Checking in on the work in progress at 31-33 2nd Ave., where Ben Shaoul is adding 3 new floors

[Photo from 2009 by LuciaM via Panoramio]

We first reported that developer Ben Shaoul was adding three new floors of residences at 31-33 Second Ave. back in June 2012...

Here's a quick look at the progress...



The sidewalk bridge is sporting some renderings of the final product, expected in the first quarter of 2014...





Approved plans on file with the city show that workers will remodel the existing commercial space on the ground floor ... remodel the existing apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors ... and add on top of the existing building. Each floor will contain two apartments. Based on the rendering, the original building will be stripped of all character to make it appear as if it belongs on a train set.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul planning a 3-story addition at 31-33 Second Ave.

Bracing for 3 new floors at 31-33 Second Ave.

Ben Shaoul plans to sell Bloom 62 'in a year or two'

We were watching "The Stoler Report" — the real-estate roundtable program on Channel 75 — the other evening... Developer Ben Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group, was one of the guests discussing the residential market in Manhattan and the boroughs... it was a fairly sobering discussion on everything from end loans for condos ... debt yields... capital gains...

At roughly the 20-minute mark, host Michael Stoler asked Shaoul about his preference for short-term lending ... Well, you know, it depends on the asset and who the partner is and what the plan is for the asset, etc.

While he didn't mention it by name (Bloom 62, the new luxury residences that replaced the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street and Avenue B), Shaoul mentioned his current "conversion of a nursing home."

And?

"We're going to look to sell the asset in a year or two," he said.

This type of property, he said, was attractive to the institutions who buy this caliber of asset.

In December 2011, Shaoul and company purchased Cabrini for $25.5 million from a family trust made up of the estates of Jacob W. Friedman and Sol Henkind. Negotiations to resell the building to a for-profit nursing home operator reportedly fell apart in early January 2012. Cabrini closed for good on June 30, 2012.

The 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees.

Bloom 62 is currently renting — prices range from $3,450/month for a one-bedroom unit to $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment. The listed amenities include 24-hour doorman, gym and exercise facility with weight room, secured landscaped courtyard entrance, deck with showers, Weber grills and teak sun-deck, and yoga room with music system.

You can watch this episode of "The Stoler Report," taped on May 30, right here.

Is Ben Shaoul finally removing the illegal penthouse addition on East 6th Street?

In recent weeks, scaffolding and a sidewalk bridge arrived outside 514-516 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B... back in the summer of 2010, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) voted to approve a sixth story that had been added to the building the previous year, but not the penthouse above it. That addition needed to come down.

Nearly three years later, the illegal penthouse remained.

Then workers and the sidewalk bridge arrived. And residents were immediately suspicious.

On June 11, when the work began, one resident told us: "Management told me they are 'doing construction on the roof,' but wouldn't offer any more details and seem very annoyed at my question."

And later that day — "I see them bringing some large pieces of wood slabs upstairs. I don't think they are deconstructing at all."

However, according to The Villager this week:

Kelly Magee, the Department of Buildings’ press secretary, said what’s going on is that Shaoul is indeed removing the tenement’s illegal seventh-story penthouse. He also had added a sixth story but is being allowed to keep that. The work is being done in compliance with a Sept. 12, 2012, ruling by the Board of Standards and Appeals.

“Work is being performed to dismantle the penthouse, in accordance with approved plans,” Magee said. A crane isn’t being used. Rather, the penthouse is being dismantled by hand, as in “with handheld devices,” Magee said.

A photo of the work yesterday via a reader...



Meanwhile, tack in 2008, the BSA decreed that the one-story addition to the Ben Shaoul-owned 515 E. Fifth St. was illegal and should be removed. There was a BSA hearing on the matter on May 21, with another scheduled for July 23.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.

Asbestos abatement continues at 98 Avenue A, Ben Shaoul's latest East Village trophy

[Bobby Williams]

Developer Ben Shaoul is the new owner of 98 Avenue A, the former theater-turned market at 100 Avenue A. Public records show that an entity called Partners Vii/98 Avenue A Owner LLC purchased the property last month for $15.5 million.

While the name of Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group, isn't listed on the records... his name appears as the owner of the property on the asbestos abatement flyers that went up this past week.





