Looking at the Astor Place CVS renovation plans

Over at the CVS on Astor Place, renovations, including aisle rearrangement and new self-checkouts (now in place), continue. 

EVG reader Jacob Ford found the plans for the reno on display ... (they're upside down, so you may need to tilt your computer/phone upside down, too, for a more accurate look)...

The new self-checkouts come out at a time when other chains are doing away with them. As Boing Boing called them, "the shopping equivalent of an automated phone menu." 

CNN reported on Jan. 23: 

A newly-released study by researchers at Drexel University published in the Journal of Business Research found that "regular checkout" – the kind featuring a human cashier – makes customers more loyal to a store and more likely to revisit in the future than self-checkout. The study comes as some companies remove self-checkout machines and others adjust their self-checkout operations. 

Jacob shared this with us: 

What CVS (and Wawa) hilariously do is make the robot ask you more questions than even the humans at Kmart used to. Or, in CVS’s case, ask you to ask an employee to type a code so that you can type in your own birthdate to buy Tylenol.

The CVS, the first retail tenant for 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/the Death Star, opened in late 2015. 

CVS FYI

That 24/7 CVS in the base of the condoplex on the corner of Orchard and Houston opened over the Labor Day weekend (about a week later than advertised).

The drug chain joins Marshalls and an Equinox Fitness center as the retail tenants at this 11-story, 94-unit building.

In July, the developers behind 196 Orchard St., including Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Management, sold the retail portion of the building to the AR Global affiliate New York City REIT for an incredible $88.75 million, according to The Real Deal.

This property on Houston between Ludlow and Orchard previously housed a single row of storefronts, including Ray's Pizza and Bereket.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

A CVS is coming to the corner of Houston and Orchard in Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex

Report: retail portion of Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex on Houston and Orchard sells for a whopping $88 million

In case you forgot that CVS is coming to Houston and Orchard

The CVS signage is in place here now in the base of the condoplex on the southeast corner of Orchard and Houston.

And as you can see, this will be another 24/7 outpost for the drug-store chain...



... which joins Marshalls at this 11-story, 94-unit building constructed in part with hand-laid, gilded-bronze brick imported from Cadaqués. An Equinox Fitness center has the upstairs space.



Last month, the developers behind 196 Orchard St., including Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Management, sold the retail portion of the building to the AR Global affiliate New York City REIT for — !!!! — $88.75 million, according to The Real Deal.

This property on Houston between Ludlow and Orchard previously housed a single row of storefronts, including Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

A CVS is coming to the corner of Houston and Orchard in Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex

Report: retail portion of Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex on Houston and Orchard sells for a whopping $88 million

The MTA wonders if you'll shop at this CVS machine in Union Square

EVG regular Pinch shares this photo from the Union Square subway entrance at the Food Emporium.

This CVS vending machine arrived yesterday in this location. It's part of an MTA experiment to offer commuters stuff that you may find at — a CVS!

NY1 has more in this report:

The MTA says it will seek more vending machines from other companies, during this pilot. The transit agency gets a percentage of every purchase, but declined to say how much.

The boxy machines offer a variety of products for New Yorkers on the go. Some of them, like ibuprofen and ear plugs, are especially suited for subway travel.

The MTA is testing the machines as a response to a reduction in subway newsstands, the result in part of declining magazine and newspaper sales. A third of the 248 retail spaces in the subway system are shuttered — most of those closed outposts are newsstands.

The MTA will test the vending machines for two years. In some cases, the locations competing with subway storefronts like one at Union Square, are just beyond the turnstile.

Meanwhile, the MTA is reportedly looking for real-live vendors to take over vacant spots at busy transits hubs such as the 42nd Street-Port Authority Bus Terminal and 47-50th Streets–Rockefeller Center.

A CVS is coming to the corner of Houston and Orchard in Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex

Developer Ben Shaoul's gold-dusted condoplex at 196 Orchard St. has signed another retail tenant.

CVS is coming soon to the corner space here at East Houston Street...



The drug-store chain (FYI originally named the Consumer Value Store) joins the Marshalls in the retail spots of the 11-story, 94-unit building where residential units top out at $5.995 million.

Shaoul's luxury building, constructed in part with hand-laid, gilded-bronze brick imported from Cadaqués, also includes an Equinox Fitness center.

