ASTORIA — A sprawling building once home to a troubled nightclub is being converted into a row of stores, with its new landlord looking to fill the property with high-end coffee shops, restaurants and other retail options.
"The Shoppes at 36th" is slated for the building at 36th Avenue and 34th Street that was previously home to Purlieu, a violation-riddled nightclub where a livery cab driver was shot in the head last year. The club shuttered a few months later, and the building was purchased last August by 3312 36th Ave Realty LLC for $3.7 million, records show.
Now, its new owners are gutting the 6,800-square-foot property's interior, with plans to turn it into a string of five or six different stores, according to the real estate firm that's leasing the site.
"What they envision is shops that would resonate well with the current and future community of the area — things like higher-end coffee shops, higher-end restaurants, maybe a small gym," said Dean Rosenzweig of the realty group CBRE, which is marketing the space.
Chain stores and national retailers could potentially set up shop there, too, but only if they "appropriately fit in the community," he said.
"[The landlord would] like to find the right fit," Rosenzweig said. 
The building at 3312 36th Ave. used to house Purlieu, a nightclub that closed in 2016. (DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly)
Planned renovations will divide the large one-story building into several smaller storefronts measuring about 1,200 to 1,300 square feet each, according to the firm. The landlord is also considering the addition of a second story, which could be rented to community facilities like a doctor's office or day care.
Jeremy Scholder, another agent representing the site for CBRE, said the goal is to bring more interesting retail tenants to the 36th Avenue area, which is "a little behind" compared to Astoria's other bustling commercial streets like 30th Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard.
"We're trying to sort of help grow and change, and sort of curate that avenue," he said.
The future shops are likely to open during the summer of 2018, they said.
