The Bedford Avenue building that formerly housed the local favorite screening room and bar, Videology, which closed last October, has a new tenant that is bucking the corporate chain takeover of the surrounding area, Brooklyn Vegan reports.
The Lower East Side-based comedy club Old Man Hustle will open their second location at 308 Bedford Ave; the opening date has yet to be announced.
According to Brooklyn Vegan, the Videology sign was removed by workers today, and the new comedy club may also screen films: “The Lower East Side location of Old Man Hustle, on Essex St, hosts stand-up as well as movie night, so they will probably be making the most of Videology’s existing setup.”
The closure of Videology came during a wave of closures for longtime businesses in the Williamsburg, Bedford Avenue area including Rosemary’s Tavern, The Abbey, and most recently Mugs Alehouse.
As corporate chain stores such as Apple, Whole Foods, Levis and Sephora have exponentially multiplied in North Williamsburg in recent years, the news that an independent comedy club will open on Bedford Avenue in 2019 is a breath of fresh air.
This doesn’t mean that the corporate chain rush to turn Williamsburg into anywhere America has passed. Just two weeks ago, the NY Post reported that developers RedSky Capital has a vision for the formerly quirky retail stretch and it doesn’t involve independent small businesses:
Benjamin Bernstein of RedSky Capital has spent the last several years piecing together a string of adjacent buildings from 184 to 192 on Bedford between North Sixth and North Seventh streets…
“Assembling all these buildings gives us options,” he says. “We could lease to lots of small tenants or we could do one big development.”
After all, Bernstein and his business partner Benjamin Stokes brought national brands like Apple, Sephora, Sweetgreen, Urban Outfitters, North Face, Vans and Flywheel to Williamsburg. That’s after it spent approximately $137 million, according to the Real Deal, building up a portfolio of prime Williamsburg addresses.
There is no timeline, Bernstein clarifies, for a major overhaul at 184-192 Bedford. In the meantime, he intends to help smaller tenants test the waters. RedSky recently signed short leases for espadrille maker Soludos and Australian clothier Flannel at 184 and 190 Bedford, respectively.