By now, you likely already know Greenpoint’s beloved Pencil Factory recently went the way of so many cherished neighborhood spaces. The bar, named after an actual pencil factory that was once across the street, ended a damn-near quarter-century run at 142 Franklin Street this summer—by any metrics, about as good a stay as you get in Greenpoint or any neighborhood these days—sending the space to market with one last blowout on July 27. It looked spectacular from all angles.
In the six weeks since, grief over the neighborhood’s loss has grown into the next logical stage of mourning your old watering hole: wariness over what monstrosity might replace it (especially with all those glossy supertalls hitting the waterfront). But it appears, for now, the nerves are for not, as the baton has been passed to a pair of locals. According to Greenpointers, Cafe Alula‘s Tony Ismail and Cafe Balearica‘s David Doyle have taken over the space, the spirit of which they hope to keep alive in their new bar, which will reportedly retain some elements of the Pencil Factory’s build. “It’s gonna be really neighborhood, local people who come and feel comfortable, feeling like they’re home,” Doyle told Greenpointers.
Ismail and Doyle haven’t revealed too much else just yet—only that some TVs are being installed and that they’ll occasionally screen games. But work on the bar is already underway, and the duo intends to open the gates on their new collaborative space in November or December of this year. Hey, at least it’s not another high-rise.
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