Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Nearly New Bikes, Other Businesses Leave Chateau Hotel For Spots Nearby

By Serena Dai | August 20, 2013 7:21am
 Victoria Smith, owner of Charbella Hair and Barber, says the condition of her store has worsened since the new owner of the Chateau Hotel has come in. Now she's moving across the street to a new storefront.
Chateau Hotel Businesses Relocated
View Full Caption

LAKEVIEW — Businesses open for years on the first floor of the blighted Chateau Hotel building have all found nearby spots to relocate after the hotel closed — and so far, all is well at their new homes. 

The longtime local spots feared losing a core customer base with a move, but several owners said recently that they are happy with where they ended up.

Nearly New Bikes, a used bike shop that specializes in vintage road bikes and cruisers, pedaled a few blocks north to Uptown at 4075 N. Broadway after 14 years at 3826 N. Broadway. Ismat Fashion, a more than 30-year-old African clothing shop, landed across the street in Uptown at 4084 N. Broadway.

Charbella Hair and Barber moved across from the Chateau to 3837 N. Broadway after 15 years below the hotel.

"This building is a menace," Charbella's owner Victoria Smith said of the Chateau.

Meanwhile, the last businesses remaining in the former single resident occupancy hotel, Hanshaw Custom Tailoring and Jimmy's Nails, will also soon move to new places close by. 

A sign in Hanshaw's front window said it was moving to 3748 N. Broadway in Uptown. An attorney for Jimmy's Nails, Ninh Ma, said Jimmy's owner hopes to move into 3920 N. Broadway in the next several months after obtaining a special permit.

The Chateau Hotel was sold earlier this year after years of complaints from residents who said it attracted loitering, fighting and drug dealing. The previous landlord, Jack Gore, also had a litany of building code violations under his belt.

Business tenants complained that even after the building was sold, it continued to deteriorate — with ceilings falling in the middle of the night due to bad pipes and water flooding salon chairs and bikes.

Both Nearly New Bikes and Ismat Fashion have been in their new Uptown storefronts for about a month, and business has been going well, owners said.

Meanwhile, Chateau owners 3838 North Broadway LLC will be renovating it to create market-rate housing.

As former businesses leave, new ones may be coming into the area. The shuttering of the hotel has prompted a variety of developments in the area recently.