Published: December 29, 2007 01:53 am      

NIAGARA FALLS: Fence riles Shorty's owners

Past and present Pine Avenue restaurant owners tangle over small parcel of land

As soon as Shorty’s Ultimate Sports Bar and Grill opened recently, the owner of a small slip of nearby parking lot put up a chain-link fence and effectively shut off about 15 parking spaces.

The result has been a parking shortage for Shorty’s, which sits at 27th Street and Pine Avenue, and exasperation from the restaurant’s owners.

“We tried to open a place of business and he put up a fence,” said Anthony Fasciano, who co-owns Shorty’s with Paulie Talarico. Fasciano, standing outside of the restaurant, gestured towards the fence. “Look at this eyesore,” he said.

Shorty’s currently only has about 20 spots for people to park. Customers have been forced to find street parking nearby, a tough situation in such a congested area, Fasciano said. A tentative deal to buy the now fenced-off parking lot was broken off by its owner several years ago, he said.

The slip of land is owned by Larry Pacifico, owner of Honey’s Niagara Falls on Military Road in the Town of Niagara. Pacifico owned a Honey’s where Shorty’s sits now, but he lost the property to foreclosure in 2004. Nelson Fasciano, Anthony’s brother, bought the property in July 2004.

However, the small strip of parking lot was a different parcel.

Fasciano said he’s upset at the eyesore the fence creates, and that it’s the result of a jealous former owner trying to hurt their business.

Pacifico allowed customers of the nearby T. Gana and Son Fruit and Produce and Subway to park there until Shorty’s opened. He said the fence protects him from liability, such as accidents or falls, that could happen with the added traffic to the parcel.

“Some people were thinking that I did it vindictively, but that wasn’t the case at all,” he said.

Pacifico offered the Honey’s owners the chance to lease the property several months ago, but that was declined, he said. Pacifico declined to discuss specifics of the lease offer.

“My interest is to either lease it or have myself insured and protect myself against possible problems,” he said.

Pacifico said that he had conversations with Anthony Fasciano about buying the lot several years ago, but called them “casual.”

“I said maybe I was interested, but I didn’t talk to him for eight or nine months and then I said to (Anthony) that I changed my mind,” he said.

Negotiating a lease for the lot is still a possibility, Pacifico said.

Ralph Aversa, Niagara Falls NFC executive director, called the fence a disappointment.

“I personally would never do something like that,” he said. “But it’s Niagara Falls all over again.”

He lauded the Shorty’s owners for carrying out their vision and said he felt sorry for them. However, he said the city won’t get involved.

Another subject of contention between the past and current owners is the pink elephant facing Pine Avenue — which Aversa said was synonymous with Honey’s but actually dates back to a used car lot at the site in the 1950s.

Pacifico is in the process of suing the Shorty’s owners over the use of the elephant.

Both sides declined to comment further on the pending lawsuit, directing questions to their lawyers. Neither Randolph Oppenheimer, the Buffalo-based attorney who represents Pacifico, or Max Coykendall, the Falls-based attorney who represents Fasciano, returned phone messages on Friday afternoon.