'Two Nights Of Balkan Music In the Grand Prospect Hall, Brooklyn, NY' by NewYorkBrass is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Grand Prospect Hall sold as part of a $30 million deal
The venue, which had been owned by the Halikas family since 1981, was bought by an electrical contractor along with 11 other parcels
Photo by Hobo Matt, licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
If you’ve ever wondered how much it would cost to own a place where all your dreams come true, now you’ve got your answer: The Grand Prospect Hall, owned by Alice and Michael Halikas for more than four decades, was sold this week for $22.5 million to Angelo Rigas, an electrical contractor, through his LLC Gowanus Cubes. The sale of the banquet hall was part of a larger $30 million dollar deal with 11 other parcels.
The Halikas pair first bought the illustrious hall in 1981 and became local favorites because of their cheesy and over the top commercials which aired for decades across New York City and were famously parodied on “Saturday Night Live“. The couple, who even appeared on the “The Tonight Show” in 2019, were so famous from their commercials that they booked hundreds of events each year for decades.
The four story venue, built in the French Renaissance style, was constructed in 1892 by local entrepreneur John Kolle and has featured in several movies—including “The Cotton Club,” “Prizzi’s Honor,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”—and hosted countless weddings, parties, and banquets.
Grand Prospect Hall was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1999 and the Halikas’ consistently revamped the space, using discarded columns, ceiling tiles from shuttered eateries, and chandeliers from both a Greenpoint church and the original Loew’s King Theater. Normally only available for private events, Grand Prospect Hall opened a public beer garden in 2015.
Alice Halikas completed the $30 million dollar sale after her husband Michael passed away from coronavirus complications in May of 2020 at 82. The 12 properties sold to Rigas measure out to 73,104 square feet of built space and can be found on Prospect Avenue between Fifth and Sixth avenues in Brooklyn.
It is not immediately clear how Rigas intends to use the property he’s purchased.
