The Duane Reade on First Avenue just north of 14th Street closed last Wednesday, one of many DRs around the city to do so.
This (mostly) single-level strip of commercial buildings on the northwest corner has long drawn reader interest ... mostly because someone hasn't gobbled up these properties for new development.
All of the four-story 239 First Ave., where the shuttered Salt & Pepper sold Indian and Chinese cuisine from the storefront, is apparently vacant ...
Anyway, there's nothing in public records to suggest anything is afoot here. And a new Japanese restaurant is coming to the former Kambi Ramen House space there next door to O'Hanlon's...
For now it's on the Future Development Site watch. And enjoy Papaya Dog.
I have been watching 239 1st avenue for a few years, but wasn't aware it's now vacant; being that it's possibly built in the 1850s or before, I'm sad to see it go—what a cornice!
ReplyDeleteBuildings like this one, which have clearly been altered, will never make it for landmark consideration.
I worry about this corner, the southwest corner of 14th and A where the coffee shop and dry cleaner still hold leases, and mid-block on 14th between 1st and A; that row of dilapidated blue buildings are all empty and I am betting they're the next to go in yet another "upscaling" of the block.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the De Blasio deal to (supposedly) preserve middle income housing at Stuyvesant Town included some loose language about transferring air rights from PCSTV to nearby sites (unlike the standard law that the receiving site has to be adjacent). As I recall the potential transfer wasn’t “as of right” but would require City approval, but that the deal created an opportunity.
ReplyDeleteWatch this space...10 years from now I’m sure it will be an Avalon Bay glass development catering to the post grad young professionals wanting to live in Stuyvesant Square/Gramercy area. Expect a Whole Foods or better yet, a wegmans grocery store as the anchor tenant!
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