The former Collective Hardware building is finally, after almost four years of vacancy, getting converted into—surprise, surprise—condos.
Collective Hardware, the artist group/party hosts/largely undefinable entity was booted out of 169 Bowery in 2010, due to their the landlord's claim that they owed approximately $1 million in back rent and lacked any of the proper permits for events and parties. (The landlord, Gordon Lau, followed the eviction with a lawsuit, since thrown out and subsequently appealed.) After that, there were short-lived plans to turn the space into a Thai restaurant, which never really got off the ground, and since then, the building has sat vacant. Now Lau is moving ahead with plans to add two stories to the top of the five-story structure and convert the whole thing into a mixed-used ten-unit condo building. According to Department of Buildings applications, which have been approved, there will be 14,839 square feet of residential space and 2,585 square feet of commercial. Work is already underway.
· Former 'Collective Hardware' Building on the Bowery Amidst Residential Conversion and 2-Story Addition [Bowery Boogie]