Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

I'm doing a little guest-blogging at Curbed this week. A version of this post appears there too.



Add another chapter to the long, complicated story of the old P.S. 64/CHARAS/El Bohio community center -- now known as University House at Tompkins Square Park. According to marketing materials (PDF) that HelmsleySpear is circulating, the landmarked space at 350 East 10th Street (and an aside, the rebranding includes not using the 605 E. Ninth St. address):

[I]s currently undergoing a complete renovation including new building systems, core and shell. The property is zoned R8-B. The property is ideal for schools, universities, museums, college dormitories, medical offices, hospital, foundations, nonprofit institutions and related facilities.



Ownership will consider all offers to lease or purchase the entire building. In addition, ownership will consider the creation of a “building-within-building” allowing for multiple entrances and uses within the property, including the possibility of leasing individual floors and selling portions of the building as a
commercial condominium.

No mention anywhere of Gregg Singer, the building's owner who unsuccessfully tried for years to get his megadorm project off the ground. This past spring, Singer told The Villager that he's still an investor, but he had moved "onto other stuff." Meanwhile, one longtime P.S. 64 watcher said many of these new plans for the site have been moving forward without the knowledge of the East Village power brokers.

For more on the efforts to save P.S. 64 and its history:
East Village Community Coaltion: Save our School

And a few photos of the old P.S. 64 from a few weeks back...

Posts that I meant to post Monday but forgot to post: The Bald Man is really gone

Last Wednesday, Max Brenner/Chocolate by the Bald Man closed. On Thursday, Jeremiah noted that the Second Avenue chocolatetorium was dechocolating the place.

While walking by on Saturday, I saw that even the mattresses designed for people to sleep off one too many choctails were discarded...

Bunny bin Laden

Can't say that I've ever seen Bunny bin Laden street art before... and I've spotted several in recent days...

Something actually kind of useful opens on Ninth Street

A dry cleaner in the new Ninth Street storefront carved out of a space in the building behind Doc Hollidays ... Not sure about the "organic" part...

When Iggy retires?

There's a new exhibit at the PS 122 gallery titled "Yarn Theory," described as "an exhibition which highlights the vibrant and deep interrelationship between the sciences, mathematics, crocheting and knitting."



I stopped to check it out. This couple next to me were looking at the photos of the contributors to something called "The Knitted Mile." And the guy says, "Hey, Iggy!" They left, and I took a closer look... It's not Iggy Pop, but there is some resemblance... though this fellow is wearing a shirt, of course...

Reverend Billy investigates how the downturn is having an impact on local businesses ("Stay out of the national chains!")

Thanks to the tipster who passed along this link...

Mayoral candidate Reverend Billy talks with business owners on East Ninth Street on how they're coping with the recession. This was filmed as part of the Uncommon Economic Indicator project with the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.

Just another photo of a dog trying to hotwire a van

Looking how guilty he/she looks! Caught on Ninth Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

A rally at P.S. 64

"East Village activists and preservationists rallied outside the old P.S. 64 Monday afternoon, demanding that the Landmarks Preservation Commission save the neglected turn-of-the-century school from ruin." (The Villager)

Comings and goings: Third Avenue and Ninth Street

East Village Photo at 35 Third Avenue recently lost their lease and moved...



The store is empty...save, curiously enough, for the rack of NYC postcards.



So this means the corner store on Third Avenue and Ninth Street in the building that houses NYU's Alumni Hall dormitory is available...FroYo anyone? (Just guessing -- seems reasonable, eh?)

Also, we noted a few weeks back that M Sonii, the vintage-y, knicknack-y store at 220 E. Ninth St. near Third Avenue, was closing...appears now they have found a new location...just a few blocks away...



According to a commenter, the Sonii space is owned by the people who run the parking garage next door...and they were looking for a hefty rent increase.

Sintir update (you know, that new place opening on East Ninth Street)

The rather mysterious looking, we're-assuming-Moroccan joint coming to East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

November:


January:


February:


...is one of the few places applying for a new liquor license (wine)...the Community Board 3's SLA & DCA Licensing Committee will consider this other applications tonight at 6:30.

Meanwhile, more stores are closing in the EV

In recent days I started taking photos of all the stores in the EV that had sale signs in the window. It just seemed as if every store was offering huge savings. Given the number of advertised reductions, it occurred to me that it would be easier to take photos of shops that weren't having sales. There weren't many.

Meanwhile, the carnage continues. The Tibetan specialty shop Lhasa Boutique on Avenue B near Fourth Street is going.



This makes 22 empty storefronts now on Avenue B. (There were 23, but Coyi Cafe opened a few weeks back.)

Meanwhile, on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue...

An East Ninth Street vintage shop is closing

M Sonii, the vintage-y, knicknack-y store at 220 E. Ninth St. near Third Avenue that featured local designers...


is closing...



In 2000, The Village Voice named M Sonii the best accessory store.

What's new on East Ninth Street?

Near Avenue A.

To be honest, I don't really want to know what happened here

On Ninth Street. Hate to see what happened to the memory foam pillows.

Door is no long "bizarrely heavy" -- now the springs are just tight

Dec. 15!


Dec. 27!


Dirt Candy on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

How bizarre!

Dirt Candy on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Still a landmark

Good news from the City Room about the former school at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C:

A justice in State Supreme Court has rejected a developer’s bid to overturn a 2006 decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the former Public School 64 in the East Village, which closed in 1977, as a city landmark. The ruling is another step in a complex, decade-long battle over the fate of the building, which has become a symbol of broader struggles over gentrification.

Here's some history of the school, via the East Village Community Coalition Web site:

During the summer of 1911 P.S. 64 became the first Public School in the City to offer free open-air professional theater to the public. One of the reasons the school was chosen to premiere the series is because it was the first school in the city to have electric lights in its yard. Julius Hopp, director of the Theatre Centre For Schools tried unsuccessfully to stage The Merchant of Venice on the raised courtyard facing 10th street. The noise from the trolleys rumbling down 10th street made the performance inaudible but the thousands of people gathered across the street, packed onto the courtyard and peering from the tenement windows were treated to an impromptu rendition of Kipling's Gunga Din, recited by Sydney Greenstreet, one of the actors in the production. (Greenstreet became famous as the "fat man" in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.) Undaunted, Hopp regrouped and presented the play two days later in the school auditorium. The thrilled audience got a chance to see the young Greenstreet and Warner Oland (later to play Charlie Chan) in Shakespeare's grand Comedy. Needless to say, the harsh stereotypical imagery of the play was not lost on the neighborhood's burgeoning Jewish community.

In the 1920's P.S. 64 was a required stop for politicians campaigning in New York City. Governor Alfred E. Smith, Mayor Jimmy Walker, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt all recognized how important it was to make time to speak in the school's auditorium. Walker railed against his opponent, then Mayor Hylan, Governor Smith confronted the Hearst News Empire, and Roosevelt assessed his strength with Jewish voters by the neighborhood turnout for his speech at P.S. 64.

(Photo: Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)

I kind of like Bass Plucked Lute for a restaurant name

One of the many vacant storefronts along East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue will soon be a Moroccan restaurant. (OK, we're assuming Moroccan given that Sintir is "a three stringed skin-covered bass plucked lute used by the Gnawa people of Morocco.")