Hanif Harji is opening a clubby new resto-lounge in the ill-fated space at 55 Colborne Street

Restaurants have never had much luck at 55 Colborne. In the last two years, both The Bowery and Osteria 55 have tried and failed to woo the Financial District’s after-work crowds to the cavernous space. Hanif Harji, who collaborated with Charles Khabouth on King West hot spots Patria and Weslodge, is hoping to change that with Switch, a slick, new two-storey lounge set to open in early May. The main floor, modeled on Prohibition-era Brooklyn bars, serves cocktails and bar snacks until 10 p.m., when the DJ cranks up the tunes and turns the place into a full-blown club. The lower level, meanwhile, is tricked out like a kitschy rec room with video games, shag carpets and big screen TVs. If the success of similar places, like ping-pong club Spin and bowling-alley-slash-bar The Ballroom, are any indication, Switch may just overcome the 55 Colborne curse. [Notable]