Let's put together all the recent changes on Avenue B that we've covered in recent months... We'll start on East Houston and head north ...
... where the liquor store remains closed after several years...
... and the hardware store next door is still on the market
after closing last fall ...
At 14 Avenue B,
another applicant is going before the CB3/SLA committee this month in hopes of opening some kind of bar-cafe-restaurant...
Across the street, The New World Order, a vintage boutique, closed in May... and the empty storefront offered up a photogenic night-time shot...
However, there is already paper over the windows... another business on the way in...?
On the corner,
a well-placed tipster told us in April that Thomas DeGeest, founder of Wafels & Dinges, will open his first café based on the same concept as his popular food trucks in circulation around the city.
In late May,
Zaitzeff abruptly closed... this space and the basement location next door of
the former Dolphin Gym sit empty...
Next door, the former Croxley Ales Beer Garden is full of weeds ... while
Croxley Ales plans to expand to the storefront to the north. (
Not pictured)
Up on the southwest corner, a chunk of the ivy-covered building is empty after
Mama's sudden departure...
On the east side of the street between Third Street and Fourth Street,
the stretch of storefronts that included the LeSouk empire are empty... Neighbors have been buzzing about that
rumor that the building will receive a few extra floors during an upcoming renovation (only rumor for now) ...
Max, the 12-year-old Italian place near Fourth Street, will have a new location in Williamsburg ... when that opens, according to
The Wall Street Journal,
the Avenue B location will close...
On the northwest corner of Avenue B and East Fourth Street ...
Kate's Joint closed in April ... word is
an organic market will be opening here...
And at Fifth and B, the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation
will become upscale housing...
Meanwhile, expect some dumpsters here in the coming weeks and months...
The Hare Krishnas moved out of their home at 96 Avenue B last summer, as
BoweryBoogie first reported.
[
BoweryBoogie]
At 98 Avenue B,
Pizza Grupo will be moving into Layalay, the former B&T hookah hotspot, from its current home at 186 Avenue B...
[
Ah the memories! 98 Avenue B a few years ago...]
And, of course, at Eight Street... St. Brigid's continues its restoration...
[
Monday... by Bobby Williams]
Between East Ninth and East 10th ... the former pet shop is still for rent...
it closed in May...
On the corner of East 10th Street, the sidewalk shed finally came down outside the former Life Cafe space after
too long ... the 30-year-old Life closed last Sept. 11,
as we first reported... (And
Ninth Street Espresso will expand into part of the space...)
Next door,
Lakeside Lounge closed on April 30. Workers have gutted the exterior in preparation for
a new bar from some folks involved with Niagara...
An applicant is on the August CB3/SLA docket for
the former Mercadito Cantina space that we
hear will be a BBQ joint ...
On the east side of the Avenue,
No. 165 was on the market... with promises of retail and two-more floors. The building is now in contract,
per Streeteasy.
Up on the next block,
we've been writing about 185-193 Avenue B, a former theater and, later, church... workers just started demolishing the place to make way for a 12-story apartment building that will include community space and the new home for the Elim Pentecostal Church...
What else... a space for rent near East 13th Street...
... and the Copper Building retail space has yet another broker...
And as
we reported last November, an "artisanal cocktail bar" is opening upstairs from Bee Liquors (in the space that has been home to White Noise and Uncle Ming's). Yesterday,
Paper noted that
the space will be called Pouring Ribbons, and run by American Bartender of the Year Joaquín Simó, who worked the last five-plus years at Death & Co.
Lastly,
maybe,
you can rent the former Luca Lounge space for the low price of $19,995 per month.
If you made it this far without bursting into tears or something... I've counted 22 empty storefronts. (I didn't mention a few that have been closed for some time.) Still, for all these sweeping changes... there are some really good places on Avenue B, from bars (Mona's, Manitoba's, Vazac's, B-Side) to stores (Bee Liquors, Sunny & Annie's, Amor Bakery, Wendigo) to institutions (GOLES, Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union) to restaurants (Cafe Rakka, Y Cafe — you have your favorites ...) ... and just two franchises: one national (Subway); and one local (Duane Reade). Wonder how long that chain-free feeling will last...
Previously on EV Grieve:
There are more than 20 empty storefronts along Avenue B
