Neapolitan Express pulls into the opening lane on 2nd Avenue

The pizzeria is now open here at 29 Second Ave. between First Street and Second Street...



The Neapolitan Express brand is expanding with several new locations in the city... they started as a food truck — touted at the time by Mayor Bloomberg — in 2013. Per the Neapolitan website:

Originally launched in 2013 as the world’s first Eco Friendly Food Truck, Neapolitan Express was officially introduced by lead investors, energy innovators and business tycoons T. Boone Pickens of Clean Energy Fuels. Powered entirely by alternative energies, the Neapolitan Express pizza truck reduces greenhouse gases by up to 99%. Our patent-pending fueling technology fully powers truck operations, while simultaneously cuts down pollutants to a fraction.

And via Real Estate Weekly:

The restaurant eschews traditional coal and wood-burning ovens typically used for Italian pizza, instead using open mouth electric ovens designed and made in Italy to reach 900 degrees with zero emissions.

The technique cooks the pies ... in 90 seconds.

As for the pies... here's a look at the menu...



The building was renovated after the previous tenant, the Cock, moved moved a few blocks north in December 2015.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Pizza in the mix for former Cock space on 2nd Avenue

Mr. White debuts tonight on St. Mark's Place

Mr. White opens to the public this evening at 123 St. Mark's Place near Avenue A.

The Times describes it as a "taste of New Orleans." Here's the paper's quickie overview:

Elegant décor with crystal chandeliers, gold and black accents, a fireplace and velvet curtains are meant to evoke a Southern mansion. The chef and partner, Andrew Dunleavy, is serving chargrilled oysters, collard green spring rolls, smoked duck, shrimp and grits and brûlée bananas.

And here are some interior shots via the Mr. White website...





The Mr. White website has more on the proprietors, Jeffrey White and Kelly Rheel, who have worked at a variety of NYC bars and restaurants, here. The menu, with prices, is here.

The restaurant was open last Saturday for a friends-family preview...





The address was last home to the Belgian Room, which the state seized for nonpayment of taxes in April 2015. (It appears that the reconfigured space includes the former Ton-Up Cafe next door.)

Mr. White is open Sunday-Wednesday from 5:30-11:30 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday until 12:30 a.m.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mr. White bringing 'new Southern cuisine' to St. Mark's Place


[Photo Thursday by Steven]

Newsstand proposed for Cooper Square

[Photo Friday by Sheila Meyer]

There's a newsstand in the works for the northwest corner of the Bowery/Cooper Square and Fourth Street — in front of 2 Cooper Square (aka the home of Crunch). Somewhere along here...



Community Board 2 will hear the proposal tonight. (The meeting is at the Little Red School House, 272 Sixth Ave. near Bleecker.)

The next closest newsstand is on the east side of the Bowery at Second Street. And then there's Jerry's Newsstand on Astor Place.

A gym for Stuy Town on 14th Street — aka '7,500 Square Feet of Awesome'

Stuy Town residents received an email from management on Saturday with a subject line, "We're Building A Gym on 14th Street."

Construction is expected to start this week in the currently-empty space photographed above along 14th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C.

And here's part of the email about the gym, which will feature four Peloton spin bikes and a GYM RAX Storage and Suspension system...



Previously, Citibikes were stored in the space ... and up until Sandy it was the Manhattan Kids Club II (who relocated to Avenue C).

H/T Edmund John Dunn and Brian!

Sunday's part shot

Photo looking at the Con Ed power plant this evening via Durk Snowden...

A memorial for Toyo Tsuchiya

Toyo Tsuchiya, a well-regarded artist and photographer who documented the Lower East Side art scene of the 1980s, died in his East Village apartment on Nov. 23. He was 69.

There's a memorial for him tomorrow starting at 6 p.m. at Howl! Happening, 6 E. First St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Week in Grieview

[1st Avenue at 2nd Street via @rts_nyc]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

The Source Unltd Print and Copy Shop celebrating 36 years on 9th Street (Thursday)

Extell's new development at 524 E. 14th St. launches lottery for 50 affordable units (Friday)

The vintage photobooth from the HiFi needs a new East Village home (Monday)

The Athenian NYC, now serving Mediterranean fare on 10th Street (Monday)

Former TGI Friday's space on Union Square now a $31 million development site (Friday)

Report: Handsome Dick Manitoba arrested for domestic violence (Thursday)

Veselka among the first food vendors to anchor the Market Line at Essex Crossing (Wednesday)

Today in East Village tsunami warnings (Tuesday)

165 Avenue B is for rent — again (Tuesday)

Activity at the long-vacant 535 E. 12th St. (Friday)

A new playground is coming to P.S. 19 (Wednesday)

