Photo via LoopNet
A 2,500-square-foot industrial building at 436 Jefferson Street in Bushwick will ta-da into an eating and drinking establishment.
Located between Wyckoff and St. Nicholas Avenue, the one-story structure is located in the outdoor art gallery named the Bushwick Collective. As of late 2013, there are more than 50 murals decorating buildings in the area, around the intersection of Troutman Street and St. Nicholas Avenue.
Kushner Studios is the architect of record for the conversion, according to the plan exam application filed July 10th. The property was acquired by Glen Head, NY-based developer Beechcrest LLC for $341,000 in 2010, according to Department of Finance records. The seller, Putnam Rolling Ladder Co., had owned the building since 1971.
436 Jefferson Street is next to 10,000-square-foot warehouse 444 Jefferson Street, which is still owned by Putnam Rolling Ladder Co. Unlike its neighbor, 444 Jefferson is bedecked with squibous*, fleshy art by Buff Monster, Tristan Eaton, nychos, LamourSupreme, Sheryo and The Yok.
In May 2013, the New York Times profiled Joseph Ficalora, the Bushwick native who found himself curating the outdoor art gallery several years ago. Ficalora told the Times that the gallery was a way to reclaim the neighborhood where both of his parents had died: “What was the point of life then? You come down this block, you see graffiti on the walls, you remember all bad memories… I turn another corner, I see where my dad was murdered. I turn another corner, I have memories of my mom. There was nothing left for me to want.”
Give the story a read; it’s an unsentimental and affecting portrait, without the quelle-surprise tone of most pieces about Bushwick gentrification.
*not a real word, but it seems appropriate a descriptor
