Ralphing over Lauren
The retail rumor circulating among real estate speculators is that departing Meatpacking District mainstay Florent could be replaced by a Ralph Lauren store, as the designer has expressed interest in taking over space in the neighborhood. The fate of restaurateur Florent Morellet’s historic diner, at 69 Gansevoort St., has been a hot topic since it officially hit the market in February, following an irreparable spat between him and his landlord. One prominent Downtown broker said that current gossip has produced the Lauren name as the next possible tenant at the address, which was renovated in the 1940s and been an eatery ever since. “If that’s true, I want to throw up,” said the anonymous Buzz source, who specializes in Downtown retail and corroborated the rumor with a friend who works for a well-known daily publication. Matt Cohen, director of the Retail Services Group at The Lansco Corporation, the property’s exclusive leasing agent, would not confirm the scuttlebutt, only acknowledging that the high-end retailer has glanced at the space and is mulling a move to Meatpacking. “Not necessarily for this location, but [Lauren] is looking in the neighborhood,” Cohen said. “Anything’s a possibility.” The building is in the landmarked Gansevoort Historic District and would require approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission if the new tenant decided to make aesthetic changes, to ensure any modifications were contextual with surrounding structures. Ralph had once shown interest in the soon-to-be-vacated Hog Pit, according to owner Felisa Dell, who confirmed to us last month that Lauren had looked to take over the barbecue joint’s space when it exits in 2009. The Buzz thinks that keeping the current configuration of Florent’s facade — which Morellet preserved from its earlier iteration as the R & L Restaurant — would be fitting for Lauren, seeing as how the retailer’s initials match. Also, its teal hue is very in this season.
Chronicling a ‘vanishing’ city
The Buzz often counts on its local pavement-pounders for tips on the freshest development grist, but we reserve a special spot for a group of savvy bloggers who’ve kept detailed tabs on the city’s real estate boom — and its resultant casualties. The brains behind Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York and Lost City consistently update their metro-centric Web sites with original news about neighborhood openings and closings, and commentary on the city’s ongoing evolution, with an overriding sense of mourning for the New York of yore. “Unfortunately, there’s always stuff to write about,” said Lost City blogger Brooks of Sheffield, who, as a working journalist by day, uses a pen name for his site. “These places are treasures, and once they’re gone, they’re irreplaceable.” Lost City, which recently chronicled the changes — or, as Brooks found, lack thereof — on the Lower East Side’s Ludlow St. over the past decades, often breaks news that feeds some of the city’s larger real estate media, such as Curbed.com and the big dailies. The same goes for Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, whose proprietor Jeremiah Moss — also using a nom de plume — offers “a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct,” according to the banner atop his site. “When you have a blog that just accumulates so much, you realize just how truly overwhelming it is,” Moss noted of his aggregated posts, which number more than 300 since the site’s launching less than a year ago. Moss first reported the recent closing of the Cheyenne Diner, which later appeared in the pages of the New York Post and Chelsea Now, as well as on a handful of other Web sites. J.V.N.Y. was also first to break the news about the likely loss of businesses on Ninth Ave. following a large real estate deal (see page 1). “That barbershop [located on the Ninth Ave. stretch] is just a hub of activity for people in the community,” Moss lamented. “It’s kind of a refuge.” Both bloggers maintain that they do not make profits off the sites, doing it more out of a sense of duty to a city they’ve seen overrun in recent years. (Brooks has lived here since the late ’80s, while Moss moved here 15 years ago.) “I don’t know what City Hall thinks makes New York special,” said Brooks of constant development displacing longtime tenants. “It’s layers and layers of history, and if they’re all eradicated, how are we different from Atlanta?” Added Moss: “I’d like to see a city in which everybody can have a niche and survive,” he said. “I don’t want everything to be the same, and I feel like that’s what we’re moving to.”
