Village Voice Weekend Wrap: Face Lift or Face-Off?

Hey, look what happened to our house sometime between Friday evening and Sunday morning: construction netting over the whole front of 36 Cooper Square.

The scaffolding and net were permitted by the DOB on October 20, for purposes of previously permitted facade work.

Nobody told us Voice people the net was going up, though. All we have, besides the evidence of our own eyes, are rumors that the facelift (described in the posted permit as including "selective repointing and replacing of damaged portions of the brick and stone with in-kind replacements") will include removal of the VILLAGE VOICE sign you can see through the bottom of the net, which has been chiseled over the front door since 1992.

This is what it looked like pre-scaffold:

The building is managed by Hartz Mountain Industries, overseen by Hartz Group CEO Leonard Stern, who used to own the Voice. Hartz has been spiffing up 36 Cooper of late, and has attracted new tenants Curbed, Eater and Racked.

We've got some calls in to building management and will let you know if we hear anything.