Streetlevel: Lafayette Grocery Overhaul
We noticed last week that the Lafayette Grocery at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Cumberland Street in Fort Greene was getting a much-needed major overhaul. We were a little surprised when we couldn’t find any record of the renovation filed with the Department of Buildings. Turns out we weren’t the only curious ones: The…
We noticed last week that the Lafayette Grocery at the corner of Lafayette Avenue and Cumberland Street in Fort Greene was getting a much-needed major overhaul. We were a little surprised when we couldn’t find any record of the renovation filed with the Department of Buildings. Turns out we weren’t the only curious ones: The Local blogcalled the Landmarks Preservation Commission to see if the project was LPC approved. The answer? Nope. As a result of the call, the work has been stopped until the owner successfully files plans with the commission. You’d think the grocery folks would have learned a lesson from the experience of the Nigerian restaurant across the street that originally flouted the LPC only to get bogged down in a multi-year mess. GMAP
Sometimes in downtown Brooklyn it feels like you’re living in the height of Stalin’s red terror. On the other hand, this guy should’ve known better.
I think a neighbor may have put the carton for the cat. I wonder why the corner store guys didn’t bring the cat home. Poor thing.
i wanna kitty!
Thanks BrooklynGreene.
1842,
Thank you for highlighting that story but you didn’t get your facts quite straight.
The corner store guys didn’t buy the building across the street and louse it up. They signed a lease that stipulated this that and the other…all good things…but then launched into, as you point out, a non-permitted messy demolition job done by non-professionals who cut the main beam causing a near catastrophe.
It was the building owner, former drycleaner, still living upstairs who had to foot the high expenses the emergency work entailed and live upstairs while this all went on. Can you imagine the horror as your floors suddenly all sag down when a beam is cut and joists start falling in?!!! Ugh!!!
Well, yes, apparently someone in the neighborhood called this in to the DOB immediately. The NY Times Local people apparently called for info. I guess the corner store guys were trying to be very discreet what with the huge dumpster, a gutted interior, etc. I didn’t see any permits posted but figured some new restaurant was coming in.
Is it just me or has Fort Greene become a noticeable dining destination? Can’t find parking 4 nights per week until 10-10-01:30 when people start leaving restaurants and toddle to their cars.
Unfortunately they’ve already scrapped the really cool old Lafayette Grocery & Dairy sign. Which is really a shame.
I was also very dismayed to notice this morning that the white & tabby cat that they’ve been keeping in that deli for a long time has been given no place to live during the renovations. They put a cardboard box with a towel in it out front, and left out some canned cat food. Apparently they think this is sufficient – but it certainly isn’t!
ftgreenpark, i hear ya! i have to walk so far to find a 40 lol. all the lame stores around here sell those specialty beers that all taste the same except people print out some silly colorful sticker, think up a quirky name, and then sell them. boooooooo
*rob*
I’m referring to what they did to the dry cleaner space they bought across the street. When they went to convert it to a restaurant they cut a main beam in the interior during their unpermitted gut renovation. They had to do emergency repairs in that situation. They had all sorts of headaches with DOB and LPC that time. I find it odd they’d do the same sort of thing again, and no, wouldn’t trust them to do things correctly, safely or carefully considering their track record.
I liked the sign too, like most people, but they’ve ripped it down and damaged it so it will not likely be put back.
ftgreenepark, if the owners are the same people as years ago, they’re Palestinian.