East Village Farms at 100 Avenue A between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street closed Feb. 7, 2012. Since then, not much of anything has happened inside the space, though the sidewalk does serve as a makeshift shelter.


[March 2013 via Bobby Williams]

Last year, the landlord — Suh, Yon, Pak Associates, Inc. — was proposing to keep the store on the first and second floor, and then add a third and fourth floor for residential use. For whatever reason, the landlord never got this plan approved. Subsequent plans on file with the DOB showed a proposed addition to the back of the building ... and increasing the size of the store at the first and second floors.

Nothing is on file yet with the DOB to indicate either a demolition or new building for the address. However, a listing for the retail spaces that we noted last month provides an idea of what Shaoul and company have in mind:

Size
9,767 sf - Ground Floor
5,850 sf - Basement
*Divisions Accepted

Asking Rent
Upon Request

Currently
Vacant (New Residential Development)

Frontage
127'5" on Avenue A

Notes & Highlights:
• Landlord will deliver vanilla box space and new storefront(s)
• New residential building will be above the retail (40 units)
• Unique large piece of retail space available in the East Village

Here's is the latest rendering... (apparently the Sidewalk doesn't exist in this future)...



For now, the interior looks like this...


[By Edward Arrocha]

Shaoul is currently putting the finishing touches on Bloom 62, the luxury building on Avenue B and East Fifth Street that previously provided end-of-life care for up to 240 low-income elderly residents in the East Village. As Crain's reported yesterday, "Magnum chose the name Bloom 62 to highlight the large amount of green space in the property, including a 5,000-square-foot courtyard, and a well-planted 10,000 square foot roof."

Previously on EV Grieve:
A little bit of Hollywood on Avenue A

East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

Inside the abandoned theater at East Village Farms on Avenue A

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

Pricing for apartments at former Cabrini Center revealed; 4-bedroom unit for $7,600 at Bloom 62

Several units from Bloom 62, developer Ben Shaoul's luxury apartment building that replaced the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth Street and Avenue B, appeared on Streeteasy this past weekend. There are six listings, ranging from a one-bedroom unit for $3,450 all the way up to a four-bedroom unit for $7,600.

The listings all basically showcase the same amenities. Here's the one for the four-bedroom pad:

Brand New Listing in Pristine New Building. Huge 4 Bedrooms with Tons of Closet Space. Amazing Deal. This Apartment will not last!

Apartment Details:

-Brand New Renovations
-Very Spacious Layout
-Queen Size Bedrooms
-Beautiful Spa Style Marble Bathroom
-Wide Plank Hardwood Floors
- Closet Space!

Kitchen Features:
-Chef’s Kitchen
-Plenty of Counter Space / Cabinet Space
-Stainless Steel Appliances (Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Microwave)
-Granite Counter top

WASHER & DRYER

New Doorman bldg Features:
AMENITIES

24 hour doorman
Gym & exercise facility with weight room
Secured landscaped courtyard entrance
Standard storage
Laundry room
Bicycle storage
Landscaped roof deck with showers, Weber grills, & teak sun-deck
Yoga room with music system
Handicap accessible

According to Streeteasy, the apartments are available starting June 14. The previous tenant here was the 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — that provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees. The facility closed last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

[Updated] 5 years later, another BSA hearing on illegal rooftop addition at 515 E. Fifth St.

Back in 2008, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) decreed that the one-story addition to 515 E. Fifth St. was illegal and should be removed.

Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate was behind the enlargements, which were approved by the Buildings Department but were found to skirt certain fire and safety regulations, per published reports. (Read more about the ruling at the Post and Curbed.)

And that was that.

Fast forward to the fall of 2011, where some residents of 515 and several local politicians and community groups held a protest at the address. Per the press release at the time:

[We] will call on the Department of Buildings (DOB) to finally force developer Ben Shaoul to come into compliance with the law and evacuate and dismantle a roof top addition tomorrow — an addition that was deemed illegal by the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA). In addition, there are 13 major code violations that put tenants in danger, including fire safety issues (there was an electrical fire at the building in March), that continue to be unresolved. The DOB has thus far not responded to the BSA’s decision and tenants feel that they are being forced out by the developer for higher paying renters.

And that was that.

