[Via Google Streetview]
There's a new retail listing for 280-282 Bowery at East Houston.
The corner space is currently home to Keith McNally's bistro Cherche Midi while No. 282 houses Yasakart Restaurant Supply.
Here are details via RKF:
• At the nexus of SoHo, NoLIta, NoHo, The East Village and Lower East Side
• Steps from four major hotels: Bowery Hotel, Public Hotel, The Ace Hotel and CitizenM
• Across from Whole Foods Market, The New Museum and the International Center for Photography
• Second Floor space can be made available
• Lower Level can be converted to selling
• An additional 1,500 SF of Lower Level space can be made available in Space B
The rent is available upon request.
And here's the rendering showing the possibilities on this southwest corner of the Bowery and Houston...
[Image via RKF]
Rumors surfaced last month that McNally would be closing his four-year-old bistro. (A rep for McNally, who also runs the Odeon, Balthazar, Minetta Tavern and Augustine in the Beekman Hotel, confirmed to Grub Street that Cherche Midi will close in early June.)
This marks the second high-profile restaurant to close on the Bowery and East Houston since last August. Daniel Boulud shut down DBGB Kitchen and Bar after eight years in the Avalon Bowery complex between First Street and Houston.
If success restaurateurs like McNally and Boulud can't make these corners work... then what? An EVG reader left this comment on the previous Cherche Midi post:
My prediction for the gentrified Bowery, chain restaurants (as in Chipotle and Shake Shack, some run of the mall shops which most New Yorkers have never heard of, and all this surrounded by high end luxury condos. This is what the lack of urban planning and unleashed developer money brings.
Well at least the building's address will be easy to spot. It's the equivalent of a big bow on a car.
ReplyDeleteAs the listing says, this location is at the NEXUS of five other desirable neighborhoodss where it is difficult enough to launch a successful restaurant or retail store, neighborhoods which don’t have any of the baggage you have deal with on the Bowery, the place where dreams go to die. They are all but acknowledging that The Bowery is not a destination in itself, but a thoroughfare. The retail landscape there is so difficult that even the big national chains don’t want to move in, and I don’t see them doing so anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, looks like manufactured "old timey" new construction, like what's built around ballparks in other cities.
ReplyDeleteWho needs fire escapes anyway?
ReplyDeleteUgh, that rendering. Isn't the 2nd floor where they set up the projector for the images above Bowery wall? Guess those tenants are on the outs too.
ReplyDeleteI have often heard that three of the most important considerations when choosing real estate are location, location, and location. In that sense, this spot is not that good. For a restaurant at least. I'm not sure why restaurants are failing here but I do know that the car traffic and never-ending roadwork make it quite unappealing.
ReplyDeleteNone of this looks like it was designed to attract New Yorkers which means.....
ReplyDeleteThe Bowery is beyond saving, the last 18th century buildings were recently demolished and this pipeline avenue seems to be a fetish now for developers and businesses that believe it's be there or be square.
The rush to profit from the lax to non-existent urban planning and zoning laws will leave the Bowery a horridly disfigured place where nobody will care to visit. This could be the Penn station of our century and preservationists will point to the Bowery to show what greed and pro-real estate city hall will produce.
It's a dirty, nasty corner that is best served by a chainstore - Duane Reade, Walgreen but no food. Even when the construction is finished, it still has that highway-like feel. And nobody wants to eat on a highway especially at Boulud and McNally prices.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a food hall or collective to showcase local businesses? Always thought we didn't need another one of those but could be nice if done right and The Bowery Market could move into a nicer space.
ReplyDeleteThe Bowery ceased to be a destination after CBGB, Marion's and Time Cafe closed.
ReplyDeleteI can still remember the Sunday afternoons I would walk down to Chinatown via the Bowery, and it was totally empty save for some folks hanging outside of Bowery Mission, the various flophouses, and the Half-Moon bar...God how I miss that New York.
ReplyDeleteThis area is a "non-area" - there is no reason to go there, and public transportation options are slim. I live near 14th St. and wouldn't bother going down there - because in effect, there's no "there" there.
ReplyDeleteFor good reason this has been a place with restaurant supply businesses, etc. - basically "business to business" stores. One would go to that part of the Bowery to buy industrial items. There's no reason to hang around there. It's not pretty, and it's not conducive to hanging out; it's like being just off the service road of Grand Central Parkway.
gross
ReplyDelete@Glenn Good oint, but I would argue the Bowery was never a destination, while CBGB was. Same goes for the Amato Opera, you went there for the music and performances, and then got out of the area as quickly as possible. As Gojira said this was a throughway to get to down to Chinatown, and the only reason to go there was to get some interesting items at the restaurant supply stores. I still have an industrial strength cookie sheet, pizza pan, wok and hot pepper shaker from the Bari Restaurant & Pizza supply store, and those items are all indestructible. And of course the old lamp stores were great too, but as @5:20 PM sums it up well, it’s like a service road on the GCP, but without any of the greenery.
ReplyDelete