'Nabe Gossip: Cafe on St. James?

A neighbor of mine told me that he heard this renovation on St. James and Gates was slated to be a cafe on the ground floor! Apparently a friend of his climbed over the barricade to see what was up.

Renovation permits simply say "residence," and it just looks kind of unlikely to me. Sure would be nice to have a cafe over there, though.

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Then I received another similar tip, and a plea to find out what's going on there.

So, Jay and I walked by again. This time, I climbed onto his shoulders and took a few pics over the wall. (See how I risk my safety for you all?)

The entire ground floor of the house is wide open. I'd say it's definitely NOT a "normal" home renovation -- almost certainly going to be some sort of retail space.

I have to make mention of the supercool zebra-masking tape grafitti:

I swear, I will get to the bottom of this. Stay tuned.