However, this morning, there's a BSA hearing about 515 E. Fifth St. that could become the precedent for all similar expansions in the neighborhood. Here's a notice on the meeting via GOLES:

"This construction was found illegal in BSA decisions in 2007 and 2008. Now the landlord is seeking to reverse them. If the landlord is allowed to keep this illegal construction it will set a precedent for other landlords to do the same ... leading to dangerous construction that can cause damage to the structure of such old tenement buildings."

Magnum Real Estate is still listed as the landlord. This was not one of the 30-plus properties that Jared Kushner purchased in recent months.

But Kushner may have plans of his own for extra floors. During a contentious community meeting last month, Kushner reps said that they intend to "follow the law" and that property additions would be considered from "time to time," according to a report by BoweryBoogie.

Last October, the BSA OK'd rooftop additions for these five properties on East Ninth Street.

Updated 5-22

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office told us the following: "No vote was taken...a submission schedule was worked out and the hearing will be continued on July 23."

Mendez provided joint testimony yesterday along with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh And State Senator Brad Hoylman.

According to their testimony:

Notably, the owner does not claim that the addition was built pursuant to a valid permit or that the addition was built in compliance with the prior zoning. Instead, what the owner is asking you to do is to reinstate the permit under the old zoning, based on an unenforceable promise that eventually, somehow, the owner will bring the building into compliance — despite the compelling fact that the owner has kept the building in willful noncompliance for over six years. In the strongest possible terms, we urge you to reject this request.

Moreover, we note the essential fact that for at least six years, the owner has profited from these persistent and repeated zoning violations. According to DOB records, since at least December 2006, the owner has occupied the four duplex apartments that comprise the unlawfully built addition. We trace such unlawful occupancy back to December 5th, 2006 when the DOB issued a violation for "ALTERED BUILDING OCCUPIED WITHOUT A VALID CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY. SIXTH FL AND PENTHOUSE OCCUPIED WITHOUT A VALID C OF O."

Several people in attendance told us that the BSA was "highly skeptical of the arguments made by Marvin Mitzner, the lawyer representing [landlord Ben] Shaoul." The BSA reiterated that the permits were unlawful and that they are basically offended that the sixth floor and penthouse have been occupied for over six years without a certificate of occupancy while the owner claims a hardship.

About the swimming pool rumor at the former Cabrini Center

Last week, some neighbors adjacent to the former Cabrini Center were hearing rumors of an outdoor pool at the incoming luxury apartments on East Fifth Street and Avenue B... perhaps what would be the end product of all that jackhammering out back.

However! A resident spoke to the construction manager at the site of the former health care facility for elderly patients ... According to the manager, they are putting in an "at grade" recreation area, with benches and a little lawn/garden.

Per the resident: "We'll see."

Previously.

Will the luxury apartment building at the former Cabrini Center include an outdoor pool?

Well, that's the rumor anyway... some neighbors adjacent to the property are convinced of this development here behind East Fifth Street and Avenue B... perhaps the end product of all that jackhammering out back here.

The former health care facility for elderly patients continues to be converted into luxury residences via developer Ben Shaoul. DOB permits show 81 units here, including a rooftop "public recreation space" as well as retail space.

Previously.

At last evening's Ben Shaoul 'meeting' on Broadway

As reported earlier in the week, longtime East Village activist John Penley was planning a weekend-long campout at the offices of developer Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate on Broadway. However, those plans changed, from a weekend-long campout to what Penley said would be "a meeting about the situation especially about others affected by Shaoul and his sledgehammer."

From these photos, via Facebook, you can see that several people joined Penley in front of the Magnum offices on Broadway just below Houston...



The NYPD was on the scene, though we're unaware of any actions that they may have taken again Penley and company...





At 9 p.m., Penley planned to stop by the former the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street to protest developer Gregg Singer's plan to turn the building into a dorm. We hope to have more on that later.

As for the "sledgehammer" nickname, that dates back seven years... you can read background at Curbed and The New York Times.

Previously on EV Grieve:
John Penley changes plans for weekend campout at Ben Shaoul's office; gentrification meeting instead

John Penley plans campout at Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate offices this weekend

Longtime East Village activist John Penley is set to campout this weekend outside the offices of Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate on Broadway in Soho. (Set to start at 5 p.m. Friday.)

Per the Facebook invite:

SHAOUL AND HIS REAL ESTATE COMPANY HAVE BEEN AN EVIL CORPORATE REAL ESTATE WRECKING AND GENTRIFICATION CREW IN THE EAST VILLAGE. THE WORST OF THE WORST !!!!

