Plan For Retail Space Instead Of Park Slope Condo Approved

PARK SLOPE, NY — The city approved plans to renovate a vacant Prospect Park West restaurant and turn it into two storefronts this week. The space was originally slated to be demolished to build a controversial condo building in its place.

The Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously approved developer Hidrock Properties' plans to renovate the facade at 192 Prospect Park West — next to the under-construction Nitehawk Cinema — at their meeting on Tuesday.

The new plans for the space will replace the facade with a wooden one that has large windows and a painted metal cornice, architect John Field previously told Patch. Workers will also renovate and replace the building's original brick foundation.

"We're really trying to preserve this back to quite a historic perspective as it was pretty much in the 30s," Field, a partner at Building Studio Architects, previously told Patch. "The goal is to really rebuild this building, get rid of this eyesore and put some high-quality tenants in that space.

The renovated building will have about 2,571-square-feet of space for one retail store and 1,548-square-feet for another, according to the plans.

The storefront at 192 Prospect Park West, next to the old Pavilion Theater, was formerly the home of Circles Restaurant but remained vacant for years after the eatery shut down.

Hidrock bought the space and the Pavilion Theater for $16 million in 2006. They planned to tear down add a floor to Pavilion, demolish 192 Prospect Park West and build a 24-unit luxury condo building in its place, DNAinfo reported.

Local residents strongly opposed the plans, arguing it was out of character for the historic district, but the LPC eventually gave it the green light in 2015 after Hidrock scaled back the plans.

Hidrock sold the theater to a group of investors for $28 million last year and dropped the condo plans. The new owners leased the Pavilion to Nitehawk Cinema, who's in the process of turning it into a seven-screen movie house expected to open in the spring.

The updated plans for 192 Prospect Park West went in front of Community Board 6 at their meeting last week. Members voted to approve the project's certificate of appropriateness under the condition that the rooftop mechanicals isn't visible.

Developers plan to start construction immediately after getting the city's approval and doesn't expect the process to take long, Fields previously said.

Image: Building Studio Architects