Well, no. But we have talked with a lot of people in the last month who are dreading the Construction Hell that awaits parts of Avenue A ... between the new residential complex at 181 Avenue A, aka the former Mary Help of Christians lot between East 12th Street and East 11th Street ... and the impending destruction of 100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street ... which will yield a new residential building and retail space...
And for good measure... there's the out-of-place-looking 7-Eleven opening soon enough on East 11th Street...
Not to mention the loss of the familiar — the Odessa Cafe and Bar, which had been around since 1965. At least the Joe Strummer mural is coming back to East Seventh Street and Avenue A.
I was talking to my landlord the other day and told him about the building going up on 11th and A, and he said it was "progress." He also welcomed the arrival of 7-11, insisting the local bodegas are too expensive. I disagreed with him on both points but can see why he would love all of this "progress." I am sure he envisions a day when he will sell our building to a developer and cash in big time.
ReplyDeleteAre we sure the Joe Strummer mural even *wants* to come back to this "new and improved" Avenue A? I doubt the real Mr. Strummer would have eyed the changes with anything even remotely resembling favor.
ReplyDelete*sigh*
ReplyDeleteSince our beautiful Avenue A seems to be over and done with: Developers need to get serious with the buyouts on A. None of this piddly 25K, 40K crap. Bring the serious money and you'll get your fucking apartments to destroy.
ReplyDeleteSure A is for Avoid, I have been Avoiding walking down A for years now, certainly all day on weekends and after 6pm every day of the week. Sounds funny coming from a guy that didn't avoid walking b or c any hour day or night during the 'bad old days'. Will admit I mostly stayed off of d, but partly because I just had no business of any kind down there anyway.
ReplyDeleteIt will be hell. The small 8 story building going up on 11th between A & B has not been fun either. At least one a week they close of the street.
ReplyDeletePleasan Ave in SPAHA is an extension of Ave A... you should check out upper east vilage UPEVA
ReplyDeleteTo 10:49 am
ReplyDeleteBe aware that the buyout money one receives is treated by the taxing authorities as income, so if you are making say 50k annually, and you receive say a 100k buyout, at the end of the day with fed, state, city, etc., you will only see somewhere between half and 65% of it. Your tax guy may have some ideas to push that up somewhat, good way to trigger an audit also. And if you think these big time guys that are here now will just be handing you an envelope stuffed with cash, think again.
It's true that bodegas are too expensive. It's also true that they sell stuff long past the sell-by date.
ReplyDeleteSomeone who knows how to do these things should conduct a séance and contact the spirit of Joe Strummer. We could ask him what he thinks. It's possible he hasn't been paying attention though.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure there will be many buyouts. At least not in my building. We're all over or near to the $2,500 mark in rent at this point.
ReplyDelete11:54, I'm not stupid but thanks for playing amateur accountant on the Internet. And yes, my original comment certainly indicates that I'm waiting for Shaoul or Kushner to knock on my door with a bucket of hundos. (That's sarcasm btw.)
ReplyDeleteThe "big time guys" will pay if they want the apartments that bad. We've been through the ringer with these dirtbags; the rent-stabilized tenants left in the EV know their rights. If they can afford to bomb the entire length of 14th between A/B to build an upscale mixed-used shitshow, they can afford to pay tenants serious amounts to get them to leave. So cough it up, predatory equity.
I HOPE THE NEW STRUMMER PAINTING LOOKS MORE LIKE JOE, AND LESS LIKE SEAN PENN!!!!
ReplyDelete11:54 I don't recall saying anyone was stupid, the comment I posted does not imply that, so ease up. The argument of consideration of lease buyouts as capital gains rather than income is extant and may be worth examining. No need to be so snarky in either case.
ReplyDeleteThe envelope of cash refers to buyouts that were often done on a cash basis to avoid taxation altogether. The point being that the current crop of large-scale owners and developers can not 'work with you' like this.
Can we attribute your bitterness solely to the changing real estate values in the area? Seems disproportionate.
Ray's stands strong.
ReplyDelete1:48, I was not being snarky (lord, how I detest that word). Bitter, I will give you. Your original comment seemed lecture-y and a tad condescending. I apologize for being snappish, and yes what's happening in the neighborhood makes me extremely cranky.
ReplyDeleteI maintain that these developers have deep, deep pockets, and to my knowledge significant buyouts have yet to be offered on the Avenue, but they should be or people won't budge. That is all. Good day.
I've started to avoid 11th St. between A and B for this same reason. Too damn much construction to go around.
ReplyDeleteSo, you, criticize capitalism, unless someone gratuitously includes you in it, for no reason other than that you feel entitled. Nice.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of capitalism, this is probably a good time/place for a quote by Marshall Berman, who died yesterday;
ReplyDelete"The truth of the matter … is that everything that bourgeois society builds is built to be torn down. “All that is solid melts into air” — from the clothes on our backs to the looms and mills that weave them, to the men and women who work the machines, to the houses and neighborhoods the workers live in, to the firms and corporations that exploit the workers, to the towns and cities and whole regions and even nations that embrace them all — all these are made to be broken tomorrow, smashed or shredded or pulverized or dissolved, so they can be recycled or replaced next week, and the whole process can go on again and again, hopefully forever, in ever more profitable forms."
7:11, You bet your ass I feel entitled. I am entitled. Pay me!
ReplyDelete