Thursday, December 13, 2018

Another disappearing diner



Going outside the usual coverage zone for this post about the Pearl Diner, a place that I always liked.

Yesterday, New York Yimby reported that building permits have been filed for a new 21-story hotel at 212 Pearl St. in the Financial District — a plot of land that currently houses the Pearl Diner.



Per NYY:

The concrete structure will yield 26,413 square feet with 21,120 square feet dedicated to hotel rooms. Permits detail the 244-foot tall building will have 48 hotel units, averaging 440 square feet each. Gene Kaufman Architect PC is responsible for the design.

No demolition permits have been filed as of yet and the Pearl Street Diner located at the site is currently still open for business. The estimated completion date has not been announced.

The Pearl Diner hasn't announced a closing date just yet.

Diners in NYC are an endangered species as it is... especially a single-level building in the heart of the booming Financial District. So it's rather amazing the Pearl Diner has lasted this long.

And now another hotel via Gene Kauffman will rise here. (According to The Real Deal, who first reported on this, Kaufman was already the architect for three of the six ongoing hotel projects in the Financial District.)

The hotel will have company — a 40-story Marriott consisting of two brands — a Courtyard and a Residence Inn is rising directly across the street from the diner...





The Pearl opened in 1962, and is one of the last standalone diners in Manhattan.


[EVG file photo]

As Nick at Scouting NY said about the Pearl's neon sign: "at night, [it] makes New York City look like New York City."


[Photo from 2010 by James & Karla Murray]

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

On a similar note, the Sunflower Diner on Third Ave. near 26th Street closed some months back. No notice. Send help — our diners are indicator species!

Michael Penn Photography said...

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrVFv2ejEwC/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=isitf4oqmwj8

Anonymous said...

Reminds me a bit of the Nighthawks diner.

Anonymous said...

When Pearl Street Diner closes there will be only three standalone single-story real diners left in Manhattan:

Square Diner @ Leonard & Varick Streets in TriBeCa owned and run by a turd

Hector's Cafe & Diner @ Little West 12th & Washington Streets right under the High Line

Star On 18 @ the corner of 18th Street & Tenth Avenue (it looks like it's connected to a building on the avenue side but it's not.)

Empire Diner @ 22nd Street & Tenth Avenue is a standalone diner only physically. It is not a diner anymore, it's an upscale restaurant in a diner building which serves zero diner fare and wants zero usual people who patronize Pearl, Square, Hector's, or Star.

Anonymous said...

I had scranbled eggs and a corn muffin w/ coffee at a nice plain old-school diner (which shall remain nameless) here in the city the other day.
$15 and change.
Fuck it.

Anonymous said...

When I worked nearby the Pearl Diner, I went one day because I loved the sign. The food didn't live up to the sign, unfortunately. That was that, for me.