all about securing the real estate.”
For example, he says a successful restaurant with a five-year lease with soon find its rent quadrupled. “The rents are insane,” he observes. “That’s why there’s so much turnover.”
But with a 20-year lease, and the work he’s already put into the building, “Somebody can run a real operation and grow, if they’re a restaurateur,” he says.
Decker owned the business with a partner under the name North Sea Tavern starting in 2012. Then he bought out his partner, renovated the building, and rebranded it Taps, with a new theme and menu. The bar was expanded to include more seating and 14 beer taps. There are foosball and pool tables, plus darts.
According to the Corcoran Real Estate listing, Taps has 42 seats in the bar, 61 seats in the restaurant, 1,100 square feet of patio, a 4 a.m. liquor license and an upstairs apartment.
Decker says Taps will continue to be open seven days a week. “I grew up in that area and I believe they need their neighborhood bar.”