Showing posts with label Mary Help of Christians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary Help of Christians. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Reader mailbag: What's going on with the former Mary Help of Christians property?



An EVG reader asks, "Do you have an update on the Mary Help of Christians property?"



Not really! Developer Douglas Steiner still awaits city approval for his retail-residential complex at the now-empty lot. The city last disapproved plans here in June, according to DOB records.

During the summer of 2013, workers demolished the church, school and rectory on the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 11th Street. As for the new 438 E. 12th St., there will be 158 residential units… and maybe a rooftop pool. Some day, probably.

Enjoy the lot. It will soon look like this.

Photos last week by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Sunday, April 20, 2014

[Updated] Easter at the makeshift altar on East 12th Street



A look today at the makeshift altar on the East 12th Street plywood …



… where Mary Help of Christians once stood…



Developer Douglas Steiner awaits city approval for his retail-residential complex at the now-empty lot.

Photos by EVG reader Alta Tseng.

Updated 8:13 p.m.



UGH. EVG reader Amy L. Anderson shared these photos from about 4:30 … someone destroyed the makeshift altar. Happy Easter!



Updated 9:11 p.m.

Alta just let us know that someone made an effort to put the altar back together…





Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Makeshift altar arrives at former Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church

Monday, March 17, 2014

Drill team arrives at the former Mary Help of Christians property


[December 2013]

Not much has been going on (not that anyone is complaining) in recent months at the site of the former Mary Help of Christians church, rectory and school … all demolished to make way for an apartment complex with some retail and 158 residential units (and maybe a rooftop pool).

Developer Douglas Steiner is still awaiting city approval for the new building. (The city last disapproved the plans on Feb. 12.)

Meanwhile, the city did OK a permit last week for the always sexy "drilled test pile work" (is that the name of a Guided by Voices song?) This meant the arrival of some new trucks and stuff to take photos of these past few days through the convenient blogger portals along the fence …







Enjoy the lot now. It will soon look like this.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Makeshift altar arrives at former Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church


[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

Last summer, workers demolished the church, school and rectory on the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 11th Street. Developer Douglas Steiner awaits city approval for his retail-residential complex at the now-empty lot.

In the meantime, someone has created a makeshift altar on the East 12th Street plywood… which includes a frame around the plywood portal…


[Photo by EVG reader Matteo]

..and EVG reader Alta Tseng shared these photos…







Despite the demolition, former church regulars continued to hold their daily sidewalk prayer service on East 12th Street through August.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Something new to look at in the Mary Help of Christians lot



Well, while we await more news on the above residential complex at the former Mary Help of Christians property along Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street… might as well enjoy some new graffiti at the site!

These tags arrived some time during the past week or so. We took these photos last Friday...







...and via EVG reader Ruth… a fine addition!



As for the new 438 E. 12th St., there will be 158 residential units… and maybe a rooftop pool. So far, the DOB has twice "disapproved" the new building plans... the second "disapproved" is dated Monday, according to the DOB website.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A


[View from Avenue A]

Here's a follow-up to our earlier post about 438 E. 12th St., the residential-retail complex that will replace the Mary Help of Christians lot along Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street...

Somehow we missed all the renderings that CB3 posted of the new building (thanks Curbed!) ...


[View from East 12th Street]


[View from East 11th Street]

In total, there will be 158 residential units, though it kinda looks more like 11,058 units.

Meanwhile, two blocks away, here's a reminder of what awaits on the corner of East 14th Street...



Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Monday, September 9, 2013

What can we expect on the former Mary Help of Christians property?


[Aug. 29, by Dan Efram]

Well, to answer our headline: We have no idea!

You know the background: Developer Douglas Steiner bought the property last fall for an unspecified residential complex. This summer, workers demolished the structures on the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 12th Street and East 11th Street.

Next, presumably, there's construction of the new building. At this point, you'd figure Steiner reps would have filed the plans with the Department of Buildings... and we could all see the proposal... and await city approval (or not).

Steiner reps did file plans in July. Unfortunately, we just can't see them.



In our six years of blogging and digging through DOB files, we've never seen this before. In the words of an EVG friend who we shared this with, here's where things get interesting. Through the Hub "self-service" thing, architects and engineers "can professionally certify plans for small construction projects (Alteration 2 and Alteration 3) without visiting a Department office."

However! Since bigger projects like the demolition of a church and school for a residential complex include change of use, we don't understand how those would quality as "small construction projects." As our EVG friend theorized, "maybe what's happening is they're just electronically submitting permit applications for like interior demo and debris removal and scaffolding installation."

So given all this, we won't be able to see these applications until they are accepted into the DOB system.

But we got a few possible clues about the space back in May ... when a retail listing at Ripco Real Estate popped up .. then quickly disappeared. From that listing:



Size
11,356 sf - Ground Floor
11,508 sf - Basement Possible
*Divisions possible

Asking Rent
Upon Request

Possession
4Q 2014

Currently
New Construction

Frontage
150’ on Avenue A
70’ on 11th Street

Notes & Highlights:
• New construction at the base of 140 unit market luxury rental building
• Steps from Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village with 30,000 residents
• Close proximity to Tompkins Square Park
• Located in the heart of the East Village and Alphabet City

So, going back to our headline... to answer the question: What can we expect?

Something big.

[Via Off the Grid]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Friday, August 30, 2013

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Tonight marks the last of the sidewalk rosary vigils outside Mary Help of Christians



Back on June 21, the scaffolding and sidewalk bridge arrived on East 12th Street ahead of the demolition of Mary Help of Christians... despite this, former church regulars continued to hold their daily sidewalk prayer service ... like last night... (something that the group has been doing since the end of 2007)...







Neighbor Anton van Dalen, who took these photos, notes that the remaining faithful will hold their last sidewalk rosary vigil tonight at 7.

He shares the following:

Lately many of us have watched in horror as one of our neighborhood's churches is being violently torn down.

Especially difficult for some of our neighbors whose stations of life were honored and celebrated where now is only debris.

The Mary Help of Christians Church had been a steady presence for generations in our ever changing neighborhood.

Generations of immigrants formed communities there to help each other find a path into the American dream.

For more then a year now I have watched them quietly gather and pray outside exposed to every kind of weather.

They are the very last few of an once huge vibrant mostly Italian, Irish and then Puerto Rican community.

So [tonight] they will gather for the last time in front of what was their church and recite the rosary once more.

I will be there, as I hope many of our neighbors, to pay respect to the dignity of their expression of community and its history.







-----

Bob Arihood captured the parishioners on film several times for Neither More Nor Less...



Find these photos here... and here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

Scaffolding arrives for demolition of Mary Help of Christians

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Monday, August 26, 2013

A message on the plywood outside the former Mary Help of Christians


[Saturday]

As you can see, the school and rectory are gone from the Mary Help of Christians lot on Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street ... There are a few remnants of the church left in a pile.

Meanwhile, on East 12th Street ... someone left messages for developer Douglas Steiner on the plywood protecting the remains of the church late Saturday night/early Sunday morning...









Steiner bought the property last fall for an unspecified residential complex. One retail listing mentioned a "140 unit market luxury rental building." In some previous comments, a few readers said that anger should be directed toward the Archdiocese of New York, who sold the lot in first place.

H/T EVG reader Kym Gomes