While Shaoul has been a widely criticized developer in the East Village for years, the recent revelations about actor-poet-writer Taylor Mead's living conditions were the impetus for this event.

Articles in The Villager and the Post and at BoweryBoogie have outlined the 88 year old's current living conditions while the Shaoul-owned building on Ludlow undergoes a gut renovation. (Mead, a former Andy Warhol star, had lived in the rent-stabilized apartment for 34 years and didn't want to leave.) According to the account in the Post, "Plaster falls from his walls and roaches crawl up his legs. The kitchen sink doesn’t work."

"It’s going to kill him,” said Clayton Patterson, a neighborhood activist and longtime friend. “This is elderly abuse. It’s pretty Third World when you think about it."

As Curbed put this particular episode, Shaoul is "up to his old tricks. Or, more specifically, his old trick — forcing stubborn, rent-stabilized tenants out of the apartments he owns by having their buildings demolished around them."

Penley had this to say to us via a message on Facebook:

"I am demanding at the protest that he give Taylor a renovated ground-floor apartment in Taylor's building rent free for the rest of his life and provide Taylor with home-care assistance. He just made so much cash speculating and flipping buildings on the LES that doing something humane like I suggest he do would be a very small gesture."

Shaoul has recently sold large parcels of his East Village buildings to developer Jared Kushner. Shaoul is currently converting the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and East Fifth Street into residences.

Penley recently held a campout to call on NYU to help house the homeless.

'This is elderly abuse' — Warhol star Taylor Mead lives in squalor during building's gut renovation

Taylor Mead's home life in his fifth-floor walk-up continues to be a living hell, the Post notes today.

As you may have read in The Villager or at BoweryBoogie, Ben Shaoul bought the building Mead lives in and two others on Ludlow Street for $16.5 million last summer. Mead, 88, continues to live in his rent-stabilized apartment while the rest of the building is converted to market-rate homes. (Mead has lived here for 34 years and pays $380 a month in rent.)

Per the article:

Workers hammer outside his door from 7 a.m. till the evening. Plaster falls from his walls and roaches crawl up his legs. The kitchen sink doesn’t work.

Mead’s friends suspect Shaoul wants the poet to evict himself.

“It’s going to kill him,” said Clayton Patterson, a neighborhood activist and longtime friend. “This is elderly abuse. It’s pretty Third World when you think about it.”

You can read more about the legendary Mead, an actor, writer and poet, here. (Read this feature on Mead from The Paris Review last summer here.)

Of course, history doesn't mean much to developers.

“[Shaoul] is out for profit. He doesn’t give a shit about who I am,” he said. “It’s going to be hell.”

3 new floors for 31-33 Second Ave.; extension for neighboring building as well?

Work continues at 31-33 Second Ave., where developer Ben Shaoul received the OK from the city in January to add three floors to the existing building. (When we broke the story last June, the permits were still pending approval.)

Plans on file show that workers will remodel the existing commercial space on the ground floor ... remodel the existing apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors ... and add on top of the existing building. Each floor will contain two apartments.

Meanwhile, a tipster passes along word that there's an extension planned as well for 23-27 Second Ave., above the former Second on Second, the 10-year-old karaoke bar that closed in January. However, there's nothing yet on file with the DOB to back up these claims...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul planning a 3-story addition at 31-33 Second Ave.

'Out of Shaoul’s frying pan and into Kushner’s fire?' Super Tenants Association meeting planned

From the EV Grieve inbox...

Out of Shaoul’s Frying Pan and into Kushner’s Fire?

Are you or do you know someone who lives in one of the buildings that Ben Shaoul just sold to Jared Kushner? The tenants association of 118/120 East 4th Street is looking to get together with other tenants in the same parcel of buildings for a Super Tenants Association Meeting. The idea is to get together, talk about our past experiences, what we may have to look out for in the future and how to establish a network for support and information sharing.

Please email the organizers here

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Jared Kushner paid $49 million for 7 more Ben Shaoul-owned properties in the East Village

Ben Shaoul and company put East Fourth Street buildings on the market for $25 million

4 East Fourth Street apartment buildings hit market for $32 million

Rumors: Is Ben Shaoul selling his East Village properties?

