The Bean is opening in the former St. Mark's Bookshop space at Cooper Union

The Bean is opening a new location at 31 Third Ave. at Stuyvesant Street ... an EVG tipster sent along these photos from yesterday... the signage shows The Bean @Cooper Union...



The storefront has been empty ever since St. Mark's Bookshop moved out in June 2014. There have been a few art shows here, which makes sense given that Cooper Union owns the building.

"We've always liked the old St. Mark's Bookstore spot and it's been empty for years, so when the opportunity presented itself for us to obtain it we were excited to make it happen," Ike Escava, owner of the Bean, told me via email.

This will make the coffee shop/cafe's fifth location, joining the other East Village locations at Second Avenue and Third Street and Ninth Street at First Avenue. The other locations are at Broadway and 12th Street and Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.

If all goes well, then Escava said that he'd like to be open around Labor Day.

St. Mark's Bookshop had been struggling to stay in business here. In November 2011, then-Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer helped broker a deal between the Bookshop owners and Cooper Union in which the school agreed to lower the rent by $3,000 to $17,000 and forgive $7,000 in debt. The shop moved to a much smaller space on Third Street with four years remaining on the least at 31 Third Ave.

City ID cards available through April 13 at former St. Mark's Bookshop on 3rd Avenue

31 Third Ave. at Stuyvesant Street has been empty ever since St. Mark's Bookshop moved out in June 2014. There have been a few art shows here, which makes sense given that Cooper Union owns the building.

Starting tomorrow, though, the space will be an IDNYC center through April 13...





Here's more about the program:

New York City residents are now able to sign up for IDNYC – a government-issued identification card that is available to all City residents age 14 and older. Immigration status does not matter. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this initiative in his State of the City address in January 2014 and less than one year later proudly launched the largest municipal identification card program in the nation.

Find more details on how to sign up here.

No. 31 was home to the St. Mark's Bookshop for 22 years.

Introducing Nonstop Cooper, a community residency on 3rd Avenue

Via the EVG inbox…

Nonstop Cooper is a community residency at 31 Third Avenue. It will serve as a workspace for community engagement and a platform for public outreach.

Opening on September 7th, Nonstop will feature a wide variety of programming, and drop-in hours from noon to midnight. Community members are welcome to host and attend happenings.

Find more details about this residency at Facebook … and the Nonstop Cooper Tumblr.

The space, 31 Third Ave. at Stuyvestant Street, previously housed St. Mark's Bookshop before a rent increase saw the the owners relocate to East Third Street.

The storefront has been empty now for more than a year.


[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Updated 8 a.m.
In other Cooper Union news ... from the Associated Press via ABC News:

New York's attorney general has reached an agreement that would end a suit against Cooper Union and create an independent monitor into the financial management of the engineering and architecture school.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is expected to announce the agreement Wednesday.

He says he hopes it could eventually lead to the school restoring its tradition of free tuition.

Former St. Mark's Bookshop space still for rent on 3rd Avenue

[Photo from April 23]

Back in April, we noticed that someone had removed the for lease signs from the former St. Mark's Bookshop space at 31 Third Ave. … perhaps ahead of a new retail announcement?

Well, no.

There are just new signs up for the broker…

Now!



Last September!



Here's the description of the space via the listing at Jones Lang LaSalle:

• Neighbors include: Cooper Union, Organic Avenue, The Smith,The Standard Hotel, St. John’s University, New York University,TD Bank, Muji
• Surrounded by retailers, restaurants and corporate offices
• Manhattan’s hottest tech and educational hub
• Firms in the area include: J.Crew, Facebook, AOL, IBM Watson
• Over 65,000 undergraduate and graduate students in the surrounding area
• Consistent foot traffic with St. Mark’s Place, Astor Place and Cooper Square steps away

The rent is available by request. (St. Mark's Bookshop had been paying $23,500 a month here, according to the Times.)

St. Mark's Bookshop moved last summer to a new storefront on East Third Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former St. Mark's Bookshop for lease