[Image via Douglas Ellian Commercial]
The building between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street arrived on the market last week.
Per the listing (PDF!):
Douglas Elliman Commercial, as exclusive agent for ownership, is pleased to offer this mixed use building for sale located ... The property’s frontage is on the avenue and benefits from abundant foot traffic between 7th and 8th Street.
The building features steel beam structural support, concrete floors, upgraded electric, new roof, 20 feet of frontage, and 1,300 SF of air rights for additional development. Unique East Village opportunity for owner- occupied building with prime restaurant potential.
This 3-story building is configured with a restaurant on the 1st and 2nd floors, an office on the 3rd floor, and a functional basement. The property is in a great location for restaurants, retail, and is in close proximity to Tompkins Square Park.
OFFERING HIGHLIGHTS:
• Owner-user residential and restaurant
• High quality, turnkey restaurant buildout
• Mixed-use opportunity with development rights
• Potential for north facing, lot-line windows
The price: $4.95 million. So you get some possible air rights in this deal. And "abundant foot traffic."
The operators of the two most recent restaurants to try this address might disagree with the foot traffic comment. Le Jardin Bistro, the low-key French bistro, closed here in the late spring. And Apartment 13 before this.
Anyway, now that No. 115 is being shown to potential suitors, guess this is why workers recently cleaned up the unused, weed-strewn lot adjacent to the building… Part of Eastville Gardens (RIP El Jardin de la Esperanza) now…
10 comments:
Sure I'll spend $4 plus million and another million to buy and renovate this space above a restaurant on a small top floor. Nobody buys these buildings to live in, those days are gone forever. This will be purchased by a developer which will either demolish it, keep one commercial floor and convert the upper 2 floors into 5 or 6 apartments rented out to students.
Everyone wants to live in the heart of the East Village.
Why doesn't Eastville do something with this empty space?
Can you say "Teardown!".
The lot is empty per an agreement that would maintain the "garden" (I can't even call it a garden with a straight face) and the mural "in perpetuity;" however, since the lot has been constantly locked since the building's construction, it hasn't been exactly easy to get gardeners in there. Otherwise, naturally, the building would have built right up to the little tenement where the mural is painted.
The one person I can think would know more about this is Bill TimesUP at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space; they would probably even have information about the garden that was displaced, since the museum is concerned primarily with not letting the squatter history of the neighborhood die.
I remember when the deal was going down. The women who was the hold out for the garden (in those days it was usually a bruja), received concessions from the developers (the mural and garden, though reduced in size), who were, understandably, terrified of upsetting the neighborhood (no more though would this be the case), which at the time still had a heavy Puerto Rican-Dominican presence and a no-nonsense bruja coalition. The garden contents were just dropped back in upon completion of their corner project (wher the super market is) and our guardians the Brujas were disgusted and walked away, which is the usual response from Puerto Rican gardeners down here when confronted by crazy Anglo-Euro-corporate development.
The restaurant here destroyed residents lives going back to The Porch days. The reason it closed is because they never legally had a certificate of occupancy o use all of the floors for commercial. In other words it should have never been a multi-level to begin with. The applicant for the other two restaurants lied on the application to the SLA stating it did have a valid c of o. I remember a woman who lived next door in tears at the community board, telling the story of having a baby and how the restaurant made her apartment unlivable.
That was a garden lovingly tended to for many years by Carmen Pabón, who converted a rubble-strewn lot into a thing of beauty when this neighborhood was not HOT for the monied transients that infest it now.
When the Esperanza Gardeners (Seventh Street near Avenue C) were sold out by then-councilmember Margarita Lopez, who GAVE that land PLUS the SouthWest corner of Avenue C + Eighth Street to developer (and bedfellow of Lopez' predecessor Antonio Pagàn) Donald Capoccia (he also did the deal that destroyed the Mars Bar and other classic buildings along Second Avenue, between Houston + East First Streets), Lopez left Carmen Pabon's garden out of the give-away. [Who knows what sweet under-the-table deal Lopez cut with Capoccia, who paid NOTHING for the former city land on which his HUGE market-rate apartment projects sit????]
As Carmen got older (I believe she's in her 90s now), she was seen tending her garden less and less. Capoccia subsequently had the fence and locking gate door that is seen there currently installed, preventing anyone from accessing the garden. Though not given to them, the Capoccia gang have effectively taken that piece of land anyway.
@Chris Flash:
Any idea how many affordable units were allegedly developed as a part of this deal? Private developers are chomping at the bit over the Mayor's supposed affordable housing plan. CB3 as far as I am concerned didn't go far enough and were swayed by an argument a member or two made that 40% affordable housing was a decent compromise. That means that developers will get incentives if the build only 60% lux housing, why should they get any. It will be interesting to see if Rosie stands with our community and communities all over NY that are rejecting this plan as a give away to developers, or she follows in the footsteps of Lopez.
Is Eastville Gardens considered luxury housing?
Whatever percentage of "affordable" units were created as part of this real estate bonanza for Capoccia is illusory.
First, the amount of rent that is being touted as "affordable" is too high for most working class people, but because that number is below the grossly-inflated "market" rate, by comparison, it APPEARS to be low. Second, the number of "affordable" units created are only TEMPORARY. After a certain number of years (usually only ten), those units go "market" as well.
In addition to the FREE city-owned land, Capoccia got tax-payer money (subsidies) to build this thing AND a tex abatement (NO real estate taxes for years). How sweet is THAT?
A city administration that GAVE A SHIT about its citizens vs investors and monied transients would have used land taken in lieu of non-payment of real estate taxes for TRULY affordable housing that NEVER reverts to "market" rate. DeBlazio's "plan" only benefits real estate interests and further fuels the hyper-gentrification destroying our city.
We can only HOPE that Rosie Mendez will reject the DeBlazio give-away and at least TRY to defend affordable housing in her district.
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