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Here's What the New Spring Street Natural Will Look Like on Kenmare Street

By Danielle Tcholakian | September 14, 2015 2:56pm | Updated on September 15, 2015 5:30pm
 Spring Street Natural posted renderings on Facebook showing the design for the restaurant's new home on Kenmare Street.
Spring Street Natural Renderings
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NOLITA — Spring Street Natural is getting ready for its move to Kenmare Street.

On Facebook, owner Rus Shoenfeld posted renderings of the exterior and the interior of the new two-floor space, and wrote that he hopes to open at 98 Kenmare St. in January 2016.

Schoenfeld previously said the restaurant would keep its name in the move, and the sign in the renderings reads "Spring Natural" in a cursive font. The restaurant's tiled exterior and neon "LIQUOR BAR" sign resemble Lower East Side eatery Schiller's.

Spring Street Natural has moved once before, but in its 40 years in SoHo, it has always been on Spring Street. Schoenfeld was forced to find a new space for the neighborhood favorite when his landlord decided to increase his rent to keep up with prices in the area, he said and his landlord confirmed.

Schoenfeld appeared before Community Board 2 last week to get its support for his liquor license application and found himself up against one of the neighborhood's unusually powerful tenants' associations.

The tenants of 86 Kenmare St. organized in the last few years around issues with the revolving door of restaurants and bars that shuffled through that ground floor space. Earlier this summer they tangled with hip young Charlie Bird chef Ryan Hardy when he balked at meeting their numerous demands as he sought community board approval to open a new restaurant at the corner where Toby's Public House previously stood.

The board's liquor licensing committee said soundproofing was the only outstanding issue with Schoenfeld's application, and the tenants' association wanted him to add a double layer of insulation and a dropped ceiling. 

Schoenfeld tried to explain that he had been told that dropped ceilings work for bass, like music that gets played in a club, but don't really help with high-frequency noise, like the chatter of restaurant diners, but the tenants stood firm and he eventually agreed to their demands.