For at least the last decade, a building near the corner of 8th & Washington has stuck out like a delightfully sore thumb. The squat building that was home to the New Golden Palace Restaurant would have probably fit in much better in Las Vegas than a block from the Italian Market, but there it sat in all its glory. Cheesy pillars, golden cornice details on two floors, and a crown above the entrance all gave the building a certain je ne sais quoi that at least made you stop for a second to stare while getting a delicious soft pretzel across the street.
We passed this building yesterday and discovered that the restaurant is gone. According to its Yelp reviews, this is no big loss. More distressing to us is that the building has been stripped of all the details that made it so hilarious and interesting. It's now just a stucco box.
Permits on the property suggest that the building is being divided into four separate space. Two of the spaces will hold a group medical, dental, and health practitioner, making us wonder whether the same party will be taking two of the spaces. A pharmacy and a prepared foods place will take the other two spots. The property changed hands in 2012, selling for a gaudy $2M. Makes us wonder why they didn't demolish the building and construct something mixed-use, incorporating the large corner parking lot.
So there you have it. This large parcel would make for a great mixed-use building but instead we have a two-story box with a surface parking lot. We were willing to tolerate it when the building looked like a circus, but now we're really bummed out. And with all the money going into the property's renovation at the moment, this is surely the status quo for many years to come. Dang.