Report: Tech Hub receives CB3 committee support (Friday)

1st residents moving into Steiner East Village (Monday)

Once again, the rent is past due at the long-empty DF Mavens space (Thursday)


[2nd Avenue and St. Mark's yesterday via Derek Berg]

Last days for Ricky's on 3rd Avenue (Thursday)

DöKham will sell Tibetan treasures on 1st Avenue (Monday)

Popup Florist popping up on 7th Street (Tuesday)

1st sign of activity at the former Cafe Orlin space on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

Lumos Kitchen bringing the baijiu to 2nd Avenue (Monday)

USA Body Work out of business on 6th Street (Monday)

The holidays live on at the Astor Place Kmart (Wednesday)

---

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Noted

EVG reader Carl Bentsen shares this photo... showing that someone used a branch to smash the back window of this Lexus on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B... the branch has been at the Miracle Garden down the street...

Christmas trees catch fire in Tompkins Square Park

[Photo by Steven the other day]

You may have noticed that pile of Christmas trees in Tompkins Square Park ... in the MulchFest pen waiting to be mulched...

Anyway, this morning around 7:30, EVG reader Rajani Tewari noticed that the trees had caught fire...



No word on how the fire started — whether it was intentional or accidental...

Exercise studio plans to open 15 NYC locations; 276 Bowery is 1st

The Post yesterday had a story about FitHouse, a new exercise studio with plans to open 15 NYC locations... the first of which will be at 276 Bowery just south of Houston...

Per the Post:

As part of its fast-paced expansion, FitHouse will use so-called shotgun leases — extremely flexible arrangements that allow the landlord or the studio to cancel with a 60- or 90-day notice.

FitHouse is said to offer unlimited yoga, dance, high-intensity interval training, pilates and barre classes for $99 a month. Not sure what kind of commitment they'll make gymgoers agree to ...

276 Bowery has been a temp space for events/exhibits of late. Sunrise Rainbow Kitchen Supply moved out last summer after four years.

Happy landmark anniversary to the Louis N. Jaffee Art Theatre

[EVG photo from November]

The theater that houses City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue at 12th Street became an official New York City landmark on Feb. 9, 1993.

On the occasion of the anniversary yesterday, Off the Grid — the blog of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation — took a look at the theater's history ...

In the first few decades of the Twentieth Century, this stretch of Second Avenue was referred to as the Jewish Rialto because of the many Yiddish language theaters and businesses connected to Jewish entertainment. In 1925 the developer Louis N. Jaffe hired the theater architect Harrison Wiseman to create the stunning theater at 189 Second Avenue to be devoted to the work of Maurice Schwartz, a Yiddish-speaking actor of such renown that he was often referred to simply as “Mr. Second Avenue.”

And now some random (and dark and rather grainy) photos of the theater's crown jewel — the main auditorium that was restored a few years back...







"The Shape of Water" is currently playing in the big room.

Sinkhole alert outside the Cooper Station Post Office

An EVG reader shared this photo from the Cooper Station Post Office on Fourth Avenue at 11th Street... Not sure how long this has been this way... regardless, something to keep an eye on if the line happens to go out the door...

Psychic sees clearly now on 2nd Avenue

Photo (and headline!) late this afternoon by Derek Berg...

'Tomorrow' never dies

Late last month the Damned announced the upcoming release of their first album in 10 years — Evil Spirits, out on April 13. The band recorded it out at Atomic Sound Studios in Brooklyn with David Bowie collaborator/producer Tony Visconti

The above sci-fi themed video is for the first single, "Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow."

Report: Tech Hub receives CB3 committee support

On Wednesday night, CB3's Economic Development Committee and Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee voted in favor of creating a "workforce development and digital skills training center" at the P.C. Richard site on 14th Street at Irving Place.

As the Lo-Down reported, committee members "rejected calls to require zoning protections in the area as a condition of approval."

The full CB3 board vote will take place on Feb. 27. Expect more debate between now and then — and especially during that meeting.

Here's a quick recap from the Lo-Down:

Project supporters believe the center would bring desperately needed (free and low-cost) career training services to low-income youth on the Lower East Side. Critics, however, are worried that the glossy commercial complex would be a catalyst for rampant over-development in the blocks to the south of 14th Street. While Community Board 3 has already endorsed a protective zoning proposal for the Third and Fourth Avenue corridors, preservation activists want CB3 to go a step further — withholding support for the tech center unless the city agrees to a rezoning.

Read their full article here.

Patch had a reporter at the meeting as well. Find that article here.

