The for rent signs arrived Friday at the former pizzeria here on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place...
The listing isn't live just yet at the Jonis Realty site.
Perhaps then this means that the proposed cocktail bar-restaurant-grab-and-go-breakfast-place-co-working-freelance space The Honey Fitz is no longer in the works.
As you may recall, the proprietors, James Morrissey (The Late Late on East Houston) and Gerard McNamee (GM of Webster Hall), wanted to combine the empty Hop Devil Grill with Nino's for one large Honey Fitz. However, facing opposition from CB3 during the February SLA committee meeting, the proprietors withdrew their proposal. (BoweryBoogie covered the meeting here.)
The former Hop Devil space remains open... literally...
Maybe the Honey Fitz can work from just this space.
As for Nino's. The pizzeria had to close on Oct. 21 due to a gas leak in the building. On Nov. 17, Nino's received an eviction notice. Owner Nino Camaj had said that the gas was shut off in the building without any notice to him. In late November, Camaj's lawyers were reportedly in discussion with landlord Citi Urban Management to dispute the rent charged for the month during which they had to close due to the gas leak. Camaj still has 10 years left on his lease, and had been in court with the landlords.
But before the February CB3-SLA meeting, word came out that Camaj had accepted a low six-figure amount to walk away from his lease and surrender the space. The kitchen equipment was auctioned off on Feb. 22.
Nino's opened in 1989. (Nino sold the business in 2012, which produced a short-lived pizzeria. He returned and reopened Nino's in July 2013.)
Camaj told DNAinfo in February that he could no longer afford the $14,500 monthly rent. Camaj said that the rent for the corner space was $3,500 when he first opened.
Previously on EV Grieve:
The Honey Fitz in the works for St. Mark's Place and Avenue A (54 comments)
Gas leak closes Nino's for now
Nino's and Yoshi Sushi served with eviction notices on Avenue A
Encouraging signs at Nino's
Report: The Honey Fitz on hold; and RIP Nino's
Selling off Nino's
How about a mini mall? or senior center? day care? one half dog cafe other half cat cafe? under 21 disco/rec center? Well, whatever it gets rented out as, I hope they install really great soundproofing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Brazen Fox will also have a moment of clarity and rethink their need for another bar.
ReplyDeleteMariella is also closed (3rd & 16th) its website is offline and hasn't been open in months.
ReplyDeleteIf the Honey Fitz hit an iceberg, we can only hope that Morrissey and McNamee go down with the yacht.
ReplyDeleteMaybe another pizzeria? Certainly not another bro bar. We have enough of those places in this hood.
ReplyDelete@8:52, I called Mariella last week and their answering machine said they are still working on repairs from a gas leak... Hopefully they will re-open. At least there is Joe Jr. still across the street. I even sent an email to the Mariella folks via their website (when it was up) to ask if there was anything we could do to help but no response so far. I hope it isn't a goner, it's the best slice in manhattan.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I didn't know about Mariella as have been avoiding carbs of late but agree it has long been my pick as best slice in Manhattan. I really hope this decades-old family run place can survive. For a more local, thinner crust variant I like Pie on Fourth Ave around the corner from the Strand--great owners and team there too I am happy to support.
ReplyDeleteBring back pizza by the slice. I swear. What about Joe's?
ReplyDeleteHow about a bar that makes pizza on bagels to be served only to dogs & cats staying for the day.
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout live rock music venue in the Hop Devil space? What live music venues are left in the east of Bowery/Third Avenue between E.Houston and E.14th Sts. box besides Pyramid (rarely, underused), Drom (nonentity as when have their events ever been announced on EV?), and Niagara (here and there)? Any others?
ReplyDeleteThe building hasn't had gas in over 5 months. The landlord specifically excluded gas responsibility in the lease. The tenants of the upstairs are also without gas for months. No resolution in sight.
ReplyDeleteSo many vacant stores on Avenue A... lets' ask the incoming owners of the eleven million dollar unit on the MHOC site what they'd like, since money talks.
ReplyDelete2A has opened up their basement for a live venue called Berlin. And HiFi sometimes goes back to its roots as a live venue, but it's pretty sporadic. And there's always Otto's Shrunken Head.
