Forces of nature: Hurricane Irene forces NYU to change dorm move-in day to Monday

NYU students were originally scheduled to move into the dorms on Sunday. However, as I exclusively reported, Hurricane Irene is also expected to arrive around the same time.

So, NYU officials pushed the date back. Per the NYU statement:

NYU has changed Move-In Day to Monday, Aug 29; while this may cause some inconvenience, we believe this is the course that will best ensure the safety of our new and returning students. Students will not be allowed to move in before Monday, and should make appropriate adjustments in their travel schedules; services usually provided to students beginning Sunday will not start until Monday.

So, Monday would be a good idea to avoid the Third Avenue Dorm Region... not to mention Trader Joe's, Bed, Bath and Beyond ... Surprise Surprise ... to name a few... You may add other locales in the comments..

The best part of NYU move-in day, maybe

You get the chance to see the full battalion of NYUmobiles! Such as...

Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smith's

We've heard those rumors about Nevada Smith's relocating to a larger space for some time now. The rumors have picked up again with the recent arrival of the sidewalk shed in front of both Nevada Smith's and the former Yummy House location.

So far, nothing at the DOB suggests anything out of the ordinary.

Also, earlier this week, workers posted the Asbestos Abatement Notices — often a sign of an impending demolition.

Several former Nevada Smith's regulars claim that the celebrated soccer/football bar will close soon — possibly relocating. There has been some turmoil within the bar in recent years. After a closure for alleged underage drinking in March 2010, management fired two popular bartenders, which prompted a Facebook campaign.

One former regular explained that many of the major supporter clubs have moved on to other venues for the games, leaving behind some tourists and the newbie, throw-a-jersey-on-for-a-day types. Tonight, there is an "appreciation night" at the bar.

Meanwhile, given the proximity of this property — including the parking lot on the corner of East 12th Street that one tipster said has been sold to developers — NYU has been mentioned as the new landowner.

We checked in with James Devitt, deputy director for media relations at NYU, for comment.

"Completely false," he said via email about NYU buying the spaces.

As for Nevada Smith's, the future may be uncertain ... but maybe that's OK in the estimation of one former regular: "I have great memories of that place, but it can't and won't ever be re-created again, and to be honest — I don't want it to be."

Today's sign of the apocalypse: Sigma Burger Pie

Lauren Shockey at Fork in the Road caught this signage on West Third Street at the former home of the Fuelray Bar & Lounge ... Sigma Burger Pie promises "a fraternal order of food."

At least it's safely tucked away between LaGuardia and Thompson... Anyway, we feel for you.

The rental that encourages you to party and find solace

Here we are at 60 Avenue C between Fifth Street and Sixth Street, where this three-bedroom apartment just hit that market for $3,700...

Check out the listing:

Sunday night roof deck get togethers and great parties await you. The apartment, which has exposed brick, is uncommonly spacious in a city known for shoebox apartments. The living room alone is like a cavern, while the adjoining outdoor space is enough for you and your friends to chill in the after-hours. The nightly quiet provides for an excellent atmosphere for concentration and solace.

Ranked #1 in New York City for Nightlife (by Nabewise), the East Village is one of the most sought-after places to live. atmosphere for concentration and solace. The kitchen comes equipped with standard appliances + dishwasher and plenty of counterspace. The rooftop comes with plank flooring and a picnic table! It's a nice walk to NYU!

According to the listing: "Guarantors Accepted."

You likely won't be able to blame NYU for 35 Cooper Square's destruction

The chatter about the future of 35 Cooper Square all leads to one place: DORM.

Well! The NYU Local asked NYU spokesperson John Beckman about the space:

No, we’re not buying the Cooper Square property.

It’s interesting—before our [2031] planning effort, and the strategy for developing the superblocks, this is the kind of opportunity we might have pursued. And if we are ultimately unsuccessful with the plan for the superblocks we are bringing through the City approvals process, this is the kind of nearby property — even though controversial — that we’d be led to consider as an option.

No Thunder Blizzard coverage is complete without photos of co-eds in their underwear or snowball fights

And you can find more photos and tomfoolery at NYULocal ... snow day photos here...

...monumental snowball fight shots here...

Updated: Oh... these are making the rounds... The shots were sent to other folks as well... Gothamist had the underwear photos earlier. Meanwhile, I think there's something going on in Egypt...

More dessert for former Ben & Jerry's space?

Paper is up at the former Ben & Jerry's space on Third Avenue and NYU... which closed back in September, as Jeremiah reported. (Ben and Jerry's closed, not NYU.) There aren't any permits on file for this space... still, it appears some work has been going on here... Prime location.... Can't imagine that we're in for any surprises here... It has to be dessert related, don't you think?

