At the NYC Festival of Young Artists & Leaders

On East Fourth Street right now... More info here.

Photo via Dave on 7th.

9:56 p.m., East Fourth Street, Feb. 19

At the San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite

Last Thursday night, a small fire broke out on the third floor of the San Isidoro y San Leandro Church at 345 E. Fourth St. near Avenue D, as DNAinfo reported.

I'm not sure about the extent of the damage. I hope that it's minimal. This is one of those hidden treasures in the neighborhood... I've been meaning to do a little photo essay of the church...

According to the always invaluable New York City Songlines, San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic Church of the Hispanic Mozarabic Rite is "named for brothers who were successive bishops in Seville, circa 600 AD. Originally a Russian Orthodox Church, built circa 1895."

And here are some shots from last summer... when the church held a rummage sale...






I bought a few records for like 10 cents each. But you should really take a look inside some time if you have the chance.

Oh, and this isn't the part where I tell you that the church has been sold to developers... Just appreciating it while it's still here... Here's a video tour.

6:04 p.m, East Fourth Street, Feb. 3

Prep work for filming "The Last Quartet."

Tonda has been closed of late

Tonda, the pizzeria at 235 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B, has been closed the last few evenings... You can see them maybe closing on a winter Monday or Tuesday... but a Wednesday and Thursday night too?

I sent Tonda an e-mail, though no one responded. The phone number still works. An outgoing message provides their hours, dinner Sunday through Thursday 5:30 to 11 pm, till midnight on Friday, with brunch on Saturdays and Sundays... The pizzeria, housed in the former EU space, opened in the spring of 2009... As Eater noted last month, Tonda has been on the block ...Per Eater: They're asking for $250,000 key money and a $10,750 a month lease.

Remembering Eddie Graham

On this day in 2008, Eddie Graham passed away.

[Photo by Bob Arihood]

You probably saw Eddie. He lived under a Linden tree — year-round — in front of 195 E. Fourth St., just a little east of Avenue A. He seemed to be there for years. I have no idea how many. Then one day he was gone. Another character in our daily lives who had suddenly vanished. Bob Arihood wrote about Eddie's life and death at Neither More Nor Less. You can read that here. You can read about one of his dreams here.

Today, Eddie's garden that he tended under the Linden tree is gone. There's just soil there now. But if you look at the tree in front of 195 E. Fourth St., a little above eye level, there's a rusted metal plaque screwed into the tree that reads "Eddie's Garden."

Sign marks start of renovations at 326-328 E. Fourth St.

Despite a lot of outreach and awareness by a variety of local politicians and preservations groups, the historic townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D continue their journey toward the luxury condo afterlife... EV Grieve reader Steve sends along photos of new signs up on the property...



The DOB issued work permits here back on Nov. 16 — the same day that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy held a rally and press conference to try to preserve these buildings...

As the standard sign reads, this project "will improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers." And later... "Here on 326-328 E. 4th Street a new apartment building is being built that will contribute to the lively community."



Two floors will be added here to create more luxury housing... Will this addition "contribute to the lively community"?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Read more abou tthe preservation efforts here.

Fire, fire... pants on fire?

After today's No Pants Subway Ride, we saw plenty of underwear-clad revelers in the neighborhood... EV Grieve reader Steve snapped a quick shot of this group on East Fourth Street near Avenue B stopping traffic....

Season's Greetings

East Fourth Street near Avenue B.

Three buildings sell for $11.5 million on East Fourth Street

From the EV Grieve inbox....

Three buildings at 118 and 120-22 East 4th Street, located between First and Second Avenues in Manhattan’s East Village, were sold in an all cash transaction valued at $11,500,000. The buildings were situated on two lots, with a combined 75’ of frontage, and approximately 26,000 gross square feet. The properties consist of 69 residential apartments with a unit mix of 24 one-bedroom apartments and 45 studios. With the tenant mix consisting of 40 rent stabilized and 29 free market apartments. The properties are well kept with new brass plumbing, updated and rewired electric, two new gas burners, a newly installed laundry room and many renovated apartments.

The Seller was Bruce Miltenberg of Bread & Butter Realty, LLC. “This sale demonstrates the strength of investor appetite for the multifamily rental marketplace that the East Village offers. We have found investors are extremely attracted to the low turnover rate of the tenants and the ease with which it takes to re-rent the apartments that do become vacant. In these buildings in particular it is uncommon to have a vacancy for more the 2-3 days,” said Massey Knakal Vice Chairman and Partner John Ciraulo who exclusively handled this transaction with Massey Knakal First Vice President of Sales Joe Sitt and Director of Sales Craig Waggner.

