Monday, August 25, 2014

37 St. Mark's Place is cleaner, still for rent


[Photo via EVG reader Patrick Reynolds]

We recently noticed workers cleaning up the empty retail spaces at 37 St. Mark's Place at Second Avenue. Workers even removed the "for lease" signs.

Perhaps there was a new retail tenant for the storefronts that previously housed a 7-Eleven, among other businesses.

Apparently a false alarm. The signs returned on Friday. The now spiffed-up space is still for lease.



The clean look didn't last long. Overnight Friday, someone left a tribute to LES Jewels outside the former 7-Eleven…



Meanwhile, work continues on the corner space… soon to be home to DF Mavens, a dairy-free ice cream shop



Previously on EV Grieve:

[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed (48 comments)

A few more details about renting the former 7-Eleven space on St. Mark's Place

13 comments:

JM said...

There is no such thing as 'dairy-free ice cream.' It's like the old oxymoron, 'military intelligence.'

I don't know what exactly this goop should be called, but ice cream by definition (and by law, in New York State, unless that's been repealed) has to have dairy in it. Milk, cream, those kinds of old-fashioned things. (Cripes, I remember when there was a public battle because some companies used milk instead of cream. They legally had to call it 'ice milk,' and it was terrible next to its creamy counterpart.)

Maybe you should have a contest to name the stuff that's cold and frozen but has nothing of that sort in it.

Anonymous said...

Okay, how about "I can't believe they call this ice cream"

Giovanni said...

I hear they are taking their time opening this store while they perfect a few of their other amazing creations:

Fish-free sushi
Bubble-free soda
Snap, Crackle & Pop-free Rice Krispies
Soy-free Tofu
Odorless Cigars

Anonymous said...

I am not down with that aspect of veganism--if ice cream and meat and such are so bad, why go to such great lengths to try and concoct imitations of those things.

Back to the topic at hand, what the hell is up with this building. This is prime real estate, there should be no shortage of business going on here. But with this DF Mavens as its anchor tenant things are looking pretty bleak. I am guessing it will be as desolate as it was when that sorry bakery/cafe was here. Maybe it's just kind of a doomed corner--it's never really been known for anything since the Gap came and went.

Anonymous said...

10:42 Welcome to the conversation. The buildings sit empty for long periods of time because the landlords are holding out for chain stores with deep pockets and long lease agreements. But people are beginning to tire of chain stores which is why they're starting to close. Spaces like the former 7-Eleven sit empty because of greed.

Anonymous said...

Sure les jewels would be the welcome wagon rep RIP

Scuba Diva said...

Anonymous 10:42 said:

I am not down with that aspect of veganism--if ice cream and meat and such are so bad, why go to such great lengths to try and concoct imitations of those things.

So animals don't have to die, mainly; how ascetic do you expect vegans to be? This is not a question that will be answered here, of course, but there are plenty of people who are vegan just to prevent the needless torture and slaughter of animals; then there will be fewer animals that need to be bred for the human palate, and so on, and so on. (Check out the <a href="

John M.: "Dairy-free ice cream" is just a convenient, if incorrect, way of saying "Dairy-free frozen dessert;" people relate to "ice cream" a lot more than "frozen dessert." This is a project of Malcolm Stogo, who had gotten the kids started over on 10th and Stuyvesant in the old shoe-repair shop;

Anonymous 11:40: Isn't this called "warehousing"? I'm actually wondering how many months DF Mavens has been paying rent while they prepare their space.

Giovanni said...

Scuba Diva is onto something, This DF Mavens is taking way too long to open. After that dollar pizza closed down next to Vinnie's on 1st Ave, the new dumpling place was opened less than a month later. In October it will be a years since DF Mavens put up the sign saying "Coming in 2014." Soon it will be 2015. Either they have plenty of cash to burn or something is very wrong.

Meanwhile the new plywood they put up is already covered in graffiti, which gives St. Marks Place that abandoned, burned out 80's feeling we all miss so much. Maybe they should just put in a bar called The Dugout and serve 50 cent frosted mugs of beer and call it a day.

Anonymous said...

angry comments about the dairy-free ice cream make this lactose-intolerant person sad. :( some of us want to enjoy a fun treat we miss and not get sick from it.

Icenberg said...

This has the sound of being like a Los Pollos Hermanos, with Fal Foods worldwide being like the Madrigal Corporation. Yeah, it's dairy-free and cream-free ice cream alright (which leaves you with just "ice"). I'll have the blue ice special, please. Tread lightly.

Anonymous said...

I'm all for dairy-free ice cream. Bring it on!

- East Villager

Anonymous said...

"I am not down with that aspect of veganism--if ice cream and meat and such are so bad, why go to such great lengths to try and concoct imitations of those things."

Surely you know the answer. It's the same reason having your children play war video games is preferable to having them actually be drafted and sent off to fight in real wars.

- East Villager

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

The mall-y metal front's a big turn off.