Long-dormant hipster haven Beatrice Inn has been back in the news lately. Speculation that Paul Sevigny's club would be moving into the old Civetta space in Little Italy was quickly debunked. But that denial hinted at a "Soho space" being the "only project that comes close to being the new Beatrice." And we suspect that Soho space is the basement of the iconic Puck Building.

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OK, so reports of Sevigny eyeing The Puck Building as an expansion site emerged 18 months ago. But that was when Beatrice was going strong in its original home on West 12th Street. After a litany of complaints regarding crowds, noise, smoking, cocaine and other fun vices that once defined pretty much every bar in New York, "The Bea" (sorry) shut down last April.

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The Puck Building makes sense as the new Beatrice. Its brick edifice takes up an entire block, meaning fewer pesky neighbors who instantly regressed to high school hall monitors when Mike Bloomberg introduced the 311 complaint system to city residents. And any noise would be muffled by the constant traffic and neverending construction of Houston Street on its northern border.

As for the venue itself, it takes up a somewhat massive 6,800 square feet (that's about the size of Santos Party House and more than three times as big as the old Beatrice). For what its worth, the room is also filled with "30 foot tall, 25 foot wide steel wheels" which would be quite a departure from the Inn's famously low ceilings.

We'll keep our eyes peeled on the Puck while frequenting the area's other offerings, including Botanica and old school dive Milano's, both of which would do fine jobs as backup plans should patrons fail to impress the sure-to-be picky bouncers.