Welcome, Washington Mutual
The space housing the former XTRA on Manhattan (nearwill be split into two, and will house:
1) A hardware store (useful!)
2) A Washington Mutual.
The best graffiti I ever saw in Greenpoint was on the temporary siding around what is now the Bank of America:
WE NEED A MOVIE THEATER, NOT ANOTHER BANK
With the addition of Commerce Bank (going in down on North 5th and Bedford this summer), we've got a full house here. It's not that I mind another bank - it's just that it's clear from the FOR RENT signs up and down Manhattan Ave. that rents are going up and the only people who can afford them are large national concerns, which will turn the neighborhood into just another faceless strip mall.
On the other hand, I discovered yesterday that a Korean BBQ joint had opened up in the second half of the Socrates diner, down on Manhattan near Nassau. Maybe it's just a phase we have to go through.