ReplyDelete@anon10:09
ReplyDeleteYou want to do another rock venue then take over some of thes, our shit don't stink, places. The problem with the music venues is that, one-they heve been taken over by high end restaurants and cocktail lounges, two-people who run music venues in town also own and operate, our shit don't stink restaurants and bars as a way to capitalize on the gentrification but then claim to be the ones saving the neighborhood, three-music venues don't care about the real problem, which is that people are living in unlivable and dangerous conditions and being forced out, four-musicians don't care they just need a job as a waiter or bartender, five, a good example is one of the members of Florence And The Machine is in on The Late Late on Houston, Morrissey's other sensible Irish establishment where actors like Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neesan hang
Furthermore anon 10:09
ReplyDeleteThe supposed "real east villagers" in "authentic nightlife", do side with the gentrification by ignoring the real problems, (stated above), working and siding with the real estate scumbags(who invest in their authentic bars), and taking and selling pictures from the Holloween shit-parade, a parade that markets the East Village for Real Estate Developers and landlords. Ignorance is bliss.
@Jon Coakley
ReplyDeleteThere's also Elvis Guesthouse, but they really don't care about the neighborhood and it's people. They just want to get in on the area. We lost Banjo Jims and Lakeside Lounge to high end, expensive well pressed casual clothes types. Vomit.
Yeh right, Berlin. I heard you have to be selected in order to get in, and I don't ever remember Lower Eastside women bartenders selling expensive cocktails dressed like playboy bunnies. It was more like, tom girls in combat boots.
ReplyDeleteHey you little clueless scumbag at 11:10am and 11:49pm.
ReplyDeleteFirst off a live music venue is the anthesis of big real estate and gentrifiers, it's a place where artists can express their creation.
Second a new live music venue would attract artists, their supporters, non-bros, hos, yuppies, and other non-creative, consumerist douchebags.
Last you are a shill for big real estate or worse a wannabe because only either would be against a live music venue opening in a near barren live music neighborhood like EV. A rare show at Pyramid, an occasional show at Niagara, and a show no one knows about cuz the club is too lazy to get the word out at Drom is a pretty sad state of affairs live music wise, when the EV once had CBGB, Coney Island High, Nightingale, Lizmar Lounge, Spiral, Pyramid when it had live music on the regular etc.
*Antithesis
ReplyDelete**A new live music venue would attract artists, their supporters, and non-bros/hos/yuppies, and REPEL other non-creative, consumerist douchebags besides bros, hos, and yuppies.
@4:32, 2:43
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think creative types aren't capitalizing on the gentrification? They are. They are restaurateurs and high end dinner theater owners who support real estate developers and landlords and high end fashion. Artists do market the East Village.
That being said, another rock venue would be good. It would be good if they could take over one of the existing sensible yuppie clubs or restaurants, but the rents are high and that's why most of the clubs disappeared to begin with. That was a long time ago too. And what makes you think creative types are any different than any other asshole, you know.
There are alot of music industry people from the Eat Village of yesteryear who own these stupid cocktail lounges and high end restaurants, should I name names. I can think of one who has two floors of bullshit on a perfect corner for music, but rather than have it be a music venue they choose to have a high end because they just want to rake it in. What makes you think they have any respect for the neighborhood or music, past or present. People are bitter and greedy.
If you want indie there's Cake Shop across Houston, Mercury Lounge, Irving Plaza, Elvis Guesthouse, High-Fi, Webster Hall. By the way, the owners of Webster were trying to open a high end food forward cocktail lounge in Chinatown, everyone wants to get in on it.
If you are referring to this particular location on Saint Marks Place. That might be good, if they sound proof and have crowd control, but it could also be a disaste. Not sure if it's the right location for it. It would be great to bring back something like Coney Island High but rents are high, so it's hard to run a rock venue. Additionally,it's not going to change the fact that people are being forced out of their apartments and everything is becoming lux-huosing.
What makes you think the owner of a rock venue could care about the neighborhood and it's people, and why should they have to. Some of them might toss some money to area charity and claim to have a heart for peope in the area, and you believe them? Do you care?
Oh so by your logic 6:14pm let's NEVER, EVER have another live music venue in the East Village again because it might be opened by a rich artist (or rich person who fancies him/herself one) who's a lackey for the developers and gentrifiers. Puh-leeze. By all means name names so I can boycott their places.
ReplyDeleteYes, some creative types are assholes, but not all are, and I'd rather they be in the East Village than the bro ho slop parading all over it since I'll say 2000.
