Goldfish in the Flowerbox

The Times has a Home & Garden feature on a young family's home in the Flowerbox building on East Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

The feature is titled "A modernist temple."

The photo below includes the caption: "The couple were drawn to the condo's indoor-outdoor feel. A wall of ivy was planted along the interior balcony that overlooks the living area. Directly below the garden is a shallow, 12-foot-long reflecting pool, where goldfish dart just below the surface."



Speaking of this building...in 2007, the triplex penthouse apartment here at 259 E. Seventh St. sold for about $10 million — a neighborhood record.

As the New York Sun reported at the time:

The luxury building, around the corner from Avenue D, is attracting big dollars to a street that most New Yorkers a decade ago would not have considered even for a stroll.

"This is Perry Street, this is 77th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus," the lead broker for Flowerbox, Larry Carty of Warburg Marketing, said. Eight loft units in his building, which started at $1.495 million, sold out in three months. The gigantic Lillian Wald and Jacob Riis housing projects down the block are hardly a liability, according to the broker. "So what? You pay 800 bucks a night at the Maritime Hotel, and you're looking out your window at projects," he said.

"Buyers weren't worried about Avenue D," Mr. Carty said. "If anything, they were saying, ‘Where exactly is that?'"

[Photo: Elizabeth Felicella for The New York Times]

Another feature on one of those really nice Flowerbox Building homes

[Elizabeth Felicella for Trendland]

We've seen several features on this 2,400-square-foot duplex home in the Flowerbox Building on Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D... (For example, the Times featured the home in 2009.)

The young couple's home popped up yesterday in a spread at Trendland. Lots of Pinterest in this.

Among other features, the condo has a wall of ivy along the interior balcony that overlooks a 12-foot-long reflecting pool stocked with goldfish.

Will Avenue D finally turn into Avenue C?

The three-story building that houses the bodega on the southeast [OOPS! SouthWEST] corner of Seventh Street and Avenue D is now for sale for $1.4 million...



According to the listing:

91 Avenue D is a 3 story mixed-use building that is available through an estate sale. There is one store and two residential units. The two apartments are currently vacant while the lease on the ground floor expires in June of 2011. The store is currently paying well below market rent. It is perfect for a user looking for a space to run their business and expand in the future.

This is a tremendous opportunity to buy an investment property with future development potential on a prime corner in the East Village. It is located in one of the most densely populated areas in Manhattan and benefits from the heavy pedestrian traffic.

This is interesting for many reasons. For starters, the new home of the Lower Eastside Girls Club will be built on Avenue D between Seventh Street and Eighth Street. (This 12-story building -- a new development that will actually give something back to the neighborhood -- will include a community center and 72 apartments.)



And, just around the corner on Seventh, you'll find the Flowerbox Building, where the record-breaking $10 million penthouse recently closed for $5.2 million.



Perhaps some enterprising foodie type will nab this corner spot at Seventh and D for some signature-drinks outpost... and be ahead of the pack for the day when the condofication reaches the eastern edge of the neighborhood. Or maybe some luxury housing.

Could this finally be the start of Avenue D turning into the new Avenue C?

Of course, this speculation has been going on for years... As the Times noted in March 2005:

The frenetic about-face that transformed Alphabet City from a drug-infested no man's land to the epicenter of downtown cool hasn't quite made it to Avenue D, and some predict it never will. Capped at the south by the bustle of Houston Street and at the north by the soaring smokestacks of Con Edison's East River generating station, the 12-block artery remains largely a relic of the neighborhood's pre-hip past.

There is nary a bar in sight. Not a single boutique. The handful of restaurants serve tostones and chicharones, not goat cheese tapas or tuna tartare. Tough-looking boys hold tough-looking pit bulls at the end of steel chains, mothers push shopping carts to coin laundries, and wrinkled old men in newsboy caps putter in front of the grocery store, keeping a cagey eye on the street.

Still, recent rumors about the fate of the two sprawling public housing projects on the avenue has fueled broader speculation about the avenue's future. Now that Avenue C has become what Avenue A was a decade ago, many residents of Avenue D wonder if their street will become the new Avenue C.

[Flowerbox photo: Elizabeth Felicella for The New York Times]

From a reader: 'A TON of blood' on Seventh Street

A rather alarming e-mail from a reader:

"Biking down 7th btw C and D this morning, saw a TON of blood on the street. Starts right in front of the Flowerbox building and then goes about midway down the block, probably dragged by car tires. Could have been roadkill, but didn't see a squirrel or rat...Hear anything?"

Yikes! No.... anyone?

Price on "one of the most exceptional homes" in the EV drops $3 million in four years

Many people I know say that Seventh Street between Avenue C and Avenue D is their favorite block ... a lot of character here...



