The developers of this project within the Soho/Noho rezoning area are a collaboration between Morris Adjmi Architects, CBSK Ironstate and AECOM-Canyon Partners.
This development — offering full-floor office suites — replaces the single-level B Bar & Grill (1994-2020) on the property, previously a gas station.
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P.S.
Part of Kendall Jenner's elbow on the mostly-obscured Marc Jacobs billboard ad remains in view ...
24 comments:
Son of DeathStar
That building is made of metal and glass and cement and soon will be home to “business persons”. B Bar was a place where creative and local people shared space and time, living in a unique community that will soon be gone with the wind.
Finally!! It will be a pleasure to walk down the Bowery without having to go through that narrow sidewalk construction shed.
Just plain ugly...
I hate to say it, but I don't miss B Bar. Life is about change and transformation. This building turned out better than I thought.
I only went to B Bar once — at the request of a friend visiting from California in 1997. We went there late afternoon, and he complained about how expensive it was. After two drinks, I took him to the Grassroots on St. Mark's for $2 pints of Budweiser. And he complained about how "dirty" the place was.
Oddly enough that friend has never visited me again!
The only way this is useful is if they convert to affordable apartments. Who is setting up office space like this in 2024? I, for one, miss BBar very much. Especially the outdoor space that was always so lovely this time of year!
Never went to B Bar. Couldn't care less about its demise. New building not bad. I like the 3 large articulated volumes stacked on top of each other. I'd tweak the design and use a stronger color in place of the beige horizontal brick thing. A bronze color would have looked a bit more eye pleasing. Up close it has kind of a douchey vibe.
Why did they bother building this? It's cookie-cutter and there is no shortage of office space. Maybe they can figure out how to make it into "luxury" condos.
So ugly and out-of-character for the neighborhood. Would be fine mid-town.
I only went to B-Bar a few times but is was charming in character with beautiful trees in the outdoor garden and on the street which of course were all cut down.
I guess they are hoping for a major corporation to move in and fill up all that space. There goes the neighborhood.
Another nail in the coffin of the East Village.
Agree with 10:31, the outdoor space at B Bar was VERY nice!
I agree. Affordable housing would be ideal here. Aren't there enough vacant office spaces throughout Manhattan sitting idle and collecting dust? Who on earth is going to rent space here unless the company or corporation are millionaires?
Do we need office space? So stupid .. so much vacant space.. why would you build office space!!
Miss B Bar.. such a nice place to sit outside.. so many memories.
They should have a digital sign on this
hideous building that keeps track of
how many birds died smashing into the glass.
Pretty soon there will be no more birds,
and no more sunshine.
@Grieve @ 9:55
haha love this! It almost reads like a haiku (a very long one) or another type of poetry.
That friend clearly didn't 'get' it! ugh NOT a loss!
Of course office space seems ridiculous right now, but this whole building was planned before the pandemic, perhaps years before. They cannot shift usage plans that quickly. I'm very curious what will become of it.
fugly
@10:36
Heh. Yeah, it was a memorable visit! I recall that he complained to the B-Bar staffer about the prices... "$6 for a Red Stripe? It's only $4 in Orange County!"
That plot of land was a gas station was owned by Cooper Union and instead of leasing it to the people who started the Fourth Street Food Coop who wanted to start a recycling station etc there they leased it to Eric Goode (Area nightclub, fancy little hotel two doors down from BBar and other ventures) for BBar who had good looking people outside it with petitions for passerbys to sign telling them how it would contribute to the neighborhood. (Total scam to get the lease. The only thing BBar did for the nabe was air space, trees and an outdoor space. This taught me to always ask probing questions of petitioners.) Goode then bought it from Cooper Union. Formed a partnership and now we have another building that wouldn't stand out in a suburban industrial park. More of this /has will happen all along the Bowery due to zoning.
Agree with above--this is an investment vehicle, a place to park cash, and nothing else...it certainly doesn't make sense now to build office buildings. And as architecture, well, we all now have to live with this generic junkpile in our midst. Sign.
In a perfect world, this building would provide affordable housing to those in need.
More of this Midtown type architecture for lower Manhattan. East Village will turn onto what Chelsea North and West are... extentions of Midtown.
I went to B Bar from the beginning. When they first opened they contacted local artists asking to borrow photos of drag queens to hang on the walls (they were eventually returned). We were given very generous restaurant/bar tabs for lending the work. It was a wonderful way to welcome locals. I continued going over the years, particularly to the gay night Beige which was a lot of fun. It was a safe and entertaining space for a huge and diverse group of New Yorkers.
The outdoor space was wonderful too, on any day or night. There wasn't another space like it in the city. It was way more useful to the local residents than a noisy and filthy gas station. The food was boring but that wasn't the point, the menu was good enough.
I don't understand how "parking cash"in an empty office building can be the best use of investment funds. In any case, the building is hideous. A friend lives to the west of it and from her windows on the 8th floor what she sees is a giant concrete wall. Why did the design simply ignore the western facade?
Why is all of the new architecture/design on the east side so terrible? There is some very cool design near the Highline. Why are we continuously assaulted with these terrible generic brown glass boxe?
"Why is all of the new architecture/design on the east side so terrible? There is some very cool design near the Highline. Why are we continuously assaulted with these terrible generic brown glass boxe?"
The short answer is money. One is commercial, the other residential. I do beg to differ about the quality of the buildings by the Highline. The Zaha Haddid is the best of the lot. The Lantern House is weird but ok. The Jean Nouvel not bad. The Peter Marino building is really nothing much at all. All have tiny ass rooms and cost a fortune. Persoanally I was more impressed with the new buildings in Greenpoint by the E River.
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