Though the iconic Village Cigars in New York's Greenwich Village recently shuttered its doors after 102 years, its legacy will live on thanks to the owner’s dedication to preserving its vintage signage. While the tiny shop’s (373 square feet) red facade will remain, landlord Jon Posner of Bernard-Charles Inc. real estate has specific plans for this high-profile space.

Notably, cannabis companies and banks need not apply.

Posner is adamant about excluding marijuana retailers as potential tenants even though Village Cigars sold cannabis paraphernalia, such as water pipes.

“Yes, we will absolutely preserve the signage in every way possible,” Posner told The Village Sun. “It will NOT be rented to a weed shop or a bank… Any use that can’t or won’t use the existing signage, largely, will not be considered.”

Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, said that, although the triangular building has been part of the Greenwich Village Historic District for over a century, retaining the existing exterior signage technically is not required.

Posner stressed however that he is "committed to finding a tenant who wants to keep and reuse the existing signage, which could be seen as an asset and attraction," the preservationist said. "He also told me he wouldn't rent to a cannabis store," Berman added.

NYC Crackdown On Illicit Shops Continues

The specifics of the tenant search likely have to do with New York’s ongoing crackdown on unlicensed shops that sell marijuana or tobacco products.

New York’s City Council recently passed a law penalizing landlords for renting to unlicensed smoke shops of either weed or tobacco products with fines of up to $10,000 for each failed inspection. The city alone is said to have at least 1,400 illicit cannabis shops throughout the city's five boroughs, with the vast majority in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, with the red triangle-shaped building in search of a new tenant, Posner's list of potential renters who align with his vision keeps growing. It now includes franchises, "national chains, no banks, no bodegas, no cell [phone] stores, etc."

But it seems the thought of a cannabis shop at the popular corner of Christopher Street and 7^th Avenue bugs him the most.

"So, NO WAY on every front for a weed store," Posner said. "Banks — or whatever the biggest fear is aside from a weed store — of course, are legal, but we sure wouldn't consider something like that either. In 40 years of renting stores in the Village, I've only rented to interesting businesses that enhance the neighborhood."

Photo: Village Cigars circa 2009 by Brecht Bug via Flickr Creative Commons