And given the many million-dollar homes on the block (the former synagogue, the Flowerbox) it's probably a favorite for real-estate agents too...maybe.

I've been keeping my eye on one property in particular: 243 E. Seventh St., a three-family townhouse. This week, the price was marked down 17 percent, from $3.5 million to $2.9 million.



According to the listing at Brown Harris Stevens:

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR A LOT OF HOUSE! Spacious three family Townhouse delivered vacant, built on/about 1899. This four story, 25-foot by 44-foot (plus generous extensions) house sits on a 98-foot deep lot. Many original details are intact, like the sweeping staircase, entry foyer, beamed ceilings and fireplaces. The kitchen and baths have been renovated, down to heated marble bath floors! The feel of this house is very airy and open, loft like. The garden is extraordinarily private and serene a high fence enclosed the garden where a grand old tree presides.

The lower floor (with a separate entry under the stoop) has a laundry area, building mechanics, storage room, plus space for media room and gym. The double parlor main floor has high ceilings, renovated kitchen, dining room, garden access and a full windowed bath. The master bedroom floor above can be left grand or divided into whatever suits your needs. There is a large deck as well. The third floor is a terrific apartment unto itself with a kitchen if need. Otherwise would make an addition bedroom floor, there is a full bath as well.

This house is on one of the best and most beautiful blocks in the East Village, East 7th Street between Avenue C and D. Annual taxes are shy of $3,000.

Lovely, yes, right? But I'm curious how lovely. This house seems to have a long recent history. As Streeteasy notes, Corcoran listed the house at $5.9 million in April 2006. And Corcoran's listing was slightly different:

One of the most exceptional homes you'll see anywhere in the East Village, or in Manhattan for that matter. Built in 1899, 4 stories, 25' x 44' with a 22' extension on a 98' lot. Sunny & loft-like. Renovated with integrity, retaining original details and charm. Over 5,200 square feet. With a 32' planted country garden - a deck and hammock and giant Chinese Empress tree - the rear of the house feels like a bird sanctuary and resembles a large Italian villa. Walled buildings on either side guarantee privacy. The Firemen's Garden to the north insures an open view, perhaps forever. Huge double-parlor floor with dining room. On the lower level, a laundry room and enough space for work, storage, a playroom, gym or studio. Full-floor master bedroom suite with terrace, heated marble floors in the bath. More storage than you can imagine, fireplaces, exposed beams, high ceilings and an original stained glass and carved wood entry door. All this on one of the East Village's best blocks, beautiful homes surround. A rare opportunity! Yes, the East Village has arrived!

So let's check out the sales history here the last four years courtesy of Streeteasy:

4/13/2006
Listed by Corcoran at $5.9 million.

8/31/2006
Listing is no longer available.

9/13/2006
Re-listed by Corcoran.

11/14/2006
Listing is no longer available.

1/10/2007
Re-listed by Corcoran.

1/10/2007
Price decreased by 15 percent to $4.995 million.

4/23/2007
Price decreased by 20 percent to $3.995 million.

3/20/2008
Listing is no longer available.

5/15/2008
Listing entered contract.

8/27/2008
Listing sold.

1/7/2010
Currently Listed by Brown Harris Stevens at $3.5 million.

3/6/2010
Decreased by 17 percent to $2.9 million.

So the price has dropped $3 million in four years. Any takers?

Which reminds me that I haven't seen the documentary "7th Street" since it debuted back in 2003. The director, Josh Pais, moved on Seventh Street between Avenue C and D in 1967...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

Has the Penistrator reared his ugly head in the Upper High Line region? (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY, maybe NSFW)

Several reports of suits at old P.S. 64 on Ninth Street — where new hell might this be? (Save the Lower East Side! and Scoopy's Notebook)

The butcher of TSP (Ephemeral New York)

Price cuts at the Flowerbox on Seventh Street (Curbed)

"Chelsea Girls" this weekend at Anthology Film Archives (Esquared)

A shooting on Clinton Street? (BoweryBoogie)

An argument to make the national drinking age 18 (BoingBoing)

A history of hipsters (Time via Gothamist)

Meanwhile, in Germany LGG greets her fans out front of her hotel, though does so before putting on clothes.



"I'm homesick for New York. I can't tell you how much I miss that city. I love it all: the concrete, the bars, my family and friends."

Photo via the superficial

Rent this charming 5-bedroom duplex on East 7th Street where a hammock awaits out back

Over at 264 E. Seventh St., on the lovely block between Avenue C and Avenue D, you can rent a new-to-market five-bedroom duplex in a 1842 Greek Revival house (one of six along here).

