Snack Dragon, the tiny taco shack on East Third Street near Avenue B, ended its East Village tenure on Halloween night. Cause of death: Cromanation (aka, a big high rent hike courtesy of landlord Steve Croman).
We knew that the asking rent is $4,495 for this small space — roughly 100 square feet. However, that size vs. asking rent didn't really sink in until we saw the space emptied out this past week...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Cromanated: The East Village Snack Dragon Taco Shack is closing
Snack Dragon has officially closed
It's such a shame small businesses have such a hard time existing in the East Village anymore. Especially one like this that turned a profit. At some point, all of this real estate cash grabbing will come back to bite these landlords in the ass. They are quickly creating a neighborhood of bland, predictable experiences people can already find elsewhere at a fraction of the price which is rendering this neighborhood an irrelevant non-destination - unless you like to get blindingly shitfaced on the weekend.
ReplyDeleteCan landlords write off vacant spaces as a business loss?
ReplyDelete@NOTORIOUS - unfortunately, that's exactly the kind of people that want to come here. You have the people who have actually lived here for a while, and hope to continue to do so, who are rapidly being priced out. You have the weekend brunch crowd where the parents come to visit their "edgy" offspring. (Look where I live, Mom and Dad! Isn't it cool? Now let's go wait on line at Westville or Prune!) And then you have the transients, be they temp residents or the B&T crowd, who come precisely to engage in the behavior you mentioned. The latter two groups outnumber the former in both numbers and buying power, so they will probably be the ultimate winners in the battle for the soul - or whatever's left of it - of the EV. (Unless the apocalypse comes and things go back to the way they were in 1979, a consummation devoutly to be wished for, at least in my book!)
ReplyDeleteThey're not going to get it. I live just west of here on East 3rd st. and the commercial spaces between the avenues just sit empty. Despite this, the local laundry just got priced out because her rent was raised from $3000 to $5000. Why is a space that is empty for a year more profitable than a rental?
ReplyDelete@Gojira All of this is designed to drive out anyone with roots in the City and replace them with short term people who don't care about a QOL, local laws, local policies, etc. so the landlords, corporations, banks, and politicians can do whatever they want. They'll be no one left to push back against them.
ReplyDeleteI have friends in ST and they are absolutely using Generation WOO to drive out long term tenants. The more transient the community, the less people take a stand for it, so the more corrupt it can become.
This is all a really ugly chapter in NYC history.
The city needs to make it prohibitively expensive for scumbag building owners like Croman to sit on vacant properties while they wait for some sucker to pay their insanely inflated asks.
ReplyDeleteA "Use It Or Lose It" law where property has to be rented within a set period of time or it's fined to death or taken away.
ReplyDeleteThe landlords use the tax laws to benefit from the places being vacant. As far as the 'use it or lose it' idea- I wish people would make LEGAL REALISTIC suggestions that could be fought for. Pie in the sky fantasies are a waste of time.
ReplyDelete