In what should come as welcome news to those dining at Da Silvano (and the peons angling for space next door at Bar Pitti), Lower Sixth Avenue is apparently the latest microneighborhood to take the first step on the journey of 1,000 miles from seedy to greedy?er, to sophistication.
Renovation work has begun on the Waverly Theater, boarded up since 2001, to transform it into a three-screen arthouse associated with the Independent Film Channel. Architecture is by Bogdanow Partners (who also did the Tribeca Grand Screening Room and City Hall restaurant in Tribeca), who will preserve the original neon sign inside the space. Now, all they have to do is get rid of the pesky sex shops littering the block. "This is not a red-light district," says Carmine Street Block Association president David Gruber. Uhm, yeah. Good to know!
· Coming Soon: A Renaissance on 6th Ave.? [The Villager]
· Bogdanow Partners Architects [bogdanow.com]