Report: Jared Kushner paid $49 million for 7 more Ben Shaoul-owned properties in the East Village

[118, 120 E. 4th St. via Massey Knakal]

Jared Kushner's East Village shopping spree continues. Last week, the developer (and New York Observer publisher) closed on a portfolio of 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the East Village for some $130 million, as The Real Deal first reported.

This afternoon, The Real Deal is reporting that Kushner bought seven more walk-up rental buildings for $49 million from developer Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate and Meadow Partners.

The addresses: 118, 120-122, 195, 199, 201 and 203 East 4th Street.

Shaoul's renovations of 118 and 120 E. 4th Street prompted the start of the blog Occupy East 4th Street.

According to The Real Deal, Shaoul paid a combined total of $25.1 million for these seven properties in 2010 and 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul and company put East Fourth Street buildings on the market for $25 million

4 East Fourth Street apartment buildings hit market for $32 million

Rumors: Is Ben Shaoul selling his East Village properties?

Rumors: Is Ben Shaoul selling his East Village properties?

Word began spreading yesterday that controversial landlord Ben Shaoul was selling an unknown number of his East Village properties, estimated to be some 40 buildings in total. (The rumor prompted a discussion on Facebook as well.)

One tipster said that the sale was a done deal. Another source said that some behind-the-scenes employees in Shaoul's empire have openly been telling residents about the sale. No official word on the buyer just yet.

Shaoul's current East Village projects include the addition of the much-maligned 7-Eleven at 170 Avenue A as well as the residential conversion of the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth Street. It is not believed that these two properties are/were part of the deal. Ditto for his pool-topped A Building on East 13th Street.

Back in May, Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group, put his buildings at the recently renovated 118-122 E. Fourth St. on the market for $25 million. According to public records, 118 East 4th LLC bought the properties in November 2010 for $11.5 million. (The price is now down to $23.5 million.)

Here's a passage from a lengthy feature on Shaoul from The New York Times last July (the article includes quotes from EV Grieve):

Mr. Shaoul made his inauspicious East Village debut in 2006, the same year the 21-story Cooper Square Hotel broke ground and the legendary rock club CBGB closed.

In March of that year, he bought out members of an artists’ squat on St. Marks Place in order to turn the building into rental apartments. A neighborhood photographer snapped Mr. Shaoul, accompanied by sledgehammer- and crowbar-wielding construction workers, as he confronted some of the squatters. At some point the police were called in; the photographs soon circulated around the neighborhood.

The episode led the real estate blog Curbed to dub Mr. Shaoul “Sledgehammer Shaoul” and — although he was not actually holding a sledgehammer in any of the photos — the name and image have stuck. His reputation was reinforced as he renovated more buildings: rent-stabilized tenants in his buildings reported threats of eviction, and he racked up Department of Housing Preservation and Development complaints and violations for the interruption of heat and hot water, blocked fire escapes, broken locks and other issues related to construction and maintenance.

Shaoul's expanding portfolio reportedly includes properties in TriBeCa, the West Village, Harlem, the Financial District and on the Lower East Side and Upper East Side.

Much more as details become available.

A Stop Work order at Avenue A's incoming 7-Eleven

A tipster points us to the front door at 500 E. 11th St. at Avenue A, where workers erected a lot of plywood over the former bars here to build out for a 7-Eleven via developer/landlord Ben Shaoul.

In any event, the city served a Stop Work Order here dated Sept. 21 (but apparently served on Monday) for "BLDG CONSTRUCTION WORK BLOCKING SECONDARY MEANS OF EXIT."

Per the notice, the only work allowed here is to "cut access holes in the fence for fire escapes."

Previously on EV Grieve:
7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?

7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?

[From August]

In recent years, when a business closes around here, it's inevitable that the Starbucks-7-Eleven-Subway rumor makes the rounds as a replacement.

We heard this after Graceland closed ... when 34 Avenue A was looking for a new tenant ... when Kate's Joint closed on Avenue B ... when 219 First Avenue had retail space available; ditto for the Copper Building retail ground floor — and so on. Sometimes it turns out to be true, and other times, it's just a rumor. Or something people use merely as a threat.

