Looking at where the Crocodile Lounge once roamed on 14th Street

Workers recently removed the plywood from the retail space at the under-renovation 325 E. 14th St., located between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

You won't recognize where the former home of the Crocodile Lounge once stood. There's now a glassy double entryway into the retail space that looks as if it belongs on another building (unless the whole façade is getting a makeover). 

Work permits indicate wiring for the basement retail space (designated as "white box") and the walk-in cooler. We have not heard anything about a new retail tenant for the storefront, which now has a UES vibe. 

As previously reported, in a transaction posted in October, an LLC affiliated with The Sabet Group purchased the four-story building for $3.3 million, down from its initial asking price of $5.5 million. For generations, a family has owned the building known as The James McCreery House. 

The retail space has been home to restaurants for many years, including Il Faro and, in the 1990s, Manila Garden. The place was the Crocodile Lounge in recent years, but it never reopened after the COVID shutdown in March 2020. 

We never went to the Crocodile, but it had fans with its free pizza, skee ball and photo booth.

Above photo from April 2023 by Steven