100th in a series of posts on 2 W. Market St.
Gadfly was thinking about the 2 W. Market case Saturday afternoon.
It’s been out of the news almost a month and won’t return till the decision of the Zoning Board February 26.
Gadfly was thinking about it because a new store opened in his neighborhood, a bakery — “Charlie’s Bakery” — at 1401 High, corner of High and Greenwich.
Why was Gadfly thinking about the majestic 2 W. Market in the historical district when a bakery opened in a modest location in the hinterlands?
Because it’s a corner store taking advantage of the relatively new corner-store ordinance specifically designed to return such properties to their former and original commercial use.
And because 2 W. Market is trying to take advantage of the relatively new corner-store ordinance to establish a business where there was never one.
Charlie’s Bakery is precisely the kind of use for which the corner-store ordinance was designed, a space historically commercial but turned residential being returned to its commercial use.
Gadfly’s 50-year-old kids still easily remember Miller’s store where a clerk who dispensed the candy was so much a “character” that she earned from them a (not so nice) nick-name.
One would think that anybody can see that the High St. building style (shaved corner entrance, side windows) on the left for which the corner-store ordinance was designed is not the same as the Market St. property. Anybody but our Zoning Board and City Council.
From all angles, the High St. building was obviously designed for first-floor commercial use.
We wish Charlie well. When Gadfly passed while taking his constitutional Saturday afternoon the store was closed, with two disappointed would-be patrons chatting outside.
SOLD OUT!
Music to the ears of the new businessman.
Good luck, Charlie