The mayor's project requires several zoning changes, and faces many hurdles before getting the final OK. The full CB3 board, the Manhattan borough president and the City Planning Commission will still weigh in before the issue comes before City Council for a vote later this year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

Speaking out against a 'Silicon Alley' in this neighborhood

P.C. Richard puts up the moving signs on 14th Street; more Tech Hub debate to come

Extell's new development at 524 E. 14th St. launches lottery for 50 affordable units

[Rendering of 524 E. 14th St. looking to the west via Extell]

Extell Development announced yesterday that the application process for 50 middle-income units at 524 E. 14th St. is now underway. (H/T 6sqft!)

This is the smaller of the two retail-residential buildings that Extell constructed between Avenue A and Avenue B. No. 500 at the corner of Avenue A is the larger of the two developments, and will be home to the small-format Target store.

As for the housing at No. 524, Curbed breaks it down here:

There are a total of 50 affordable apartments up for grabs at the rental with apartments being offered in studio through two-bedroom variants. Rents start at $1,114 for a studio, which is definitely a bit on the pricier side for affordable units, but this is the East Village after all. Rents on one-bedrooms start at $1,196, and two-bedrooms start at $2,733, from the information we have so far.

The affordable rentals are being offered in two groups: people making 70 percent of the area median income and 130 percent of the area median income, which translates to anywhere between $40,080 to $124,020 depending on various family sizes.

For an additional fee, residents will also have access to amenities like a fitness center, a children’s play room, an indoor pool, a residents lounge, and a steam room.

Speaking of the pool! Here it is (complete with apparitions) ...


[Rendering by McGinley Design]

Nice, but it's no Blarney Cove Cove.

Anyway, qualifying residents can apply for the middle-income units until April 11, 2018. You can find the application and other details here (PDF).



To date, Extell hasn't released any leasing information for the other residential units.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 7-floor buildings for East 14th Street include 150 residential units

Target offers details about its flexible-format store opening summer 2018 on 14th and A

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street

Activity at the long-vacant 535 E. 12th St.

[Photo from Sunday]

An EVG reader yesterday reported that a crew with a Davey Drill was outside the city-owned 535 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.



This is the second city-owned building within a block now that has shown signs of development life. Earlier this week, workers were spotted taking core samples outside the vacant building at 204 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Last week at 535 E. 12th St., someone posted two eviction notices on the front door...



... telling the residents in Apartment 7 and Apartment 8 that they owe a few thousand dollars...





As far as anyone can recall, no one has lived in this building (save for some squatters) in nearly 10 years.

The NYC Housing Preservation and Development owns both 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St. There's nothing official just yet about what's going to happen to these buildings.

Here's an EVG commenter from Tuesday's post on No. 204:

Here's the story about this building and another section 8 building 535 E 12th street which also had drilling for soil samples this week. Both 204 Ave A and 535 E 12th will be demolished presumably later this year for new housing. The residents of 535 which were displaced due to severe structural problems will move into the new (I believe 7 story building on A, they will be able to purchase these apartments for a very very low cost. A new somewhat market rate building will be built at 535 12th, it will be 6 stories tall. The same company which remodels the former squat on 13th Street btw A and B will be devoting these 2 buildings.

Former TGI Friday's space on Union Square now a $31 million development site

[Photo by Daniel from January]

The TGI Friday's at 34 Union Square East and 16th Street shut down at the end of 2017, as we noted here.

For sale signs via Eastern Consolidated were up right away though we never saw the listing... which is now live here:

... a development site that offers a ±26,000-square-foot zoning floor area for a mixed-use building on the last remaining corner development site on Union Square Park. The property is currently improved with a vacant, ±6,500 square foot, two-story commercial building. With ±19,500 square feet of unused development rights, the property offers 26-feet of frontage on Union Square East and 125-feet of frontage on 16th Street.

And an aerial photo looking at Union Square via Eastern Consolidated ... to see how the site stacks up against its neighbors... just imagine another ±19,500 square feet on top...



Dennis Riese, the chairman of the board and CEO of The Riese Organization, reportedly bought this building for $15.3 million at the end of 2009. The TGI Friday's opened in June 2010.

Thursday's parting shot

First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street today via Derek Berg...

Noted

An EVG reader shared this photo from earlier today on Second Street at Avenue A... the reader wasn't sure how long the sign has been here, but thought it kept in the spirit of recent dog-poop urban etiquette signage (here and here) around the neighborhood...

Updated: Bomb squad out on 3rd Avenue and 13th Street

EVG reader Sheila Meyer shares these photos from Third Avenue and 13th Street ... where the NYPD has blocked off the west intersection of 13th Street... the Bomb Squad is on the scene...



No word just yet what is happening here...

Updated 3:56

From the scene: "It was nothing! An empty suitcase someone put out for garbage."