Cuppa Cuppa closes on East Fourth Street; FAB Cafe opening soon

Cuppa Cuppa, the coffee and tea shop on East Fourth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, has closed...



And the signs on the door tells what's happening next...

At the rally to save 326 and 328 E. Fourth St.

Today at noon, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy held a rally and press conference ... You can check out more photos at the GVSHP Flickr page...

Per the GVSHP:

These houses were the first and only structures ever built on these sites and retain a remarkable level of original architectural detail. Having evolved from shipbuilding merchant’s homes to multi-family tenements to a synagogue to the home of an anarchist utopian arts collective, 326 & 328 East 4th Street capture New York and especially the East Village’s evolution over more than a century and a half. With all-too-few buildings in the East Village enjoying much-needed landmark protections, we must save 326 & 328 East 4th Street before it is too late!

You can read more about the ongoing conservation battle here.

And, um, any word on this from the Landmarks Preservation Commission?

Rally today to save to East Fourth Street townhouses

We've written about the historic townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D destined for the wrecking ball and condo afterlife... Today at noon, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy are holding a rally and press conference .... Read more here. And check out some photos at Untapped New York.

NY1 looks at a 'landmark dispute' on East Fourth Street

NY1 ran a piece last night titled "Plan To Redevelop East Village Row Houses Draws Fire."

A landmark dispute on Manhattan's Lower East Side is pitting some longtime residents against one another as a developer sets his sights on the neighborhood. NY1's Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.

They may not look like much, but to some, a cluster of 1830s row houses located at 326 and 328 East 4th Street mean a lot. The buildings currently house an arts collective, but they're moving out and a new developer is coming in — and that has some people worried.

"We're just concerned about inappropriate alterations to the building, or actual demolition itself because these are the only buildings that have ever been on these sites and it's so rare that a 170-year-old building is still around in the East Village," said Kurt Cavanaugh of the East Village Community Coalition.

A developer, who would not talk with NY1, has already signed an agreement to buy the buildings. He has also filed an application to build two new stories on top of the existing structures.

"To destroy them with a high rise or something crazy would be nuts," said one East Village resident

.

You can watch the video here.



It's a good piece, — I'm glad that word of this potential development is getting out there .... Here's a little more background on the two townhouses between Avenue C and Avenue D that hit the market back in March for $4.6 million. As the Times reported last month, this was home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler." Per Colin Moynihan's article, the group is faced with tax liens, and sold the building they have owned since 1974.

Meanwhile, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the East Village Community Coalition are working to to get landmark status here.

In any event, the historic townhouses are now in contract. The Corcoran listing shows they went for $3.95 million. The Times story last month noted that the developer is Terrence Lowenberg, who's also behind the work at Ninth Street and First Avenue. Curbed pointed out that the two-story rooftop additions are designed by architect Ramy Issac, "the neighborhood's most controversial tenement topper."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

Car fire on East Fourth Street?

We heard several reports about a car fire last night on East Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...Not much left as far as evidence goes...






Anyone have any more information?

Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Back in March, we wrote about the side-by-side townhouses for sale on East Fourth Street near Avenue D....



There's a new listing for two townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... 12 bedrooms in the two homes... and both buildings are going for $4.6 million... According to the listing:

Extraordinary Opportunity. Two side by side townhouses that have 46 feet of street frontage and a 46 foot by 50 foot rear garden await your vision, dreams and renovation. Extensive original details throughout the townhouses. These properties will be delivered vacant, are currently over 7,000 square feet and come with an additional 10,000 square feet of air rights. Beautifully located across community gardens and on a charming block. This could also be a development site or for institutional use.

As the Times reports today, this is home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler."

Per their article by Colin Moynihan:

For decades, the East Village has been home to countless avant-garde organizations and collectives, drawn to the area by its cultural vitality and low cost of living.

Those days of affordability, however, appear to have largely vanished, and over the last decade or so many of the creative groups that once had a home in the East Village have moved or become defunct.

Faced with tax liens, the group is selling the two old brick buildings on East Fourth Street near Avenue D that it has owned since 1974. The group is also beginning the complicated process of cataloging the contents.

