Look, it's a Potemkin Roof. So, what the hell is that?

Back in the early 1990s, when I visited the former GDR, there seemed to be a primary strategy for coping with the ubiquitous Communist-era housing blocks: Paint them. However, on a few occasions there'd be a secondary addition, this being a new roof added on top.

The newly unified East Germans also did away with the big oversized propaganda banners -- hint, hint.

Meanwhile, wouldn't a shanty town atop the flat roof be far more indicative of Truck Through City?

CBS News checks out controversial villa on top of Beijing building

There's no obvious explanation why a wealthy, well-connected Chinese man spent six years building this rooftop villa and "mountain-scape" -- all without proper permits.

426 reboot continues.

I knew these banners were coming, and a glance at Mike Kopp's feed on Twitter tells the story:

426 Bank St Downtown New Albany adds banners for "426 Creative Center" watch for art and artist announcements soon.

Commercial Building out, 426 Creative Center in.

The Building formerly known as the Commercial Building has been rebranded. According to what I was told, the first floor space between the red truck and the salon will be rented in Mellwood Arts fashion. It has yet to be determined which, if any, of the many parking/no parking signs sprouting like weeds in the vicinity is accurate, but we'll leave it to that most trustworthy of all city government departments, the non-enforcement regime.

Public Art Scene Velveeta Elvis.

Public Art Scene Reservoir Dogs.

In that case, at least a mural would be nice.

Just the other night, Mike Kopp tweeted me: "Looks like you may soon have two new neighbors. We have some action from the art scene. Opening April 1st." He attached this nifty artist's depiction of what the Commercial Building might look like, if only ....

Below is the Commercial Building (pre-recent-permanent-dull-primer-paint job) at the corner of bank and Elm, as seen in November, 2011. These days, the Stylin' Irish salon occupies space in the middle, and Dragon King's Daughter apparently is about to open on the Elm Street side.

Unfortunately, the artist's depiction at top is a vision, only. Mike says, "I wasn't able to convince them of that look but some changes beside the paint and removal of the grids are on the way."

Verily, perhaps anything's better than the way it was before, as it means the owner is doing something. You look at the building and those two parking lots, and you think: What could be, with a little imagination and some money. Unfortunately, the city's bicentennial-year curse is that we possess even less of the former than the latter.

On the Vintage Fire Museum and whether it will remain in New Albany.

If you're interested in helping support the concept of a Vintage Fire Museum located in New Albany, whether at its current site amid the former Coyle auto sales property, or somewhere else hereabouts, now's the time to do some earnest brainstorming. We're told a crossroads lies just ahead.

The Green Mouse has learned that as negotiations between museum backers and the departed Coyle family founder, the city of Jeffersonville has offered a "free" building to house the historic fire equipment.

It would be a shame to waste the work already done. A cadre of committed individuals has put in long hours and hard work toward making a go of the museum here in New Albany. Seeing as the fire museum would be a niche destination for visitors, it conceivably might be located just about anywhere in town, leaving the Coyle property to be adaptively reused in an arguably more appropriate fashion.

My suggestion echoes that of the former UEA director Mike Ladd: Gut the main multi-story portion of the Sprigler-owned "Commercial Building" opposite the Carnegie on Bank Street and place the museum there. It'd be less expensive to do that than work necessary to restore the Coyle property, wouldn't it? It would give the Sprigler family an anchor tenant, and New Albany would be able to offer two museums (and a brewery, and two restaurants) on one block.

Any ideas?

First stirrings of life in the "Commercial Building" on Bank and Elm.

Last November, NAC asked: Any ideas for the "Commercial Building" (Sprigler Construction)?

Obviously, as the owner of a business located on the same street, I'd like to see all the other buildings filled and productive. There's now a tenant in the middle part.

Learn more at the Stylin' Irish page at Facebook.

I've also been led to believe that a prospective restaurant tenant has been found for the space on the corner of Bank and Elm. Having indulged in speculation on Twitter, I was asked not to mention the eatery's identity aloud, and will honor this request. Honestly, the building itself still reminds me of something I'd expect to see in eastern European cities of the Warsaw Pact era, but there's nothing like filling an empty space to make the bricks and mortar far more attractive. Lofts in a gutted and renovated main area (to the right, above) are unlikely, but a boy can dream.

In other purely coincidental news, I'd like to recommend a wonderful Asian fusion/sushi establishment in Louisville. Boy, wouldn't you like to have a place like Dragon King's Daughter in downtown New Albany?

Any ideas for the "Commercial Building" (Sprigler Construction)?

I've never been a developer. I eschew construction-think. I'm not a real estate type of guy. What I know is that the Spriglers own this building across the street from Bank Street Brewhouse, and they need to lease it or sell it. Yes, these obviously are not ideal times for such an occurrence, but perhaps some brainstorming would help. There's bound to be some variety of conjecturing outside the box that might help this process along.