Thursday flashback (#tbt): To 7:30 a.m. today when the sun was out

Since then, a tipster told us that it got a little more cloudy.

Photo today by Bobby Williams

Double Wide

Photo of the Christodora House from Tompkins Square Park today by Grant Shaffer...

Christo in front of the Christodora

Photo in Tompkins Square Park yesterday by Grant Shaffer.

Christodora House residents remain without gas for cooking and hot water for the time being

[EVG file photo]

A tipster passes along word that Christodora House residents have been without gas for cooking and hot water these past two weeks... and, according to a memo — titled Important Notice #3 — dated June 19 from the management company, there won't be any in the weeks ahead either here in the residential building on Avenue B at East Ninth Street...



The memo notes that "the plumbing company has successfully obtained the required Buildings Department permit and are in the process of replacing defective lines in the basement where the initial leak originated."

And what's next? Back to the memo...

"Once all the gas lines hold the required pressure, the plumbers will contact Con Edison to schedule their building inspection. Please note the pressure tests and the Con Edison inspection is expected to be a lengthy process over several weeks, if not longer. It is hard to determine a time frame at this point."

A look at the Earth Day rainbow, somewhere over the Christodora House

In case you missed it late yesterday afternoon... after the rain and during happy hour... thanks to aegisnyc for the photo...

A Christodora House flyby

Anton van Dalen's pigeons out for a spin this afternoon... Photo by Grant Shaffer

[Updated] 1 reason why someone may not want the red-tailed hawks to nest on the Christodora House

[Image via Wikipedia Commons]

As we wrote about yesterday, someone in the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street has twice removed the in-progress nest that red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora were building on a 7th floor AC unit. (Someone also installed bird spikes and tried to construct some kind of slanted cover for the top of the Act to prevent the hawks from landing.)

The hawks nested in the same place last year ... which netted three offspring.

Legalities aside, here's one solid explanation behind someone's actions. A tipster tells us that the Christodora is about to undergo a two-year renovation project that will cover the entire building in scaffolding and construction netting.

According to the DOB, the city OK'd a permit for exterior repairs last Wednesday. The estimated total cost of the project is nearly $2.5 million, per DOB records. Douglas J. Lister, Architect, is listed as the architect of record. (The firm's specialties include exterior renovations and window replacements.)

As the tipster said, by preventing them from nesting now, they are actually being more humane than letting them build a nest and then destroying it with scaffolding. The hawks will need to find a new nest location.

Updated 3:33 p.m.

DNAinfo filed a story this afternoon with more details.

Property manager Debora Angelico said the nests were removed so that the air conditioning unit could be repaired. The owner of the seventh-floor condo ordered the repair, she said, but only after months of research, which included outreach to the Audubon Society, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the condominium board, she said.

Although some the birders expressed concern that nest removal was illegal under federal laws protecting birds, Angelico said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told the owner he was allowed to remove the nest from September through April because the raptors do not mate at that time.

Angelico said that the two-year renovation will commence in April.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora are building another nest on the Christodora House

Someone keeps destroying the nest that the red-tailed hawks are building on the Christodora House

Someone keeps destroying the nest that the red-tailed hawks are building on the Christodora House

[Photo from Jan. 22 via Bobby Williams]

As we pointed out last month, Christo and Dora, the red-tailed hawk parents of Tompkins Square Park, were rebuilding their nest that netted three offspring last year on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street.

We heard troubling news about this yesterday via Goggla, who monitors the hawks year-round in the Park via Gog In NYC.

Twice since Friday someone has removed the hawk nest and installed bird spikes, Goggla told us. The nest was empty on Friday and people watched the birds rebuild the whole thing on Saturday and Sunday. By yesterday afternoon, the nest was gone again.

Bruce at the Urban Hawks site is documenting the situation.

If the co-op owner, management company or a construction crew had a legitimate reason to remove the nest, their recent actions haven't dissuaded the hawks from moving. So, will the building just torture the hawks by removing the nesting materials each week until spring? That certainly would be cruel.

We're not sure about the legalities of any of this. As far as we understand it, (ethics aside) a nest can be removed if there aren't any eggs present.

Back to Bruce at Urban Hawks, who figures the situation will prompt the attention of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation:

Let's hope that either the building is forced to let the hawks continue nesting on the Christodora House or if the hawks are to be evicted, that old nest site is properly prepared so the hawks begin to find an alternate nesting location as soon as possible.

