Colony Gutted

Last summer I shared the news that Colony Music was forced out of business after 60 years in Times Square. The new owner of the Brill Building, Stonehenge Properties, had quintupled the rent--to an indefensible $5 million per month, according to the Post.



I went by Colony recently and found it papered in the landlord's advertising, "Retail space for lease," and "Prominent billboard signage opportunity." In their rendering, the landlord has the historic Brill Building choked by garish jumbo-trons.



Colony's door was open, still with its treble clef doorknobs. I looked inside. Nothing but the guts.


Click to enlarge

Someday soon, this will be the home of an obnoxious shopping-mall flagship store, a poundingly loud Abercrombie & Hollister Eagle-Postale. Or a corporate theme "experience": Pop Tart World! Mountain Dew Planet! Red Bull Adventure! Or maybe it'll be a steroid-pumped suburban chain restaurant. Denny's has yet to penetrate Manhattan, so maybe we'll get New York City's first ever Denny's! And not just any Denny's, but a super-jumbo Denny's, complete with a New York theme to give it that All-American local flavor.

Even better, how about the world's biggest frozen-yogurt shop--with a Colony Records theme? They'll alter the neon sign, keeping the O's and the NY as homage, and use it to spell out FrO-yO-NY for Fro-Yo New York. Hey, they're doing it to Bleecker Bob's.



Previously:
Announcement of Colony's closure
Quintupling the rent

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