YES.

We now have approved plans. Approved, son. What?

Now we just have to start the actual work.

Also

We need a general contractor to sign off on our building permits so we can post them and be all legalish. Anyone know a licensed someone who can sign a piece of paper?

Does anyone know

a good accountant or someone who can help us set up our books? We just got QuickBooks but want to be sure we set things up right, especially tax-wise. Thank you, kind souls.

Ready to Start Work

Almost everything has been moved out of the space, and we're ready to start some actual work. Below are some new photos so you can see the place without all of the clutter.

Whenever I say things are going well...

Something comes up that isn't well, well. It seems that our plans have been "disapproved". This just means the architect has to redraw a few minor things, but we won't get approval until later this week. In other news, we showed our prospective carpenter the space on Saturday--it seems like he'll be able to work on it, building our bar and some of our furniture. Brick and wood panelling look like the order of the day for our walls.

We're also investigating HVAC options, since that seems to be a major cost in our projected estimate. Ideas?

Actual architectural plans!

We finally got our grubby hands on real, fancy-looking architectural plans, that have been registered with the NYC Department of Buildings ("RENOVATE EXISTING STORE FOR EATING & DRINKING PLACE"). We should have the permits in a day or two.

Oh, and

I know, I know, "slowly." Anyway, Christian Acker, our designer, just sent me some mind-numbingly awesome pictures of our bar sign in development. They're below. Holy crap. Thoughts?