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Antiques Garage to Move to Old H&H Bagel Plant

By Mathew Katz | March 27, 2013 11:27am

HELL'S KITCHEN — After years of uncertainty, Antiques Garage will soon have a new home at the old H&H Bagel factory in Hell's Kitchen, DNAinfo.com New York has learned.

The long-running Chelsea flea market currently operates out of a three-story, unheated parking garage at 112 W. 25th St., which has been its home since 1993.

The garage was originally set to close in 2011, when the building's owners, Extell Development, aimed to build a hotel there, but was spared and has operated on a month-to-month basis ever since.

"Not only are we going to be there for the foreseeable future, when the time comes we'll have an alternative location," said Alan Boss, the market's founder, who added that Extell is no longer trying to develop the West 25th Street site, and hopes to sell it.

Boss said he leased roughly 25,000 square feet at the former home of H&H Bagels at 639 W. 46th St. The famed bagel-maker shut down the location in 2012, and Boss said he needs to build out the space before he can move Antiques Garage there.

Boss said he aims to open up the new location by January 2014, and plans to host events that don't fit into Chelsea's Metropolitan Pavilion, which he also owns.

"Even if Extell sells the site and breaks ground in two months, we'll be on hiatus, but by January we'll have it going again," he said.

The new spot will be smaller than the current Antiques Garage, but offers other benefits, Boss said.

"It will be heated and air conditioned — and brand new," he said. "It will be a lot more habitable for humanity."