1) 9-11 Second Avenue.
This parcel that includes the Mars Bar will be demolished sometime in August to make way for a 12-story high-rise.
2) 51 Astor Place
Prep work for the demolition of the former Cooper Union engineering building starts on July 1. Expect to see an un-neighborhoody-looking black glass-black granite office building here in 17 months or so.
3) 347 Bowery
Back in January, Eastern Consolidated announced that Paris-based Louzon Group bought 347-349 Bowery. The group has plans to construct a 72-room boutique hotel at the site with a restaurant "operated by one of the most famous Parisian brands."
Meanwhile, Louzon officials haven't announced any kind of timeline for the new hotel. We expect to find demolition permits at the DOB one of these days for the Salvation Army's East Village Residence, which closed here at East Third Street in August 2008.
4) 35 Cooper Square
This one is a mystery. The people at the Arun Bhatia Development Corporation, who specialize in dorms and luxury condos, haven't made public their plans for the parcel of land on Cooper Square at Sixth Street. But they were seemingly in a hurry to demolish the historic 35 Cooper Square.
5) 500 E. 14th St.
We've been talking about this space where Stuyvesant Grocery and Pete's-A-Place were lost to a fire. There's only speculation now about the future of this corner. The only activity at the DOB is for the new boardwalk-quality sidewalk shed.
Plus:
— 75 First Avenue. A modified (and shorter) version of this rendering is expected here at Fifth Street.
— The BMW Guggenheim Lab on East First Street/Houston
Where is all this money suddenly coming from? Overseas? There are already so many stalled sites and vacant lots not just down here but all over the city. I thought the era of easy financing was over, I thought we were broke!
ReplyDeleteThere's plenty of money around, just not in our pockets, Anonymous @ 7:38 AM.
ReplyDeleteThe downturn affected the luxury market for all of about 5 minutes. Today big bizness is booming, the US gross domestic product is back to pre-global financial crisis levels, and the only drag on the US economy is the lack of demand that a persistent 10% unemployment rate creates and that neither political party wants to address, for different reasons. The GOP refuses to go along with anything that realistically addresses unemployment for ideological (and political) reasons, while the White House and Dems, as usual, act helpless and hopeless in the face of Republican intransigence.
Hey, the Gugg lab is kind of a square peg in your round list, EV. It's only around for the summer, while the glass and steel monstrosities will be with us for a long, long time. But then again, past experience sez it's inclusion is practically guaranteed to generate lots of outrage, hysteria, and irrational commentary.
Regarding the burnt out deli on 14th, I have a fantasy that whatever comes after could also provide an entrance to the L subway station, saving many residents an extra block of walking to 1st ave. I can dream, right?
ReplyDeleteIf I were choosing locations for L subway stations on 14th St, I'd eliminate the 3rd Ave station and put one on Ave B or C.
ReplyDeleteRE: Locations for L Stations
ReplyDeleteThe addition of an entrance to the L station at Avenue A wouldn't be a new station, it would just provide an entrance at the other end of the First Avenue platform (similar to how the 2nd Ave F station also has an entrance at 1st Ave.)
The 3rd Ave station is definitely underutilized, and if they could instead put in a station at Ave C or D, that would be great for the people in the far reaches of Alphabet City. However, I suspect that the tunnel is deep enough over there as it comes out from under the river that it might be fairly pricey to construct a station.
I found myself laughing at the gross architectural monstrosities pictured for the sites you've listed (this MUST be a sick joke!!!!) and then feeling a horrible sense of dread because this is NOT a joke -- they're actually going to build this shit and we're going to be stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteThere must've been an ugly architecture contest somewhere and now the winners get to see their psychotic visions realized here....
And isn't ANYone fighting or organizing against the city's latest real estate give away at the corner of First Street + Second Avenue?
ReplyDeleteAGAIN, the city is GIVING a parcel to a politically-connected developer (Donald Capoccia, the same guy who destroyed community gardens to build his ugly tax-payer-subsidized three story condos) in order use City funds to build LUXURY housing housing!!
Is everyone asleep? Doesn't ANYone else give a SHIT?????
I noticed the Salvation Army sign disappeared about a month ago - don't know if it was stolen or removed by the owner. It reminded me of the Bouwerie Lane Theater sign that just vanished without a peep one day....and the Amato Opera plaque. I'm kind of hoping someone is collecting all these Bowery signs...perhaps to be revealed in a "20th Century" show at the New Museum once the devastation is complete.
ReplyDeletewhile dreaming about an L train stop at 14th Street and Avenue C -- how about using the former Straus Auto Parts store as the entrance (w/elevator)? any news about that site?
ReplyDeleteThese buildings are the equivalent of hammering nails into a person's face and calling it cool as they sit and die a slow and painful death.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the information on Lyn Pentecost. People need to see what's really behind the facade. In terms of the Cappocia building I wish there was more clear information about it? Also it seems to me like people didn't even put up a fight, that there really wasn't any opposition to the building? Even the people who live in the buildings, while they appear sentimental didn't actually come out against the project, I think? Wish there was more specific info on how this all went down and when the initial idea for a new lux building was introduced? Confused myself.
ReplyDeleteHere's a decent piece on the L train in alphabet city:
ReplyDeletehttp://secondavenuesagas.com/2011/02/04/notes-from-the-l-train-avenues-a-and-c/
So there's some hope for an Ave A entrance someday, but doesn't look promising for points east of that.
@byrd,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. That was a good article regarding an L stop or station at Ave A or Ave C. The explanation was just as Nathan had thought.
Also, that website, 2nd Ave Sagas, seems to be a good resource for info on NYC transit.
now is not the time to be passive people need to be called out on their bullshit! Lyn Pentecost will take money from anyone and Phil Hartman will throw money around to get what he wants. Bloomberg gives a lot of money to the arts and various organizations too. It has been exposed that she went against the squats right, well then why the hell did Rosario Dawson represent The Girls Club, because she actually grew up in a squat. People are full of shit! $$$$$ Power Gentrification
ReplyDeleteAll of these are functional and aesthetic monstronsities with only a hostile relation to their surroundings. A building should not be a mere naked expression of the developer's (or architect's) ego.
ReplyDeleteAll is vanity.
- East Villager