Condos Could Be Next for Iconic Wythe Avenue Diner in Williamsburg, Former Home of La Esquina
Plans for a six-story building with 10 apartments and ground-floor retail at the site have been approved.
The Wythe Diner sign — upon which was superimposed the name of its most recent tenant, Cafe De La Esquina, in glowing neon script — atop the iconic Wythe Diner has been taken down.
As well, on Thursday, pieces of paper announcing “Wythe Diner is closed,” strangely, were taped to the windows of the 1950s metal diner at 225 Wythe Avenue, at the corner of North 3rd Street, in Williamsburg.
The space was home to the Wythe Diner from 1968 to 1988. Later, the restaurant Relish ran in the space from 1997 to 2010. Mexican joint Cafe De La Esquina, the Brooklyn outpost of the scene-y Manhattan restaurant La Esquina, opened in 2011 and closed in 2018.
A few people were going in and out of the diner with bags Thursday morning. A taped-up package roughly the size and shape of the diner sign rested against the front of the building. Signs on the street indicated the television show “Almost Family” is shooting on the block. (A blue sandwich board outside the restaurant advertised a nearby store.)
In December, the Department of Buildings approved plans for a six-story building with 10 apartments at the site. The plans, filed in 2014, call for a ground floor retail space and an outdoor recreation space on the second floor, with apartments above.
While building records don’t indicate whether plans call for rentals or condos, the units will be sizable, including two that will each occupy an entire floor at the top of the building and could potentially clock in around 2,800 square feet apiece.
Tom Winter, whose offices are nearby in Greenpoint, is the architect of record. Demolition permits have yet to be filed, and no permits have been issued. The owner, Sandy Stillman, who founded Relish, did not respond to a request for comment.
[Photos by Craig Hubert unless otherwise noted]
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