This property on Houston between Ludlow and Orchard previously housed a single row of storefronts, including Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

The new Astor Place CVS actually opens... TODAY

Well, after faking us out once... the CVS at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star opens today. (The sign on the door originally said Sunday, Dec. 13, which meant that we got all dressed up for nothing — except church, of course.)

As noted previously and previously, CVS will eventually be joined by three more ground-level businesses — Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports.

Meantime, see you in the Beauty section!

Previously on EV Grieve:
You can finally shop at 51 Astor Place!

BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer

3 new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports

[Updated] First retail tenant at 51 Astor Place opens on... Sunday

The anticipation builds at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star ... as the CVS debuts on Sunday.

The opening marks the first official retail outlet here in the base of the 13-story, 430,000-square-foot office building. (You can't really count the 215 Chrystie sales office on the Third Avenue side for hotelier-developer Ian Schrager because they don't accept the Discover card.)

The familiar glow of the CVS and Pharmacy letters provide contextual harmony* and a strikingly modernistic dramatic streetscape* for the Fumihiko Maki-designed building that reportedly cost $300 million to develop.



If you need any CVS-type items before Sunday, then you could try the Walgreens or Kmart directly across Astor Place or, perhaps, the Walgreens on East 14th Street and Fourth Avenue … or the Duane Reade locations on East 14th Street and Third Avenue and East 14th Street and Broadway ... or the Duane Reade on Third Avenue and East 10th Street. Or the Duane Reade on Broadway near East 10th Street.

CVS will eventually be joined by three more ground-level businesses — Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports.

Updated:
The Grand Opening has been pushed back to Dec. 18!

Previously on EV Grieve:
You can finally shop at 51 Astor Place!

BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer

3 new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports

* cut-n-paste from some random architectural reviews

Drug stores drug stores everywhere

The Commercial Observer checks in with a piece titled Be it Duane Reade, CVS/pharmacy or Rite Aid, NYC Is Overrun with Drug Stores.

To some excerpts!

It is a familiar sight to anybody who has spent any time in this city: the ubiquitous drug store chain. This is the one business that seems immune to rent hikes or gentrification. The drug store shines in poor areas as well as rich ones. And it doesn’t seem to matter that the nearest competition is two or three blocks away. It doesn’t even seem to matter to a Duane Reade that the nearest competition is another Duane Reade.

And!

Another broker in the know pointed out that you can find a Duane Reade across the street from Walgreens in Union Square, because they have different customers—even if both sets are convenience-driven. Another retail specialist noted that perhaps one drug store chain could set up shop nearby a competitor, thinking the latter is underserved or its lease is coming due.

And, per the article, this drug store boom is happening all over the city, not just around these parts, where on Astor Place for example, there's a CVS going in at the IBM Watson Building/Death Star across the [construction zone] from Walgreens and Kmart (with its pharmacy area) ... Not to mention the recently expanded Walgreens on East 14th Street and Fourth Avenue … and the Duane Reade locations on East 14th Street and Third Avenue … and East 14th Street and Broadway ... and the Duane Reade that's rumored to be expanding on Third Avenue and East 10th Street. And the Duane Reade on Broadway near East 10th Street... and...

As for that incoming CVS on Astor Place... the plywood came down this week...



... and we've seen trucks unloading the CVSandise all week...



No official word on an opening date. But soon. And if our count is correct, this will mark Manhattan's 45th CVS. Still lagging behind the 91 Duane Reades though, per the Observer.

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer

[Doctored file photo]

Earlier this month, news broke that CVS would be the first retail tenant at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star.

Apparently CVS and IBM's Watson have bigger plans. The Washington Post had the news yesterday:

IBM is teaming with CVS Health to harness the power of the Watson supercomputing brain to transform how the care of patients with chronic conditions is managed.

[T]he companies will work to develop a system that would be able to provide better personalization of care, prevent the use of unneeded and costly interventions, and even predict health declines for a wide range of conditions including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Troyen A. Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health, said in an interview that no specific product or timeline has been worked out, but that the first stage would be to jointly develop intelligent algorithms and test them to see if they helped improve patient outcomes. He said he was hopeful “realistic interventions” could be identified in one to two years.

In addition, CVS stores, using Watson's POWER7 processors and IBM's DeepQA technology, will be able to reduce the one-hour photo service to .001 seconds.

