The crew at Central Café, opening soon near Troutman Street. From left: Alicia Torres, Jose Valerio, Leticia Castillo, Andrea Monorchio, and Carmen Valerio. — Photos by Devvon Simpson | Click to view slideshow>>

The storefront at 108 Central Avenue has had more false starts than any other retail space in the neighborhood. The building above has been renovated and rented out for two years now, and no fewer than three different parties had planned to open a café in this tiny spot just off Troutman Street. It took best friends Leticia Castillo and Carmen Valerio to make it happen.

The girls spent their early childhood in Bushwick, dodging crime and drugs. Once they could swing it, their parents fled to safer parts of the city.

“I never thought I’d come back to Bushwick,” said Castillo. “Now I’m like wooo! Moving to Bushwick!”

Castillo said that Valerio, by day an accountant who does the books at Gracie Mansion, is a talented interior designer and that she has free reign on the decor.

Andrea Monorchio paints a wall at Central Café. (Devvon Simpson) Click to view slideshow>>

Valerio rolled her eyes: “Oh she’ll tell you that, ohhh yeah Carmen can do whatever she wants, she’s so talented, but then I’ll pick something out and she goes, ‘That’s what you’re buying? Hm, ok.’” Castillo laughed and they pretended to bicker for a minute.

The women, backed by friends and family, spent weeks scraping and sealing the orange-hued brick walls of the former nail salon, and have already suffered a decorating malfunction. Valerio tried to attach a funky-patterned Contact paper to the floor and then applied polyurethane, but it turns out the “paper” is actually plastic, and the sealer didn’t adhere. The paper needs to be stripped and a similar floral-vine pattern will be painted on the floor with a stencil.

In the last two weeks, the café’s equipment was installed, the drywall was finished and painted, chandeliers were hung, and the counter — fronted with pieces of randomly-sliced 4x4s — was built, mostly by musician Andrea Monorchio, Valerio’s husband. Monorchio added aesthetic touches, like the orange ceiling, that remind him of cafés in his native Rome.

Central Café’s interior will be set up like a living room, with a couch and a coffee table, and a few places to sit at a counter along the wall. There is a back yard as large as the interior, with fruit trees and a grape vine, where the owners will plant some flowers and have extra seating.

Simple is the word for Central: coffee, panini, and salads, with juices and smoothies in the summer. Down the road they plan to secure a beer and wine license.

The partners have moved back to Bushwick, where their families still live, and say they’re ready to plug back in to the community they left as teenagers.

As a car zoomed past the storefront, blasting ’80s freestyle, Castillo made a face. “Really, they’re still doing that, with the music out of the cars? Some things never change.”

Central Café is expected to open by the end of October or early November at 108 Central Avenue, with hours from 7am to 7:30pm, subject to change. Join the café on Facebook and follow it on Twitter at @CentralCafeBk