Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

[EVG file photo]

Permits were filed today to demolish the existing low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue presumably to make way for the seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail slated for this corner.

As reported back in November, plans are in the works to redevelop this three-building assemblage ... from the former McDonald's to the corner.



REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the addresses for a little more than $150 million, per The Real Deal.

McDonald's and Papaya King have already closed. The Continental said in January that their last day is July 1. There haven't been any closing dates announced yet for Korilla BBQ, E Smoke Shop and the smaller shops that line St. Mark's Place.

So far there aren't any new building permits filed for the property, owned by the Gabay family.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Shake Shack effect? McDonald's on 3rd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed after 20 years

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Boarding up the former Papaya King on St. Mark's Place

On Wednesday, workers boarded up the entrance to the former Papaya King on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue...

Not sure why this happened ... perhaps to prep for the eventual demolition of this assemblage of buildings on the corner. (Background here.) There aren't any demo permits on file yet. Plus, the timeline isn't clear on when this corner will come down. The Continental around the corner announced that they would close after August 2018.

Or maybe the plywood went up to keep people from camping out inside the front entrance...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Papaya King closes on St. Mark's Place ahead of new development

The Continental says it will close late next summer

Papaya King closes on St. Mark's Place ahead of new development

Papaya King's neon signage came down over the weekend at 3 St. