Diesel Spreads to Union

The Union Square Main Streets newsletter announced new tenants would be setting up shop at 11 Bow St. in Somerville.

Diesel Cafe has signed a lease to create a cafe on the first floor and renovations have begun this week. This is the second location for the thriving Davis Square business. Upstairs, The Zeitgeist Gallery has leased 1,500 square feet of space to present a wide range of arts programming.

The Globe picked up on the mention and ran a story yesterday. The former home to the East Asian Bank will become home to a new coffeeshop under the direction of Davis’ Diesel Café’s owner, Jennifer Park. The 3,500 sq.ft. first floor space is currently being renovated to accommodate about 85 seats. They’ve neither decided on a name for the new spot yet, nor have the given too many details on the design, which they say will be different enough that it won’t seem like a franchise or chain. Whew.. Ifeanyi Menkiti took a center stage in the article; he’s owned the building since 2005 (and also owns the Grolier Poetry Shop in Harvard Square). In addition to leasing space to the Diesel, Menkiti has also leased some upstairs space to Zeitgeist Gallery, which has been looking for a home they love since leaving their 1353 Cambridge St. location in Inman Sq. The new outlook for the 11 Bow St. building will likely bring the next wave of gentrification to Union Square.

Current Diesel employee Steve sends in a photo snapped from inside the new space at 11 Bow as they start the renovations. It looks a lot like an album cover for some hot new band. More photos of the new space available from his Flickr stream.