Streetlevel: Nigerian, Not Thai, for Lafayette
As Easy Being Greene noted last week, the storefront at the corner of Lafayette and Cumberland Avenues is slated to become a Nigerian restaurant, not Thai as originally posited last Spring or the 7-Eleven that almost happened a year ago. Will the new restaurant, to be called En of Africa, strike a chord with local…
As Easy Being Greene noted last week, the storefront at the corner of Lafayette and Cumberland Avenues is slated to become a Nigerian restaurant, not Thai as originally posited last Spring or the 7-Eleven that almost happened a year ago. Will the new restaurant, to be called En of Africa, strike a chord with local diners? If you believe one commenter from the thread last May, there’s little reason to be optimistic: “The owner of [this] building is an old timer who really has no ability to understand the new neighb[orhood]. His dry cleaner services sucked as well.” We’re not holding our breath but let’s hope the new place can exceed expectations.
Thai Food for Vacant Fort Greene Corner? [Brownstoner] GMAP
Fort Greene Takes a Big Gulp [Brownstoner]
Something is not quite right about the place.
First, there’s this 4 ft. high fence that takes up almost half of the sidewalk, so you’re forced to walk on the grate. Then there are all these tiny security cameras.
Is this going to be a club or a bar with crowds hanging outside?
I can’t imagine that it’s legal to put up such a fence in a landmark area.
11:48PM,
Don’t worry…if anyone bothers to read this thread at this point, they’ll probably see you illustrated the answer to your own ponderings. Or were you just being flip?
Sorry 4:01, but you heard wrong.
Here’s as much of the background I feel can be brought to light:
The lease was written by a good lawyer and had decent set-out terms that most retail leases include. The renters needed to do things by the book (permits, licensed contractor, reserves, review by the building owner). The owner never tried to change any terms of the lease.
The renters came in but were grandly underfunded (both the deposit and the reserves for the work set out in the lease), hired some kids, I heard, off the “Sanctuary” condo job and the kids went crazy doing demo managing to cut out one of the buildings main support beams. The upper floors were unsupported at this point and the situation became critical.
The work needed to rescue-repair this one blunder cost a small fortune. The owner filed bldg. permits. The renters insisted the lease was still in force and tried to get in repeatedly. The owner when through the eviction process and was successful.
The owner had any NO intention of renting the space to any other person or entity before the massive damage caused to the building and the cavalier and at times aggressive attitude of the renters. And, as many of us know, the space sat empty for a l-o-n-g time, so the “greed” argument doesn’t hold water.
Again, no matter what the bodega guys tell their clientele, the owner never even thought of trying to change any terms of the lease. It was all set out at the get-go and both parties signed the agreement. The renters never met their end of it AND greatly damaged the building. The landlord asked them to stop the unpermitted work they launched into immediately when they got the keys but they did not heed him…and then the big collapse occurred shortly thereafter.
Meanwhile, the owner won in court.
AND, ear to the rail…the rent is really reasonable for Fort Greene. The owner has never sought to bleed some new renter. The owners is even arguably under-market on the rent.
11:18 “Racist” wasn’t being cried in relationship to your “Archie Bunker” attitude. Reproducing what I believe was your entry at 9:27:
…………..
“1. I wish we had a Nigerian restaurant–or any other African food-in Park Slope. Would enjoy some Ethiopian and Senegalese too. Hope this place does well. [Okay, nice…]
2. It is not racist to question the viability of an African restaurant or to say anything less than positive about a neighborhood where black people live. [Okay, a little edgy but we’re still listening.] Other than 7:13’s obnoxious comment [Incorrect. There were other racist comments, such as the chinese hj parlor, the methadone clinic…], if you really think the rest of this thread was too “racist” for yoou to visit this blog, then go find a nice gentle support group. And don’t let the door hit you on your candy ass on the way out.” [And thus, the final coup de disgrace. Your true self seems to emerge…or at least your insecurities.]
I referred to your Archie-Bunker/acting-like a-drunk attitude shown in the shift from polite reasonableness at first to the nasty ogre and the closing with the tiresome go-away trope along the lines of the old “Yeah, if you think there are so many things wrong in America, go live in Cuba!” that some of us remember hearing a lot growing up.
I’ll wait and see how things develop. I have never eaten Nigerian food but will be willing to try it, if it doesn’t have mushrooms as part of the cuisine. I am highly allergic to them!
Eh, the way I heard, the bodega people were the ones screwed by the owner across the street. He tried to change the lease terms on them after belatedly getting the impression he could get more rent from someone else. And kept their deposit to boot. Talk about irrecoverably damaging the location is, allegedly, cover for the poor advice enabling his latent greed.
I don’t wish failure on anyone taking the leap of opening a restaurant, but it’s a tough business. It’s filled with aspirants who’ve spent more time hoping than planning. I doubt it’s going to be a long-term winner, though I hope I’m wrong. If the food and atmosphere’s good, I’d definitely want to try it out.
“Why do you start your comment trying to sound reasonable and then devolve into Archie Bunker two breaths later?”
Because it’s actually possible for a reasonable person to disagree with you. Without being a racist–sorry, an “Archie Bunker.”
Crying “Racist” has become a cheap, overused way of invalidating disagreement on this site (even now that we don’t have bx3bklyn to throw it around very 5 minutes), and it’s about time people started getting called on it.
“Why do you start your comment trying to sound reasonable and then devolve into Archie Bunker two breaths later?”
Because it’s actually possible for a reasonable person to disagree with you. Without being a racist–sorry, an “Archie Bunker.”
Crying “Racist” has become a cheap, overused way of invalidating disagreement on this site (even now that we don’t have bx3bklyn to throw it around very 5 minutes), and it’s about time people started getting called on it.
“Why do you start your comment trying to sound reasonable and then devolve into Archie Bunker two breaths later? Shoots the whole reasonable human being out of the water…makes you sound like a drunk.”
Anybody else find the irony in this sentence.
God, you’re a psychopath lady.