500 Blake Demolition Begins

The last round has commenced at the former 500 Blake Street Cafe, as Ocean Management has begun demolishing the most-popular nightspot to make way for 129 new market-rate apartments slated to be built in the heart of Westville Village.

Project manager Melissa Saint told the Independent that demolition began on Monday, and should be done in approximately two weeks.

When asked for what exactly is happening at the 500 Blake St. right now, she wrote, “Demolition and prepping for site work.”

The next steps for Ocean Management’s planned development of a new four-story, 129-unit apartment complex at this site on an expanse of vacant parking lots bounded by Tour Avenue, Whalley Avenue, Blake Street, and the West River. include “permitting/site work/build,” she wrote.

Saint said she anticipates construction to begin in April.

During a May 2020 City Plan Commission hearing at which the local landlord won site plan approval for the project, Saint said that the finished complex will include a mix of studio, one-bedroom, “one-bedroom-plus,” and two-bedroom apartments. The complex would also include over 7,300 square feet of new ground-floor commercial space, including a 3,900-square-foot restaurant space along Blake Street and a roughly 3,400 square-foot retail space closer to the river. It would have 99 on-site parking spaces and 50 indoor bicycle spaces.

Holding companies affiliated with Ocean Management’s Shmuel Aizenberg purchased the former 500 Blake Street Cafe building and surrounding lots from Paula and David Perrotti in March 2020.