What would you put at Troy and Union?

If the Lubavitch in the neighborhood aren't renting this place they must feel that there's not a lot of need for much of anything to serve either their or the secular community.

And from the way the storefront is constructed it looks like a coffee shop would be well suited to that site but figuring at least $5000/mo before salaries and supplies to run the place is a huge nut to crack.

Personally, I think a lot of landlords have delusions of grandeur in what their stores are worth. Better to charge less rent, get someone stable and have them build up their clientele so that rent can be raised in the future than to stay vacant, or rent to someone only to have them go out of business and start all over again. Two of the five stores in the building I rent my store at on St. Johns have been vacant for over two years with no end in sight.

I don't think landlords care what anyone thinks is "exciting." I think they care more about who's going to pay the rent. Besides, the less people that are in and out of a store, the less chance for a liability suit. Believe me, there's not a landlord around who wouldn't rather have an office type of business renting from them than a bar.

Looks like its going to be Herschel Supply

I was wondering about that place. I walk by that corner numerous times each week, but almost always during the daytime. I can't say that I've ever seen anything that looked like gang activity or even people hanging around on that corner. As to the store, they seem to have lots of shoes, big cartons of something or other coming and going; the window displays change frequently, but I've never actually seen any customer inside the store and only occasionally have I glimpsed someone (and owner?) inside. I sort of figured that they did online business. Then again, why pay such a high rent for a business that did not depend on street traffic? The gambling was something that must also have been a nighttime activity. Since the first day or two that the storefront opened, I've never seen anyone enter or leave from the basement.