Six-Story Structure to Replace Vegan Buffet on Greenpoint Corner

GREENPOINT – The former location of a popular Manhattan Avenue eatery will become a six-story residential building in the heart of Greenpoint.

The new building at 996 Manhattan Avenue, where the popular vegan restaurant Jungle Cafe used to stand, will completely replace the existing structure to create new ground-floor retail and 10 units spread across five floors above it, YIMBY reported.

At six stories, the new structure will be at least a floor taller than most of the buildings on the block, but will be comparable to most of the recent residential development around the neighborhood—and still be dwarfed by the waterfront high-rises.

Owned by BHLD Capital, the site was subject of an upbeat video on YouTube in October, probably aimed at developers. As of this article, it had garnered 24 views:

Permits were filed years back to demolish the building, but in the last weeks, developers have made moves towards construction, filing to lay a new foundation, including excavation, and then the six-story structure in a ground-up job.

The popular vegan buffet that had its home on the ground floor has found new digs a few blocks away, reopening on Greenpoint Avenue, across the street from the Brooklyn Bazaar.

For the new site, it’ll provide residents with easy access to the Greenpoint G train station, the B62 and B32 buses, and the ferry terminal on India Street.

Of course, with the soon-to-be-announced placement of Amazon’s HQ2 in Long Island City, a lot of housing in Greenpoint will probably get snapped up, and new buildings like this will likely be much more expensive as tech workers move to the area.

As of yet, there isn’t a timeline for when demolition will begin or construction is expected to finish.