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Sandwiched between bustling lower Broadway and the stylishly ramshackle East Village, Lafayette Street cuts a wide thoroughfare through warehouses and landmark loft buildings. Not long ago, sandblasting crews were neighborhood regulars, cleaning the stately facades. Now Lafayette is ready for its retail boom.
Next month, Unique Clothing Warehouse will extend its larger Broadway store to a Lafayette storefront south of Astor Place. Two home furnishing stores are to follow on Lafayette this fall. Signs of the times, which read "Space available," hang along both sides of the long block running south from the Public Theater and historic Colonnades Row past Tower Records' classical annex on the corner of East Fourth Street.
"If you draw a circle around our store, Lafayette stands out like a sore thumb," says Richard Wolland, co-owner of Unique. "Once we put in our new 50-foot storefront, Lafayette is going to pop."
This retail invasion isn't welcomed unanimously; the local community board wants the area to remain zoned for manufacturing. But the city is conveniently looking the other way as Lafayette carves out an identity distinct from Broadway.
"The city may not admit it, but it has been understanding about new owners' needs. It will collect more taxes from these buildings," says Edwin Fisher, who bought the landmark 399 Lafayette St. in 1984.