So we heard the Starbucks-7-Eleven-Subway whispers about the recently shuttered Bar on A at East 11th Street. In part, these rumors surfaced because Ben Shaoul of Magnum Real Estate owns the building ... and two of his East Village properties are now home to a Starbucks (First Avenue at East Third Street) and a 7-Eleven (Broadway and East 12th Street). On Monday, one of the construction workers gutting 170 Avenue A told told a reporter from The Local that a 7-Eleven was taking over the former Bar on A space.

[Photos by Shawn Chittle]

However, in addition, workers have cleared out Angels & Kings, Pete Wentz's onetime emo hangout behind Bar on A at 500 E. 11th St. (aka 170 Avenue A). According to the work permits for No. 500: "REMODEL EXISTING STAIR CONNECTING CELLAR AND FIRST FLOOR. REMOVE INTERIOR NON-LOAD BEARING PARTITIONS AT FIRST FLOOR."

[Last evening via EVG reader Cheryl Pyle on Facebook]

An EVG regular who has been watching all this unfold thinks that the two spaces together are too big for just a 7-Eleven, and believes that the two spaces would yield both a 7-Eleven and a Subway. Or a Starbucks. This is only a theory. But plausible.

In January, the CB3/SLA gave the OK for the people behind Keybar on East 13th Street to take over the Angels & Kings space and open a bar-restaurant serving Hungarian food. No word on whatever happened to those plans.

However, there's nothing just yet on the DOB permits pointing specifically yet to a 7-Eleven, Starbucks or Subway. One connection: The applicant of record for both 500 E. 11th St. and 170 Avenue A is Bentonville, Ark.-based Harrison French & Associates, an architecture and engineering firm whose clients include 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Subway. (Harris French did the 7-Eleven on Broadway at East 12th Street and East 14th Street.)

In any event, nothing official has been released about the corner's future. But given NYC's current retail environment, you may want to get ready for the first national, non-bank chain/franchise on Avenue A. And probably not the last.

Noted

A reader sends this along... spotted in the lobby of a building owned by Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate... where there is an ongoing rat problem. Tenants are hopeful someone gets the hint...

First residents moving into 315 E. 10th St.

Jose Garcia noticed that the first tenants are moving into the freshly gut renovated 315 E. 10th St. today... the first listings for the former Education Alliance building hit the market two weeks ago, as we first noted.

As we always cut and paste previously reported, the city OK'd a one-floor rooftop addition here in January hours before the Landmarks Preservation Committee approved the East 10th Street Historic District.

And since then, the building has quickly been turned into residences... a three-bedroom unit is asking $4,895 ... there's also a four-bedroom apartment for $6,500, per Streeteasy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

Landmarks Preservation Commission expedites hearing on East 10th Street Historic District

Workers quickly start dismantling roof of historic 315 E. 10th St.

Updated: First listings appear for 315 E. 10th St., now a 'HOT elevator building'

[From late July, by Bobby Williams]

Well, you know the story of the circa-1847 building at 315 E. 10th St. that faces Tompkins Square Park. As you'll recall, the city OK'd a one-floor rooftop addition here in January hours before the Landmarks Preservation Committee approved the East 10th Street Historic District.

Last December, Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate Group bought the building from The Educational Alliance. Renovations converted the building into residential use.

And yesterday, the first of the listings hit the market... According to Streeteasy:

This all new, fully gut renovated three bed has something for everyone... Three equal sized bedrooms that are queen sized +, a gleaming white extra large bathroom, laundry in unit, high end kitchen with dark ebony cabinets, stainless appliances w/ dishwasher and microwave and quartz counter tops, a large living/dining combo. If you want to catch some skyline views or rays take the elevator up to the shared roof deck and check out 360' unobstructed views of the city. You really will have it all here.

The price to have it all these days: $4,895

Let's take a look...

Meanwhile, earlier this morning, a tipster sent us a screengrab of the listing at MDNY...

Updated:

Oh, there's another listing... Per Streeteasy: "Four equal sized bedrooms that are queen sized +, two gleaming white extra large bathrooms, laundry in unit, high end kitchen with dark ebony cabinets, stainless appliances w/ dishwasher and microwave and quartz counter tops, a large living/dining combo and a HUGE private rear patio."

Price: $6,500

Here's a look...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bid to protect the integrity of 315 E. 10th St.

Landmarks Preservation Commission expedites hearing on East 10th Street Historic District

Workers quickly start dismantling roof of historic 315 E. 10th St.