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Read the press release here.

Restoration Hardware May Be Coming to Pastis Building, Records Show

 The architecture firm BKSK won approval for these designs for the new addition.
Renderings for 9-19 Ninth Ave.
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MEATPACKING DISTRICT — Furniture chain Restoration Hardware has filed a lease document with the city to take over the historic Pastis building on Ninth Avenue, which is about to undergo major renovations, records show.

The 19th-century former stable — which restaurateur Keith McNally turned into a French hotspot in 1999 — is slated to get a glass-and-steel addition, to convert the building into a large retail space, the project's architect said.

Restoration Hardware filed a "memorandum of lease" with the Department of Finance June 18 for the entire building at 9-19 Ninth Ave., records show.

It was not immediately clear whether the lease would interfere with McNally's plans to reopen Pastis in the building once the renovations are complete.

McNally and Restoration Hardware did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jared Epstein of Aurora Capital, which owns the building along with William Gottlieb, said the group had not yet settled on a tenant for the revamped space.

"We don’t know yet who it’s going to be," Epstein told DNAinfo New York.

Aurora Captial was listed as the "lessor" on the Restoration Hardware lease document filed with the city.

Architect George Schieferdecker, who designed the addition to the Pastis building, said it's geared toward one large retail store, but it could be converted to a restaurant.

“The hope is that a retailer will take the whole building — that would be great,” Schieferdecker said. "If Pastis comes back that would be fantastic."

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the plans for the addition to the building, after rejecting the initial design from BKSK Architects in May.

Some critics of the original design were still disappointed with the new plans.

“It’s this huge metal and glass addition on top of this humble brick structure,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “We’re really disappointed by the way the process has gone.”

However, Schieferdecker said the modern look would complement the look of the Meatpacking District.

“We think it should contrast to the older and historic fabric,” Schieferdecker said. “Contemporary architecture has a real place in historic districts and especially in this one, where buildings have gone up and been taken apart as part of the industrial heritage.”