So, yeah, you probably heard this story
According to Lois Weiss at the Post today, France’s Louzon Group has acquired the former Salvation Army building for $7.6 million and plans to turn it into a 65-room boutique hotel with one of their restaurants on the ground floor.
As we — and others! — reported, high-end sushi place Koi wanted to open here back in the summer of 2009 ... CB3 said no ... and we kept waiting to find out what next glamourous thing would take over this former men's shelter, home briefly to convicted killer Jack Abbott... Was just a matter of time. (And money!)
Wonder if the hotel will select a Bowery-sensitive name...? Like, Shattered Dreams ... or, Next Step, Potter's Field ... with a cafe that serves trendy drinks in colostomy bags and artisanal cheeses in faux-dirty socks ...
So, yeah — I'm feeling pretty good about things!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Paint job at 347 Bowery brings an end to random Heath Ledger graffiti
Looking at what may be coming to 347 Bowery
Your invite to meet your new neighbor who wants to turn a men's shelter into a high-end sushi joint
On the Bowery: "What the hell is this?"
Your guide to the doomed corners of the Bowery
21 comments:
Good luck getting a liquor license from CB3! If they do build and open this place they'll have to call it "BYOBowery"
LOL!
@ Shawn Ha!
I bet they just call it "Salvation".
I'm sure the hotel restaurant will be able to get a license from CB3, and if they're willing to invest millions to build a 65+ room hotel, I'm sure they'll be willing to spend enough to lobby CB3/SLA and get a license (maybe they'll have to close the restaurant at midnight or one in order to get it, who knows).
As I commented at the time everyone was railing against Koi, yes, Koi is a sceney expensive restaurant, but at least it would have been a restaurant, not a frat bar or garbage out of character glass and steel piece of hotel crapitecture...and look what we get now. That property has been lying vacant for what, at least 2 years? Now we get to look forward to years of construction/remodeling, followed by a business that we know locals won't use because, well, it's a hotel, and we actually live here. I'm sure I, nor most neighborhood residents would have gone to Koi that often, but just like Vandaag, I would have tried it for a nice dinner out sometime.
I'm sure the developers will add many floors and this will end up being 100x worse than Koi would have been. This is what happens when you have reactionary buckshot resistance to gentrification rather than narrowly tailored objections to the most egregious and corrosive developments. The former strategy is suitable for those who want to vent their anger and feel good about "doing something", and end up having little to no influence in the long run. Some people would call that selfish hedonism rather than political activism.
So, are we happy that neighborhood mobilization killed one somewhat pernicious project and now we have something much worse on the horizon?
how prolific to turn the salvation army into a boutique hotel. only in ny, kids, only in ny.
I'll bring the NightTrain Express, you guys bring the MD 20/20 and the T-Bird.
Salvation Barmy.
So where are the people going to go who use that shelter? Does anyone know what the Salvation Army has planned?
Great writing, 5th Gen. Interesting thought, and it kills me inside.
the men's shelter was and still is at 8 east 3rd street, down and across the street from the salvation army. 8 east 3rd was once residential, then became a check-in-site "serving" up to 1,500 men daily. they had a detox center inside, cafeteria, clinic, and some activities. now it's run by manhattan bowery project (MBP, didn't they take a new name?) as a drug and alcohol shelter. (the local community met with hra and local elected officials about this facility for over 20 years, finally forcing, through a law suit, the city to turn it into what was then called a "model shelter", fully serviced and self contained was the key. it is better now than it ever was except for the mid 50s when east 3rd street was no different than any other block.
the salvation army was for boys, then for men - it was a half-way house for men released from prison when jack abbot (freed by the efforts of norman mailer) lived there. folks could come and go. there were small rooms as opposed to large wards. around the, i think, 80's it became a great problem to residents and there too there were constant meetings.
i don't want any more hotels or chains, or bars - but i'm glad the sa is leaving.
they think their shit doesn't smell.
drop dead 5th gen you sound like a real yuppie what so we're all supposed to accept the threats.... if you do this then it could only be worse for the future...no bullshit sorry....many people fought good and hard to knock down liquor licenses in the East Village over the past eight months succeeding... resulting in changes in community board policies... much victory....i won't let you shit all over these great people...
and other great things too...law suits...stop work orders ....fights for preservation every day...violations issued...fines...people getting on busses to fight for rent stabilization.....rent control...essays...etc. etc. etc...
and your telling me that you were thinking of going out to Koi for a nice night out fuck you 5th gen.... you sound like the kind of fellow who eats their own shit and sucks their own prick..
DOWN WITH THE QUEEN BLOOMBERG!
Would the Salvation Army have paid full property taxes? I'm not sure how that works. at any rate, this should be a nice fat tax bill - unless Bloomie gives them a bunch of breaks...
That's pretty funny but do you really think Bloomberg is gay?
Gosh Cookiepuss - you sound so intellectual and intelligent.
nope i'm just another asshole!
salvation army was empty
it did not pay taxes
nor water charges
5th gen - the majority of people in the LES couldn't likely afford to eat at Koi or spend 16 bucks on a burger at vandaag - a place I never even heard of until I read your ridiculous post. If you knew anything about the LES you would know that it was the activists you villify in your post that made the LES the great place it is, by turning abandoned city lots into community gardens, opening galleries, record shops, bookstores, places like ABC No Rio and Nuyorican Poets Cafe to name a few. The march of expensive high-end restaurants and lounges and the landlords who suck thousands of dollars of rent from them are the ruin of this community and so are folks like you who frequent them. Call us names, blame us for the shitty hotel if you want, but we are preserving this neighborhood not just passing through. Insult us and call us what you will, question our motives go ahead, we are used to it, but we know who we are and we stand for something. What do you stand for??
@Cookiepuss: HA HA HA! You are my new hero!
Will that DHL truck please back up and run those two b*tches over? Thanks.
I thought it wasnt Koi, but Zenkichi who wanted to open another location on Bowery. If anyone has been to Zenkichi in williamsburg, its a very quiet restaurant, with every booth being somewhat private. CB3 denied Zenkichi stating theres too many asian restaurants on Bowery.
Back in the early 20th century (according to "Living my Life," memoirs of anarchist Emma Goldman, the corner of Bowery and Third was a brothel, when Emma (being a trained nurse and midwife in addition to being an anarchist) was one of the few medically-trained people who would take patients there. The Salvation Army and other do-good organizations took price in buying "houses of sin" and turning them into shelters, so that seems likely to account for its location there.
Emma might be surprised to see it turned into a very high-end hotel. Then again, maybe not. Probably many of the same activities would be taking place....
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