You mentioning Irving Plaza, Mercury Lounge, and Webster Hall as "indie" venues shows how clueless you are as to what an "indie" venue is. Irving Plaza is owned and booked by Live Nation NYC, hardly an "indie" live music promotion company. Many years before that it was owned and booked by Ron Delsener, no friend to indie music either. Mercury Lounge is owned and booked by Bowery Presents, hardly an "indie" live music promotion company also, although they support local bands way more than LNYC. 'Thing is alot of it is industry and/or social politics as an opener usually has to have an in to get a slot. These two and AEG Live have a near monopoly on live music shows in venues which hold 300 or more people. They pay openers like shit despite charging 25 or more for a show. Webster Hall is independent but hardly indie with their directly competing with the aforementioned giants and mostly industry shows. Also I consider it to be in the Union Square neighborhood more than the EV. I'm not surprised by their efforts in Chinatown as it's always been more of a dance club than a live music club, now it's both. Elvis Guesthouse and Hi Fi (not High Fi) barely have live music.
You mentioning Cake Shop shows you don't have a clue as to what the East Village is because Cake Shop is on Ludlow Street just below Stanton Street on the Lower East Side, not in the EV. Btw the guy who runs that place is so incompetent he has had two major begging campaigns to keep it open, I'm pretty sure he'll beg again, and I'm pretty sure Cake Shop will go under sooner than later. He should close and let someone with a clue how to run a venue (which he doesn't have) take over the space. Btw his venue is 21+ thus not indie cuz a real indie venue doesn't shut out entire generations of youth from seeing live music and playing it before club crowds. Ditto for Arlene Grocery, Pianos, and The Delancey Bar the only other live music venues left on the LES besides Cake Shop. Oh yeah - Irving Plaza isn't in the East Village, it's in Union Square and neither is Mercury Lounge which is on the southern side of East Houston Street thus on the very northern end of the Lower East Side.
There's nothing someone opening a live music venue in Hop Devil could do about tenants being forced out of their apartments and luxury apartments being built. All he/she can do is open and work to make the place a haven for artists and all who support them. You can't say whoever opens one is automatically a lackey for the developers cuz not everyone is.
I hear alot of what you're saying but you can't get on me for what I wrote when you call Irving Plaza and Mercury Lounge indie venues and Cake Shop an East Village venue. It shows you don't really know what you're talking about when it comes to indie East Village venues.
I'm surprised no one mention Rockwood. 11:12 AM: You can't be an indie club if you are 21+? That strikes me as a rather narrow definition.
ReplyDeleteRockwood is on Allen Street which is on the Lower East Side.
ReplyDeleteOkay time for a lesson in the boundaries for the East Village:
Northern Border: South side of E.14th Street
Southern Border: North side of E.Houston Street
Eastern Border: The FDR Drive
Western Border: East side of Bowery
Alphabet City is a section of the neighborhood. If you consider it its own neighborhood (I don't) then the eastern border of the EV is the west side of Avenue A.
No, you can't be an indie club if you're 21+ because we would have no indie music scene without people under 21 forming bands, putting out music, and playing shows. Shutting out entire generations of people from seeing live music strikes me as "rather narrow".
Maybe you should do some research on the indie music scene before Bowery Presents and all the 21+ venues currently around.
ReplyDelete@11:12
I never said that these places were "indie venues", just that indie bands do play there. Bands that play, say like Shea Stadium, have also played at some of these venues. You seem fixated on the boundaries of the East Village. The Stone is an East Village indie venue. Most of the indie venues in Brooklyn are in locations and structures that can support what they do. Some even have outdoor space.
I am indeed, for all ages concerts, but how can this happen in the East Village given the situation, with astronomical rents, upscaling, harassment, no gas, tapped gas, and unlivable conditions?
Why would you seek to open a business in a location where the landlord has been denying gas to residents and businesses, for over six months? If you want to say, that all landlords are like this, fine, but you know, every asshole who has come before the SLA committee wanting to open a bro ho yuppie bar or restaurant for people that you seem to dislike, have the same argument, so what makes you any different?
Renting space from a landlord like this, is supporting the real estate industry. The real estate industry supports music and art to market their atrocities. Once a mural goes up, the developers are on it like flies to shit.