And thanks to the reader in the comments who left the link to this 9th Precinct tweet...

3RD Ave from East 11th to 14TH Streets were closed briefly while we investigated a suspicious package. Happy to report all is clear and the streets are back open. #IfYouSeeSomethingSaySomething #NYPD pic.twitter.com/K2D68c80ab

— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) February 8, 2018

[Updated] Report: Handsome Dick Manitoba arrested for domestic violence

According to the Confidential column at the Daily News, Handsome Dick Manitoba was arrested last week for allegedly assaulting Zoe Hansen, his former domestic partner.

The two are owners of Manitoba's on Avenue B and reportedly still share access to the same East Village apartment.

Per the News:

According to the police report, obtained by the Daily News, Hansen was “crying, with tears streaming down her face and her body shaking,” when officers arrived. She told the cops, “He bit me. He bit my nose. He grabbed my neck and applied pressure.”

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to Billboard that Manitoba was arrested at 10:15 a.m. last Friday.

An NYPD rep told Variety that he was charged with third-degree assault, criminal mischief and attempted strangulation. Manitoba, who was the lead singer of the Dictators, is due back in Manhattan Criminal Court on March 26.

Updated 2/13

According to Page Six, Hansen allegedly smashed a window at Manitoba's on Sunday night. Manitoba's lawyer Frank Rothman told Richard Johnson at Page Six that Hansen came to the bar for money. When the bartender refused, "she picked up a bottle of wine and smashed the window," Rothman said.

Manitoba, who denies the previous assault claims, filed a police report at the 9th Precinct yesterday, Page Six reported.

The Source Unltd Print and Copy Shop celebrating 36 years on 9th Street

[Manhattan Sideways. Photograph by Peter Nicholson]

The Source Unltd Print and Copy Shop is celebrating its 36th year of business in the same East Village location over at 331 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

"We're planning a series of events to celebrate sticking around for so long," proprietor Santo Mollica told me in an email. (More on those events later.)

Meanwhile, the shop that Mollica runs with his wife Margaret was the subject of a recent feature on Manhattan Sideways:

Though Santo is always adapting his shop and adding new items, he says that “it’s really about the people, not the things.” The East Village veterans mentor retailers who are new on the street, and they have built relationships with customers from all walks of life. They have also been running a food drive in their store for over twenty years. “Sometimes people come in and give, other times they take,” says Santo.

When we asked the couple, in early 2018, if they ever thought about retirement, even their dog Curtis looked amused. “Retirement? I don’t know what that means,” Margaret replied. Smiling, Santo added ... “We work for ourselves. We love it. And we have to keep it up to survive. The neighborhood is always evolving, but we can’t think of a place we’d rather be.”

The Source is also one of the businesses on this block taking part in the "shopping crawl" today from 4-7. (More details about that event here.)


[Manhattan Sideways. Photograph by Peter Nicholson]

Photos reprinted with permission

Previously on EV Grieve:
Honors for one of the most unique shops in the East Village

Another opportunity to talk about the L-train shutdown

[EVG file photo]

Via the EVG inbox...

Please attend the CB3 Feb. 13 Transportation Committee meeting regarding the coming L Train shutdown in April 2019. MTA and DOT representatives will present the latest plans and answer your questions.

The Transportation Committee will vote on a resolution to send your concerns to the MTA and DOT and ask for plans to address these concerns.

We need your help identify possible impacts and problems that need to be addressed.

Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m.
Grace Church School, 46 Cooper Square (at 6th Street/the Bowery)

The shutdown of the L — between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel — is expected to last 15 months with a start date of April 2019.

Last days for Ricky's on 3rd Avenue

As noted back on Jan. 16, the Ricky's location on Third Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street is closing. In case you missed the signs in the window, Sunday is the last day.

Ricky’s NYC president, Michael Long, told the Commercial Observer last fall that the chain is closing "underperforming stores" and that the company is now profitable. Apparently the East Village isn't so profitable: The Ricky's on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street closed without any notice in March 2016.

Still, there's a Ricky's set to open on Broadway near 12th Street.

The mini chain (there are 18 locations) selling accessories, cosmetics and novelties started as Ricky Love in 1989.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ricky's is closing on 3rd Avenue

The Ricky's on 1st Avenue has apparently closed

Once again, the rent is past due at the long-empty DF Mavens space

[Photos yesterday by Steven]

There's another notice "Demanding Payment of Rent" taped to the front door of the long-empty DF Mavens storefront on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place....



The owners of the vegan ice cream shop owe the January and February rent ($25k plus change) and some taxes for a $54,111.85 total.

DFM closed in January 2016 after two years in business on this northwest corner.

The storefront has sat empty these past two years without even a for rent sign in sight.