The Times also notes that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the East Village Community Coalition are working to to get landmark status here. "In letters to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the groups said the houses dated to around 1840 and retained original cornices, molded stone sills, windows and ironwork, among other features. 'That these houses have remained virtually unchanged in the past 170 years is miraculous and noteworthy,' the preservation groups wrote. 'That they could be lost to irresponsible development would be nothing short of tragic.'"

Read more about it at the NYPress.

Speaking of development, the campaign is well under way to sell the buildings. Per Blumstein at Corcoran:

Deep in the Alphabet lies a potential Gem of an investment. Two buildings, old and in disrepair, are on the market as a set. Just recently the price was reduced from $4,300,000 to $3,950,000.

What makes them so special is the air rights that come with the buildings – 17,630 buildable square feet. At the current asking price, that is $224 per square foot to buy. Even with good quality construction you could put up condos at under $700 a square foot, and the lowest condo (a resale) is on the market in the Alphabet for $800 a square foot with the average at $1,051 and the highs around $1,700 per square foot (The Copper Building is selling at 215 Ave B with the remaining units averaging around $1,256 a square foot). Given the 2-3 years minimum before completion, the fact that it would be new development and a likely upturning real estate market, a buyer/developer could be poised for considerable returns.

Anyway, the GVSHP has documentation showing "the house’s original owner built the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (nearby Avenue D was the East River’s edge, which in the early 19th century was full of working piers before shipping activity shifted to the wider and deeper Hudson); that in the late 19th century these houses were transformed from homes of successful merchants into tenements to house the waves of immigrants moving into the area; that in the early 20th century 326 and 328 East 4th Street were converted to house a Hungarian Synagogue."

Per the GVSHP:

YOU CAN HELP! Please write a letter to the city today urging the Commission to consider landmark designation for 326 and 328 East 4th Street right away, and to protect these remarkable survivors which capture so many important aspects of the evolving history of the East Village and New York — CLICK HERE for a sample letter and contact information.

Novogratz-designed penthouse now in contract on East Fourth Street

Hey now. The upper-level, "magazine-ready" penthouse designed by the world-famous Bob and Cortney Novogratz that hit the market for $3.75 million back in March is now in contract...




Looks as if the winning price was $3.195 million, a mere 15 percent off the original....

And here's what our contestants are receiving in exchange....

Step directly from your private, key-lock elevator onto your 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath Penthouse condominium. Offering the highest caliber of finishes, every detail is customized from the Boffi Kitchen outfitted with Macassar Ebony cabinetry and stainless steel countertops to California Closets in all 3 bedrooms. The Great Room soars with 10.5 foot loft ceilings, woodburning fireplace and sunflooded, oversized windows with North and South open city views. Then take your private stairs or elevator directly onto the largest ipe-and-concrete decked terrace you've ever seen in the EV with sweeping Empire and Chrysler building views. Enclosed with sleek glass railings, this terrace is equipped with a Summer kitchen and wiring for outdoor theatre. The first floor of this duplex lends a gracious air of privacy for the 3 bedrooms, all of which have gorgeous sunlight and charming treetop views. The Master bedroom has TWO walk-in custom Cali closets, a sumptuous 5-fixture Master bath suite with dual vanity, oversized glass-enclosed shower and freestanding soaking tub. A large window floods the Master bathroom with all-day natural night. Additional luxury add-ons include radiant heat in all rooms, Crestron security system, and custom baseboard moldings. This finish quality is seen only is magazine-ready, designer homes. Extremely low common charges. Walk to the chicest East Village restaurants, steps to trendy Lower East Side and hottest upscale Bowery venues and gallerie.

We planning on meeting our new neighbors at Billy Hurricane's to Rock!

Previous excessive coverage here.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm 18-wheeler

Lots of equipment on the scene for filming "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on East Fourth Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue... including the branded 18-wheeler!

Meanwhile, crew members said they were prepping to shoot the exterior scenes there (as of about 5:50) now... so Card Carrying Members of the Larry David Club take note...

A little bit ago outside Bikes by George

A reader sends along the above shots while walking past Bikes by George on Fourth Street near Avenue A... "Pickup truck pulls up loaded with 'used' bikes. Two guys driving look like they haven't ridden a bike in 30 years. Short conversation ... bikes get unloaded. Hmmm."

No parking in front of the Novogratz-designed penthouse home

New developments at 238 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B... we have the address up on the wall now...



...along with a No Parking sign on the garage door for the toy car...



Of course, not everyone is paying that much attention yet. Wait 'till your ass gets towed, buddy!



Previously on EV Grieve:
Home with Novogratz-designed penthouse now in full view

Earlier.