Recent real estate records show that oil and gas executive and philanthropist Phyllis M. Taylor bought the building housing the Circle Bar for $1.6 million. But don’t worry: Gambit reports the Lee Circle dive bar isn’t going anywhere for awhile.
Bar owner Dave Clements says the new owner will "honor the remaining years of the lease," so the bar will remain for "the next five to seven years."
Taylor has affiliations with other groups headquartered in the Lee Circle area: She co-chairs the Greater New Orleans Foundation, which is building a new headquarters on the circle; the address for the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation's address also is at Lee Circle; the nearby Ogden Museum of Southern Art maintains the Patrick F. Taylor Library; and Taylor owns the open lot next door to the Circle Bar.