Previously on EV Grieve:
BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place

Paper went up this week around the retail space at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star that will house a CVS...



According to The Real Deal, which first reported on the building's first retail tenant last week, this CVS will cover roughly 11,500 square feet on the Death Star's ground and concourse levels … at the southern end here …

The new CVS marks the 29th large-scale drug store in the immediate area.

Previously on EV Grieve:
BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star!

[EVG file photo]

Well, 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/the Death Star has signed its first retail tenant, as the headline explained.

The Real Deal has the scoop:

Minskoff Equities’ angular, noir office building at 51 Astor Place has found a fittingly antiseptic lessee to sign on as its first retail tenant.

CVS, the pharmacy whose desire to maintain a squeaky-clean image led it it to stop selling cigarettes, has signed on to be the building’s first bona fide retail tenant since the retail space hit the market about two years ago, The Real Deal has learned.

The store is moving into roughly 11,500 square feet on the East Village building’s ground and concourse levels, according to developer Edward Minskoff.

Residents should be well-covered now with large drug store choices in the immediate area. There's already a huge Walgreens on Astor Place. And the Kmart on Astor Place with a large pharmacy area. Not to mention the recently expanded Walgreens on East 14th Street and Fourth Avenue … and the Duane Reade locations on East 14th Street and Third Avenue … and East 14th Street and Broadway ... and the Duane Reade that's rumored to be expanding on Third Avenue and East 10th Street. And… updated 5:03 p.m. Yes, and the Duane Reade on Broadway near East 10th Street...

Previously on EV Grieve:
3 retail spaces available at 51 Astor Place (22 comments)

You can finally shop at 51 Astor Place!

H/T to EVG regular Pinch!

Report: Cantilevered building in the works to hang out over the CVS on East Houston

[The doomed 304 Mulberry St.]

The new owners of two rental buildings on Mulberry Street between Bleecker and East Houston plan on demolishing one for a larger complex in its place.

According to The Real Deal (h/t Curbed), Broad Street Development bought 298 Mulberry St. and 304 Mulberry St. for $178.5 million. And plans are in the works to tear down No. 304, a 91-unit building circa 1974 that sits on Mulberry at Bleecker.

Per The Real Deal, No. 304 "is underbuilt by roughly 12,000 square feet, and with the additional air rights from 298 Mulberry it holds about 107,000 square feet of development rights." Broad Street plans on replacing No. 304 with a structure cantilevering over No. 298.

The CVS opened last summer in the surviving corner at East Houston.



The 298 retail space previously housed a Subway, a dry cleaners and Soho Billiards.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Retail space that included Soho Billiards is up for grabs on East Houston Street

CVS reminds us that CVS is coming soon to East Houston

Just noting the recent arrival of the CVS brandage at 42-56 E. Houston St. between Mott and Mulberry...



Soho Billiards closed here back in October 2012… the other tenants of this rather ugly building were a Subway and dry cleaners , which got the boot last August.

BoweryBoogie first reported on the CVS arrival last May.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Retail space that included Soho Billiards is up for grabs on East Houston Street

Report: CVS taking over former Soho Billiards space on East Houston

[November 2012]

Soho Billiards disappeared late last October on East Houston and Mulberry, as we first reported here. The next month, the retail listing arrived, noting that the whole block between Mulberry and Mott on the north side of East Houston was up for grabs.

And we have a taker: BoweryBoogie got the scoop yesterday that CVS is taking the space of the billiards hall as well as the dry cleaners and Subway sandwich shop. And BB hears that there is a whopping $1.5 million annual rent.

Meanwhile, Soho Billiards was on last month's CB3/SLA docket to move into a vacant storefront at 250 E. Houston in the Shoppes at Red Square between Avenue A and Avenue B.

However, that appears to be on hold at the moment. Per minutes from the CB3 meeting:

15. NYC Billiards Club Inc, 250 E Houston St
VOTE: To deny the application for a full on-premise liquor license for NYC Billiards Club Inc., for the premise located at 250 East Houston Street .. . because the applicant did not appear before Community Board #3 for review of its application or provide any application materials for review.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Eviction notice for Soho Billiards

Retail space that included Soho Billiards is up for grabs on East Houston Street