And a bonus photo of Christo on Avenue A the other day...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

UPDATED 2/11 — here's one reason why someone may want to prevent the hawks from nesting here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora are building another nest on the Christodora House

Red-tailed hawk parents Christo and Dora are building another nest on the Christodora House

An EVG reader writes in:

Christo and Dora seem to be back in nest mode. The past day or so they've been carrying sticks and such to shore up the nest (same one as last year, on top of the A/C unit). This morning they were both hanging out in the nest.

It is true. The red-tailed hawk parents are rebuilding their nest that netted three offspring last year on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street ... (someone removed the remains of the old nest in November.)


[Yesterday]

We ran this by our hawk-watching friend Goggla.

They've both been hanging around the nest area, so it's good to know they're back at it. Interesting that Dora is helping out. She did all the supervising last year, while Christo would cut the sticks, then get her approval before taking them over to the nest. She didn't like one of his choices and kicked it out of the tree when he presented it to her.

On Wednesday, Goggla noted Christo's first stick-gathering session of the season.

Last year, Christo didn't start the stick-gathering, nest-building activities until Feb. 14.

To be continued for sure. And visit Gog in NYC for all the off-season hawk activities here.

And now a flashback... a time-lapse video of the hawk kids via East Village resident and photographer Francois Portmann ...



Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Last in the fledge class

[Photo today by Bobby Williams]

Just one of the (baby?!?!) hawks remains in the nest on the Christodora House ... his/her fledgling siblings have already taken off.

After a little drama Monday night, Shaft has seemingly found his, uh, wings. The second fledgling left Tuesday. He/she has been mostly hanging around East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. Goggla has an update on the fledglings here.

Hawk watchers figure hawk No. 3 will leave the nest tomorrow.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

The baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park are ready to leave home (also, fledge party alert!)

Baby hawk down

Picking up from last night's post… the first of the young hawks living on an AC unit at the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street took flight yesterday morning.

According to Goggla, who has been documenting the parents, Christo and Dora, and their three offspring, the hawk fledged at 10:49 a.m. He glided across East Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C … and that's when he went missing.

A search commenced. Around 6 p.m., a group of residents, including Walt Fitzpatrick, Karen Martinez, Cliff Maloney, Father Pat Maloney, as well as bird watchers Dennis Edge and Francois Portmann, eventually found the fledgling … and someone called Rob Mastrianni, an urban park ranger (he recently rescued a fledgling in Washington Square Park), who arrived to lead the rescue efforts…







Ranger Rob deemed that the fledgling was uninjured … and placed him in a tree in Tompkins Square Park.





As Goggla noted, we hope that "the remaining two siblings watched and learned something today." Goggla has more about the rescue and a lot more photos here.


[Photo yesterday by EVG reader Bryan]

Photos by Bobby Williams

Fledge class

The baby hawk watch continued yesterday at the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street … where the kids are getting ready to fledge…



Find more hawk photos at Gog in NYC … as well as Goggla's Flickr page. Check out the latest nest cam photos via Francois Portmann here.

Photos yesterday by Bobby Williams

Previously

The baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park are ready to leave home (also, fledge party alert!)

[A baby hawk practices yesterday via Bobby Williams]

They grow up so fast! (Faster than Hanson.)

The baby hawks arrived on May 8 (May 10 for the third egg) up here on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street. And the latest nest cam photos from Francois Portmann show that Christo and Dora's offspring are ready to start driving, dating and using fake IDs to get into bars...


[Photo by Francois Portmann]


[FP]

Francois figures the young ones will be ready to fledge starting at any moment.

What might happen? We'll turn to Goggla, who has been following the hawks from Day 1. She wrote this in a post last Thursday.

I'm hoping they fly out and land either on the rooftops across 9th Street, or in the trees of the park. They'll likely be on the ground, though, so if anyone sees the birds seemingly lost on the ground, it's probably going to be ok.

In case the young hawks end up on the sidewalk below on East Ninth Street or Avenue B ... Francois someone has posted these flyers with key contact information ... So in case something goes wrong...


[Click on image to enlarge]

And now a flashback to May 16...


[FP]

Visit Gog in NYC for many more excellent hawk photos.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park practicing to take flight

As Goggla pointed out, the tabloid-friendly baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park turned 3 weeks old this on Thursday …

AND LOOK HOW BIG THEY ARE GETTING ALREADY. (All that rat and squirrel meat plumps them up.) This GIF is via James and Karla Murray, who have been keeping a watchful on Christo and Dora's three offspring up on the Christodora House on Avenue B and East Ninth Street.

