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
ahhhh they’re not gonna cause the building to collapse..are you nutsoids? and even if it did i’m willing to gamble it…do ya know how far i have to walk to get a 40 these days? every once and awhile they sell 6 packs of colt 45…love it.
You can’t break the rules and expect to get away with it. They gambled and lost. Those are the breaks.
I agree – great retro sign!
Basically, they could have caused a building collapse across the street at the old dry cleaners, but luckily DOB caught wind of things and emergency repairs were made. I don’t understand the sympathy here. We’re not talking about quibbling over paint colors, but gutting a store located below several residential apartments in a 150 odd year old building. Permits are needed for safety’s sake.
I’m sorry, but the guys were gutting the place and they expect no complaints?
Read the link, they did a similar thing to the old dry cleaner space across the street, and got in trouble with DOB and LPC then too. They know what they’re supposed to do, but chose not to. Silly, and a waste of time.
The local didn’t dob them in anyway, there were already complaints filed by neighbors before the local noticed it… though I’m sure their calling pushed DOB and LPC as well…
let me guess what they are going to do… they will slap on the word organic or natural to the signage and paint it some neutral benjamin moore-ish color and jack up the prices to appease the new residents.
*rob*
Love the retro grocery sign. I hope they keep it.
There must be some middle ground between letting property owners do whatever they want to in landmarked areas and ratting folks out so nothing gets done. I have been on both sides of this equation and feel like too many people have an investment in getting in other folks’ business and yet I am sympathetic to landmarking and safety. Can’t common sense win out once in a while?
fine. so who’s the rat?
On the blog thread, you learn that it wasn’t as a result of the blogger’s call that work was stopped. A complaint came in independently 6 days earlier.