Hanukkah In NYU Dorms

From an article on the NYU Local titled "Eight Crazy Nights: Doing Hanukkah In The Dorms." (And where did they get all the Four Loco for the photoshoot?)

Why East Village residents should still fear NYU's expansion plans

Tonight, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and other community groups are holding a town-hall meeting to discuss NYU's expansion plans...



Per the GVSHP website:

"Now that NYU has dropped its landmarks application for a 400 ft. tall tower on Bleecker Street in the face of overwhelming opposition ... what does this mean, and where do we go from here in responding to their still-overwhelming plan?"

While this plan specifically focused on the West Village, Rob at Save the Lower East Side! believes we have something to worry about too... As he writes:

East Villagers ought to be alarmed by NYU's decision not to build on its own campus. All voices at the town hall will ask NYU to build in the financial district, but NYU may be looking for closer locations more attractive to their students. That would be our neighborhood.

Although the EV and the 3rd & 4th Avenue triangle have been recently rezoned to cap heights, there are still plenty of available development sites here. 3rd Avenue still allows the same bulk as prior to the rezoning, and it allows more bulk than the NYU dorm that already stands on 3rd Ave at 10th Street. (It's only 5.31 FAR. Under the new zoning, 3rd Ave allows 6.5 FAR for dormitories!) And they can build as high as 12 stories on 3rd Ave -- the current dorms there are only two stories taller than that.

And then there's El Bohio, the old P.S. 64. It's already standing, requiring minimal construction, and it is a huge lot. A dormitory there would end all hopes for a community center. So there's plenty to worry about

.

Indeed.

The future?



Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU's expansion plan for the East Village

SHOCKERS: Local college students prefer drugs to sex (at least in 1967)

The Washington Square Journal from Nov. 30, 1967, includes a SHOCKING expose about the habits of local college students... You can click on the piece to read it a little better.... The article reports on the findings of Dr. Sylvia Hertz, a psychologist-sociologist, who polled students on college campuses in the metropolitan area and discovered that "campus drugs have outglamourized and outchallenged sex on today’s college campus since sex is easily attainable, available and taken for granted, and has lost its yesterday spirit of adventure and conquest."



And an archival photo that accompanied the article here.



I swear that I saw this woman in the same position outside the Village Pourhouse the other evening, though she was wearing University of Florida sweats.

Now reading

From New York magazine this week:

NYU — The School that Ate New York. Read it here.

More on NYU's Barney Building fire

The Post has an item today on the early-morning fire yesterday at NYU's Barney Building on East Ninth Street...

Fire marshals yesterday were trying to determine what caused a blaze inside an NYU building in the East Village. The fire broke out in a third-floor art studio in the six-story Barney Building on Stuyvesant Street near Third Avenue. The blaze was contained to a small sculpture- and jewelry-design studio. NYU officials said other studios on that floor are expected to be open for classes today. There were no injuries.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Late-night fire at NYU's Barney Building

Late-night fire at NYU's Barney Building

Several readers passed along word of a late-night (or early-morning) fire between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on East Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

The fire occurred at the former Lucas A. Steinam School of Metal Working, 227 E. Ninth St. It is part of NYU's Barney Building. Here's what it looks like this morning. (Anyone happen to get photos at the scene?)





A worker on the scene sweeping up the broken glass on the sidewalk described it as "a really bad fire. It could have been a lot worse. There was a lot of gas out here." No word on any injuries.

Busy night here for the FDNY.

NYU has annoyed neighbors for a long time, apparently

Well, this is almost too good to be true...It's from a New York Times article from January 1914, back when NYU was (mostly) in the Bronx. You can read a PDF of the article here.

Members "sing and tango." Heh. Nellie Vought, early NIMBY?

Headline of the day: 'Show-Tune-Singing NYU Pukers Make Neighbor's Life a Living Hell'

That comes courtesy of Curbed, who has a piece on an Eighth Street apartment owner near NYU. Oh, the regret of picking this spot!

Not all New Yorkers have to deal with drunken drama students screaming show tunes at the top of their lungs at 4 a.m. ... And then there’s the vomit. It’s more of a weekend phenomenon, especially around the bars in Washington Square.

Show tunes? I'll sing show tunes!

Meet the woman selling NYU to the East Village

Capital's Sarah Laskow checks in with a profile on Alicia Hurley, NYU's vice president for government affairs and community engagement, in a piece titled "Thank you for not hating NYU."