Let's check out the Spire Group listing:

This is a rare unit in a charming brownstone on one of the most scenic blocks in the east village. It's directly across the street from the beautiful Flowerbox Building [EVG note: This is a selling point????]. This is an absolutely enormous duplex with a private patio, leading down to a large private garden.
• Enormous living/ dining with white washed exposed brick wall
• 12 foot ceilings with halogen dimmer lighting
• Large Eat in kitchen on top floor leading out to private patio with staircase down to garden
• On top level, one large bedroom, one enormous one
• 2nd private exit to garden on bottom level
• On garden level, 3 large bedrooms

The asking rent is $5,500.

While the inside looks all fine and dandy... the garden is the selling point... (not sure if the hammock is part of the deal)...



If you like the rental, then consider buying the whole building, which has been on the market for the past five months. The current price is $4.395 million.

Per the Streeteasy listing:

No. 264 "offers a rare opportunity to create a unique single family townhouse with approx. 4,000 additional square feet available to enlarge the house to a total of 8,200 buildable square feet."

So it's possible your rental might be on the short-term side... ditto for the charming brownstone in its current state.

(Another) new owner for 243 E. 7th St.

The three-story, three-unit building at 243 E Seventh St. has sold for $4.35 million, according to public records... making this the third owner in 12 years.

Highpoint Property Group is listed as the buyer of the property here between Avenue C and Avenue D. The seller is Olivier Jaillon, per the records.

Jaillon bought No. 243 for $3.15 million in early 2013 — $200,000 off the price paid by the seller in 2008. The developer planned to gut the building, turning it into two multi-level residences that looked like...


[Rendering by Studio Razavi Architecture]

Those plans never materialized.

It's not known at the moment what Highpoint Property Group has planned. You can likely count on the new building to have a The in the name, though. The Group's other East Village properties include The Slater at 174-176 First Ave., The Topanga at 202 Avenue A and The Callahan at 100 Second Ave.

This tranquil block has seen its share of luxury development through the years, first with the Flowerbox Building. There are also new condos at 253 E. Seventh St. and 277 E. Seventh St. with a townhouse conversation underway at No. 264.

Seventh Street parking lot destined to become 6-floor apartment building

[September 2012]

There are plans in place to build a six-floor, six-unit apartment building here on East Seventh Street just west of Avenue D. We noted that this parcel was for sale (asking: $1.95 million) back in February 2011.

As the original Massey Knakal listing (PDF) noted: "The site is located on a desirable East Village block, where condominiums a few buildings down at the Flowerbox Building have sold as high as $9,200,000 or $1,380/SF."

The DOB hasn't approved the plans just yet. (The DOB disapproved the first round back on Nov. 7, per city documents.) Paperwork points to South Fork Partners LLC as the owners; Eisner Design as the architect of record.

This space is adjacent to the new Lower Eastside Girls Club HQ and Aramark 101 apartment complex. And it's one of the few small parcels of undeveloped land left in the East Village.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The next sliver of space for development: The parking lot at 277 Seventh St.

Property at 253 E. 7th St. now for sale; perfect for a 'dream custom mansion townhouse'

[Photo from November by Daniel Root]

At last look in November, the former four-story residence at 253 E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D had been reduced to a pile of bricks.

An LLC with a Grand Street address bought the building in August 2014 for $4.3 million. The new owners had plans to put up a 6-story building with six residences on the property. However, the city has yet to approve those plans.

Now this empty property is for sale. It arrived on Streeteasy yesterday. Per the listing at the E Property Group:

Subject property is currently vacant land, & ready to go development site. Perfect for a:
• Boutique condo building
• Rental building,
• Your dream custom mansion townhouse

Prime Location:

Located on one of the east village’s most beautiful & serene tree-lined historic blocks. Preserved gardens to the west & north create a grand opportunity for lot-line & rear country like views. 1.5 blocks from Tomkins sq. park & just a few doors down from the magnificent flowerbox condos.

Pre-approved plans available for a high-end 6-unit condo building, EPA, & boring sample

The asking price is $6.25 million.

And here's a rendering of sorts that accompanies the listing...



Again, despite what the listing says, these plans haven't been approved by the city...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Options for this lovely East 7th Street townhouse include demolition

New building in the works for 253 E. 7th St.

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St.

253 E. 7th St. is now a pile of bricks


[Image from 2014 via Massey Knakal]

Back by popular demand! (sort of!): More posts that we never got around to posting

As stated last week: Well, I have nearly 1,050 half-started, half-finished, half-assed posts in the EVG hopper. They just weren't working for some reason. Or pointless. (Or more pointless than usual.) So now, in all their glory, here are some of those posts... with, perhaps, an explanation why I never posted them. And, because at least one person encouraged me to do more...

Oops! Deadline passed. Sorry!

I entered this short.



With all the glass and glitz on the Bowery these days, I was happy to see that the new letters at Project Renewal weren't quite aligned... It works.

The not-so-new now mural out back at the Coal Yard... forgot to post!

