The Axel, the hulking 29-story new development at 809 Atlantic Avenue, has found its first commercial tenants, Crain’s reports. And it seems that the Hope Street Capital tower that razed the once-beloved Clinton Hill bar Hot Bird will now be home to a Chick-fil-A. (There will also be a Maimonides Health center and a dog day care called Hounds Town, but where’s the poetry in that?)
Where one cherished bird once lay, another corporate bird now hatches. Hot Bird opened in a converted auto shop on Atlantic and Clinton Avenue and was known for its outdoor space and, accordingly, hosting every birthday drink you attended for much of the 2010s. It closed in 2018 to make way for the new skyscraper, which now includes 284 apartments, a pool, and a sundeck. (The Morris Adjmi–designed building also ended up including repairs to an adjacent landmarked church.)
The Chick-fil-A will take up the ground floor of the new building and will be the franchise’s second store to open in the borough. Which means neighbors should get ready for a throng of delivery drivers at their door.