Lots of interesting passages. Here are two from the intro:

With this latest expansion, N.Y.U. is trying harder than ever before to present a friendly face to a neighborhood that for decades has rallied against its development projects. The anger about N.Y.U.’s expansion focuses on the insistence of the university — an entity whose profile is increasingly global, and corporate — that it belongs in the Village, one of the few places in Manhattan, as long-time Villagers say, where you can still see the sky.

Hurley is N.Y.U.’s primary ambassador to its neighbors, and when she descends from the 12th floor of Bobst, she carries that chilly corporatism with her, in the form of a coterie of lawyers, sharp PowerPoint presentations, and bland, purposeful phrases to describe plans that will mean, in some cases, tearing down homes.

[Photo by Sarah Laskow]

East Village rezoning receives key approval

This arrived in the inbox from the The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

The City Planning Commission voted to approve rezonings in the Far West Village (Washington and Greenwich Streets) and the East Village (3rd and 4th Avenue corridors) ...

Each of these rezonings will go a long way towards protecting and reinforcing the residential character of these neighborhoods, and preventing inappropriate development.

Please note, however, that approval of these rezonings is NOT yet final, and does not yet take effect. They must still be approved by the City Council, which will consider and vote on them in the next few weeks. Once approved at the Council, their provisions will take effect.

The 3rd/4th Avenue rezoning will never again allow buildings like the 26-story NYU dorm on East 12th Street to be built...

The wrath of CAAN

This just arrived in our inbox from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP):

The Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 (CAAN 2031) — a coalition of community groups GVSHP helped found to respond to NYU’s massive development plans following the suspension of the Borough President’s Community Task Force on NYU — continues to grow. CAAN 2031 continues to urge elected officials and the local Community Board, which will be voting or weighing in on NYU’s plans, not to approve or support zoning changes or landmarks approvals NYU is seeking which would negatively impact the character of our neighborhoods. CAAN 2031 has also written to various city officials urging that the public green space on Bleecker, Mercer, and West 3rd Streets and LaGuardia Place which NYU is asking be given to it for development as part of its NYU 2031 Expansion plan be turned into permanent public parkland (read the letter HERE).

CAAN 2031 now also has a website, which you can visit HERE. Both the CAAN 2031 website and GVSHP’s NYU webpage now also have useful documents including a summary of the NYU 2031 Land Use proposals, NYU’s Overview of their 2031 Expansion Plan, and NYU’s History of the development of and regulations governing the superblocks, which they are seeking to dramatically change.

On Monday, Community Board #2’s Zoning and Institutions Committee will be holding a joint public hearing on the NYU 2031 plan and the various zoning, land use, and landmarks approvals NYU is seeking for nine blocks east and south of Washington Square, to allow an additional 2 million square feet (the equivalent of the Empire State Building) of development there.

HOW TO HELP:

* Come to the Community Board #2 Public Hearing on the NYU 2031 Plan on Monday at 6:30 pm at PS 41, 116 West 11th Street, and speak during the public session regarding the serious problems with the NYU plan and the viable alternatives the University, Community Board, and elected officials should be considering.

By the way, the CAAN site included a link to video from NYU move-in day this past Aug. 29...

Diablo Royale Este apologizes for 'Boats 'N Hoes' bash

As multiple witness reported on Sunday night, Diablo Royale Este — home of the Hopsicle! — at 169 Avenue A hosted what partygoers in line described as a "Boats 'N Hoes" bash for NYU....



Per our report yesterday, hundreds of NYU students lined Avenue A and 10th Street. Police arrived and issued summonses to the bar/restaurant. You can read all that here.

Yesterday, residents received a flyer from Diablo Royale apologizing for the event. (Click to enlarge.)



In part, it reads:

"We were trying to ingratiate ourselves with our NYU neighbors by holding a supposed intimate gathering for a section of the graduate Department as part of a welcome back/orientation.

Unfortunately, our contact duped us, and not only did he invite one specific graduate section from NYU, but other sections as well, hence a supposed party of 75 morphed into something much greater."

And later!

"We pride ourselves on being a restaurant that caters to a mature audience, and by no means has our paradigm shifted."

This was just the second communication that nearby residents said that they ever received from the establishment. The first arrived upon their opening in May, in which Diablo Royale Este is described as a "neighborhood friendly, family establishment."



Meanwhile, after four months, several residents said that they are still waiting to find this "neighborhood friendly, family establishment."






Previously on EV Grieve:
Avenue A transformed into fraternity-sorority party for Diablo Royale Este's 'Boats 'N Hoes' bash