Many argue New York City lost some of its je ne sais quoi in recent years due to overdevelopment, high rents and gentrification. Bleecker Street is just one example. Once one of the city’s most creative veins, it’s now dotted with empty storefronts and missing some of its legendary vibe. However, a new initiative called Love, Bleecker hopes to turn the tide.
Love, Bleecker is a joint effort between Brookfield Properties and Skylight, the creative strategy and development firm behind destinations like Skylight at Moynihan Station and Skylight Clarkson Sq in St. John’s Terminal.
The yearlong initiative will reimagine Bleecker Street by intersecting art, commerce and culture to offer a collective of retailers and creatives sharing shops along its western corridor.
“We curated the correct mix of tenants and artists that made sense to revitalize the street, not only to bring in new energy but also consider its history and legacy and think of those ways we can evoke the sentiments of that environment in a contemporary context,” Chelsea Mullen of Skylight said. “This project is seen as a love letter to the city from Bleecker Street.”
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Meet the brands behind Love, Bleecker
Four of the planned seven Love, Bleecker storefronts are open, including the first-ever brick-and-mortar for fashion designer Prabal Gurung.
“To have a hand in reimagining Bleecker and helping to breathe life back into such an iconic street is an absolute honor,” he said. “It’s about collaborating with like-minded brands and concepts that love and appreciate everything this historic street has stood for.”
The dramatically designed shop at 367/369 Bleecker is offset by Gurung’s signature pops of color and a light installation from Edward Ross of Eyesight.
At 350 Bleecker is Slightly Alabama, Dana Glaeser’s leather goods brand. While you’ll find his made-in-house wares (and his French Bulldog, Sheffield), the store also offers items from 15 brands of a similar aesthetic and Chelsea Browne’s window treatment made of hand-cut paper. The site will also feature programming with partners Rolling Stone magazine and Third Street Music School Settlement.
At 384 Bleecker is Bonberi & Fleurotica, offering floral artistry by Robin Rose’s Fleurotica, a plant-based bodega from Nicole Berrie’s Bonberi and Signe Pierce’s incandescent neon-floral window sculptures.
Next door at 382 Bleecker is Skylight’s rotating gallery space, which currently features walls where the public can write their own love letter to Bleecker Street, the Village or the city.
Additionally, Love, Bleecker will include a signature scent inside the participating shops and outside will have vibrant tree wraps by artist Alexa Meade and street-side music performances curated by Skylight and select music partners.
“We want to create moments of pause when people are walking down the street instead of looking at vacant storefronts,” Mullen said.
