A 21-story office building planned for the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery

Permits were filed yesterday for a 21-floor mixed-use development — a 283-foot-tall office building — at the site of the former B Bar & Grill on the Bowery.

According to the proposed plan, the well-employed architect Morris Adjmi's building will encompass 98,799 square feet, with 26,000 square feet set aside for use as an unspecified community facility. 

Permits show office amenities that include several roof terraces and a "passive recreation" area. There's also a mention of a bicycle rental or repair shop on the ground floor. 

As we first reported on Dec. 8, permits were filed to demolish the one-level structure that housed the B Bar & Grill on the Bowery at Fourth Street from 1994 through the start of the COVID-19 PAUSE last March. 

CB Developers paid $59.5 million for a stake in 358 Bowery, previously a gas station before its conversion into the onetime hotspot. B Bar owner Eric Goode, who owns a handful of hotels, including the Bowery Hotel across the way, has been assembling air rights to build a larger development on this corner space. 

As for the B Bar, it was expected to close for good this past August. However, the bar-restaurant never reopened after the PAUSE. As we reported back on April 3, nearly 70 B Bar employees were laid off without any extension of benefits or offer of severance pay.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

• B Bar & Grill lays off its staff without severance

Another look at the corner of 4th Street and the Bowery

A follow up to our post last week that CB Developers plunked down $59.5 million for a piece of the action at 358 Bowery — the current home of the B Bar & Grill.

There was some reader speculation about the surrounding buildings on the Bowery, and if those might be snapped up to become some part of an even larger development.

This doesn't appear likely. For starters, 356 Bowery to the south of B Bar & Grill already changed hands earlier this year.

According to Real Estate Weekly, the property sold for $8.9 million to an LLC that shares an address with Realex Capital, a "real estate acquisition and development owner-operator."

And per REW, the building was to be delivered vacant. There are currently plans on file with the DOB for "repair of an existing 5-story brick building including replacement of deteriorated wood joists and repair/replacement of damaged masonry."



Meantime, 354 Bowery remains on the sales market with an ask of $5.65 million...



The listing notes, with a straight face: "Built by the Astors, squatted by the Ramones and Andy Warhol, then rediscovered in the 2000’s by Manhattan’s financial elite, NoHo has become the downtown residential neighborhood for those craving luxury lofts with a bohemian, eclectic vibe."

The retail tenant here, Hecho en Dumbo, closed in June 2018.

As for 358 Bowery, Eric Goode, whose multiple interests include the Jane Hotel, the Bowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn, has been assembling air rights to build a larger project on this corner space that houses his single-level B Bar & Grill.

According to PincusCo:

In January and February 2017, Goode filed records with four additional parcels into a single zoning lot which would allow for a larger building on the site. In addition, Goode paid Granite Management, which owns two of those buildings, $1.6 million for 4,670 square feet of development rights and Goode paid $1.8 million to a small cooperative building at 32 East 4th Street for 4,012 square feet of development rights.

This warehousing parcels will likely also mean the end of B Bar & Grill, which opened in 1994.

Previously on EV Grieve:
CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

CB Developers pay $59.5 million for an interest in 358 Bowery — current home of the B Bar & Grill and likely a new development

[Via Google Street View]

It looks like the corner site that houses B Bar & Grill, which helped usher in a new upscale era on the Bowery when it opened in 1994, will yield to a new development with the help of air rights from nearby parcels.

Public records show that Charles Blaichman's CB Developers, whose portfolio includes multiple projects along the High Line, purchased an interest in 358 Bowery, which is owned by downtown hotel impresario Eric Goode, for $59.5 million.



Goode bought the property on the Bowery at Fourth Street in 2004 from the Cooper Union for $5.5 million. According to PincusCo, Goode, whose multiple interests include the Jane Hotel, the Bowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn, has been assembling air rights to build a larger project on this corner space.

In January and February 2017, Goode filed records with four additional parcels into a single zoning lot which would allow for a larger building on the site. In addition, Goode paid Granite Management, which owns two of those buildings, $1.6 million for 4,670 square feet of development rights and Goode paid $1.8 million to a small cooperative building at 32 East 4th Street for 4,012 square feet of development rights.

In reporting on the deal, @TradedNY speculated: "Office dev coming soon?"

The transaction will likely also mean the end of B Bar & Grill, whose arrival at the site of a former gas station was marked by controversy in 1994.

Per Forgotten New York: "The NoHo Neighborhood Association, Community Board 2 and the SoHo Alliance were concerned that this conversion would change the character of the neighborhood and mounted a lawsuit, arguing on the basis that the neighborhood was dominated by light industry and artists. The area had 47 one-story buildings, and there was a fear that precedent would be set for conversion of many these buildings into clubs." (The Times had a report here in 1994.) The plaintiffs withdrew the lawsuit in 1995.

To date nothing has been made public about the B Bar & Grill's future.