A little bit of Taradise on Avenue B... Glad that Tara Reid is still getting work.

Oh, right. Random LES streetscene.

A popular job...

May I use a lifeline?

[Bobby Williams]

Yes? No! God, I don't know!

Never did mention Heartbreak Cafe on Second Avenue at Second Street. Heard that people really like it.

Noted, for some reason.

I swear this was R. Crumb sitting under the sidewalk shed at St. Brigid's. Was gonna ask Slum Goddess. But I didn't because the photo was so blurry.

Classic sneaky blogger photo attempt. Pay no attention to the person lurking by the car wheel with a Panasonic Lumix!

My reaction to the story of the Hedge funder who left the ATM slip with a $100 million balance back in June in the Hamptons.

Of course.

Early Sunday morning outside the Flowerbox on Seventh Street... only one resident has the Times delivered?

Not one 2 Coop pool party story all summer.

Oh. Walking by Eastville Gardens on Avenue C, I notice a group of people staring in the gates here at the former community garden. I stop to see what was what. Pervy German tourists on the way to Zum Schenider were pointing and taking photos. I thought I heard the German word for bikini. Bikiniunterteil! People waiting for the M9 were staring too. I never posted because it would have been far more effective if I had a photo of the Germans taking photos. Plus, it seems pervy posting bikini shots.

At the 11th Street flea market.

Noted.

Of course.

The Lower Eastside Girls Club's "urban paradise" closer to reality -- groundbreaking set for this year

It has been a long time coming... This vacant lot on Avenue D between Seventh Street and Eighth Street...



...will some day be home to a new 12-story Lower Eastside Girls Club.... The Capital Campaign has been ongoing...



(Before going any further, the people depicted in these renderings really seem out of place... and not at all reflective of the diversity in the neighborhood...and what are those two in the bottom photo on the left doing? The guy on the right looks as if he's peeing against the wall.)

Anyway!

Now, according to an article yesterday at Inhabitat:

Though New York City’s real estate climate is anything but sunny, this year, the Lower East Side Girls Club (in partnership with the Dermot Company, a high-profile local developer) will break ground on a new 30,000–square foot, mixed-use arts and community center on the corner of 7th Street and Avenue D. It will be the first and only Girls Club facility in NYC (when boys and girls clubs nationwide joined in 1986, the Boys Club of New York, operating on the LES, opted out of the merger, leaving the neighborhood’s girls to develop their own organization).

And!

In addition to an expanded version of their Sweet Things Bake Shop, the LESGC’s signature social enterprise, the four-story center will contain open-air space for a farmers’ market, a fair trade bookstore and gift shop, a library for after-school tutoring and book club meetings, a full dome planetarium, a commercial kitchen and culinary training center, a leadership training site for career counseling, an amphitheater, and — if you can believe it—much, much more. The true heart of the project, though, is a science, health, and environmental center that will be available to all community youth.

According to a 2005 article in The Villager:

In 2002, the Economic Development Corporation gave the Girls Club control of six city-owned lots on Avenue D between 7th and 8th Sts. for the site of a new facility...

The Girls Club is not the only beneficiary of the project. About 13,000 square feet of space on the lot will be used for not-for-profit tenants, and 15,000 square feet of studio space will be leased to the Federation of East Village Artists, according to a mayoral press release. Rooftop antennas on the building will provide free high-speed Internet access to residents of two neighboring public housing developments.

As it has been reported, the top eight floors of the building will house 72 apartments.




Note: Just around the corner on East Seventh Street is the $10 million penthouse in the Flowerbox.

The luxurious reveal of the future 253 E. 7th St.

[What's left of No. 253 as of Sept. 10]

As we first reported last month, the city signed off on permits for a new 6-story residential building at 253 E. Seventh St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Yesterday, New York Yimby got a look at the rendering via Issac & Stern Architects... incoming!



Per NYY:

The structure will span 10,466 square feet with six units averaging a spacious 1,498 square feet apiece. That is a strong indicator that this building will hold condos, and most units will have their own floors, including a penthouse on the sixth floor with its own private upper level.

Public records show that the property owner is an LLC going by DRK East 7th Street, who paid $5.7 million for the plot in a filing posted on Aug. 22.

This is the second new condo project to break ground on this block in the past few years ... joining Seven East Village, aka, 277 E. Seventh St. The Flowerbox condo building at No. 259 arrived in 2007.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Options for this lovely East 7th Street townhouse include demolition

New building in the works for 253 E. 7th St.

The disappearing 253 E. 7th St.

253 E. 7th St. is now a pile of bricks

Property at 253 E. 7th St. now for sale; perfect for a 'dream custom mansion townhouse'

New plans for a 6-story building at 253 E. 7th St.

New 6-story residential building OK'd for 7th Street


[Image from 2014 via Massey Knakal]