Most everyone has noticed the renewed interest taken this Spring by the important Behar Group Realty firm in leasing the hard-luck space at 1560 Bayview Ave at the corner of Belsize Drive. To say the building has not looked especially loved is to say what every South Bayview resident of 20 years knows already. But, in fairness to the owners, they probably did not design the place. They own the upkeep however. The builder adopted what a generally discredited walk-down concept for the “first floor” spaces in this multi-unit building. Why discredited? Simple. No one wants to walk down stairs to visit a retail store. The owners also constructed a ramp and stairs to make access to the spaces in the northerly part of the building easier. It didn’t seem to help. There was not a lot of space to work with and the steps got hidden away behind the ramp. So they tried, after a fashion, but now the season is here and the place is costing money. It is more urgent than in past years because the last viable tenant in the corner space, 7-Eleven stores, has paid off its lease after the short-lived try to install one their corner stores. For years the empty space (see inset bottom taken in 2012) was actually paying rent courtesy 7-Eleven. Now it apparently is not and you see can how the neatness quotient has gone up. We wish Behar good luck with this tough proposition. It may be time however for a whole new concept on this corner. For those who care to know, Wikipedia describes 7-Eleven (or 7-11) as part of an international chain of convenience stores headquartered in Tokyo. 7-Eleven, primarily operating as a franchise, is the world’s largest operator, franchisor, and licensor of convenience stores with more than 50,000 outlets.
