Bird Blog: Week 23

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Every other week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she’s getting ready to open. Up this week: a soft opening pop-up shop TODAY!

Despite a nap-inducing national holiday with lots requisite family time, we have managed to complete an insane amount of work over the last two weeks, and are opening half the store TODAY in the form of a holiday pop-up shop. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a major work in progress, but we are down to the fine details on the Grand Street side (missing light fixtures, cash/wrap under cabinets, dressing room and office doors etc.) and can now make a major push to finish the North 1st Street side by the end of December. A very big thank you to Bill Dorvillier, my contractor, and everyone on his crew, and of course Ole, Sarah, and Mark from Ole Sondressen’s office. We would not be opening on time without their tireless work and their above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty commitment to this project. I have never said this before, and have only heard it said once or twice by anyone, but I love my team and would highly recommend them to anyone and will miss working with them when this project is finally finished.

Exterior Grand Street:
The tile is finished, the basement hatch is sealed, the closer and handles are on the door. By the end of today, the magnetic lock will be installed, the new matching bronze deadbolt will be installed and the paper will come down! The new matching bronze hinges, and the door sweep are on order. I don’t like the light battleship grey we painted the metal, and I will probably repaint it, but as my mother says, it is not a party priority. The glow from the glass sidewalk panels at night is dreamy, a very happy surprise.

Metal work:
The wall mounted and freestanding hanging racks are complete as is most of the hardware for the big folding display units. Only one of the wood blocking/beam panels has been installed in the front and I have yet to see the hanging metal shelving unit. The details on the metal work are gorgeous.

Millwork: The paneling is complete in the Grand Street side, but we are still waiting for all of the interior doors, display tables, the cash/wrap cabinets and the storefront display platform and storage units. The built-in jewelry cases are also not complete.

Electrical:
Anthony, the electrician, is AMAZING. He has worked non-stop and now we have lights (at least 48 locations in the front half of the store & basement) complete computer networking, alarm and camera system and a booming sound system. We only had to open a finished wall in one location, because I forgot to tell him that I needed telephone and fax in the basement too! We still have all the outlets and lights to install in the back and we badly need a dimmer on the lights in the main room. The light/movement sensors have not been received or installed yet. The electrical panel and switch panel look like something from a spaceship.

Plumbing:
This is probably the biggest area that still needs work. We have a working toilet in the basement, but no sink and not even a handle or latch on the door. We are working from a faucet in the front stonewall in the basement as our source of running water. The tile was laid in the upstairs bathroom yesterday though, so we are ready for the plumber. I have begged for him to come today, to at least install our metal slop sink in the basement.

Floors:
The Bronx-made cork floors have been installed in the dressing rooms and the jewelry area. It looks amazing with the variegated wood, and is soft underfoot. The back half of the store is going to be a staging area for all the work for the next couple of weeks, so we can’t finish the concrete floor until almost everything else is complete.

NYSERDA/LEED:
We had an incredible walk through with representatives from NYSERDA and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce this week. We gave them a tour of the sight and Mark and Ole and Bill and I described all the actions we have taken and design decisions that were made in our pursuit of LEED certification. Our project is on track to be the first certified interior commercial renovation in Brooklyn. We are going for gold certification, but will be very happy with silver. Once we got through the initial red tape to get our project approved, the process has been very smooth. We are making a booklet about the process, and maybe even a video interview, for those of you interested in the nitty gritty details. We will have the booklet on display in the store, hopefully by the end of today.