Meanwhile, you can find photos and video from the hawkcam via East Village resident Francois Portmann …

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park now tabloid famous

In case that you didn't see this today… the Post has a feature on the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park … featuring a hawk-cam photo from East Village resident Francois Portmann …

Find the article here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Chick pics

A look at one of the chicks today in the hawk next on the 7th floor of the Christodora House…

Photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

VIDEO: Watch the baby hawks of Tompkins Square Park dine on some rat

Here is the latest nest video from Francois Portmann on the Christodora House … showing Christo and Dora's three offspring dining on some delicious rat meat … while the parents take turns discarding the unwanted parts somewhere in Tompkins Square Park. (A quick note: Francois does not live in the Christodora. The owners of the apartment with the nest on the AC OK'd setting up the nestcam.)

Afterwards, you can check out Gog in NYC, where Goggla has many spectacular photos of the hawks at work and play. (But mostly work, to be honest.)

Find more hawk photos at Francois's photography site here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

OMG baby hawks! (UPDATED WITH VIDEO!)

[Photo by Francois Portmann]

Here are a few of the latest incredible photos that Francois Portmann has posted from the nest cam up on the Christodora House … where Christo and Dora's chicks hatched this past week.

The red-tailed hawk parents have also assembled quite a feast for the family — there are at least four dead rats stored in the nest. (Shouldn't that be refrigerated?)


[FP]


[FP]

Thank you to Goggla, who has been chronicling the activity here from Day 1. Head over there to find out where exactly the hawks have been discarding the rat carcasses ... as well as other habits of the new parents.

And find more hawk photos at Francois's photography site here.

Also, check out these hawk photos and video from the Christodora at the Urban Hawks website.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

P.S.

The baby hawks are becoming quite an attraction... here's a fellow Christodora House resident checking out the action...


[Photo Saturday by Bobby Williams]

Updated 11:16 a.m.

Francois has posted this video!

Breaking (heh) news: The hawks of Tompkins Square Park are officially parents

[Photo by Francois Portmann]

Goggla broke (sorry!) the news yesterday that Christo and Dora's chicks have hatched in their nest up on the Christodora House on Avenue B.

The top shot, showing the hatching in action, is courtesy of photographer Francois Portmann.

Find more hawk/egg photos at his photography site here. Photos like this…



He'll have photos of the chicks from the nest cam soon.

Meanwhile, please visit Goggla's Gog in NYC site for much more on the hawks.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Red-tailed hawks nest on the Christodora House

The hawks of Tompkins Square Park have laid an egg at the Christodora House

More eggsciting hawk news from the Christodora House

Former Christodora House gym and (fabled) pool for sale

For years now there has been talk of doing something with the derelict community space in the Christodora House on Avenue B.

There were plans 10 years ago to turn the space into residential units, but the Christodora House board reportedly eventually withdrew the application to receive a zoning variance. (The pool, gym and other adjacent rooms are zoned for community use.)

In any event, the gym and pool area arrived for sale yesterday at Massey Knakal. Here is the listing:

Located on the northeast corner of Avenue B and East 9th Street, the subject property consists of 2 community facility condominium units located on the ground floor and lower level of 143 Avenue B a/k/a the Christodora House. The ground floor unit was a former gymnasium with ceiling heights of approximately 22'. There is a small outdoor terrace to the north and two doors on East 9th Street that have been boarded up. Both doors could be reopened and collectively serve as an exclusive entrance for the two units. The lower level is a former pool and could either be put to use or filled in for an alternative use. The two units have a 501C filing status (Not-for-profit) and are therefore restricted to community facility use only. The building sits directly across from Tompkins Square Park and adjacent to the former Public School 64 which closed a number of years ago and is currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building including dormitories for the Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union.

Price: $2.5 million.

For starters, the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center is NOT "currently being converted into a mixed-purpose building." That is developer Gregg Singer's wish. The city has yet to approve any of those plans.

As for the gym and pool…

Here is the pool as it looked in 1928 … via the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York.


… and here are photos that we happened to have of the pool and gym taken much more recently…







Scoopy at The Villager got a look at pool back in 2008. Here's part of his description: "It was 8 feet deep at one end and sloped up from the center to a shallow depth at the other end. From the looks of it, it hadn’t been used for 50 years."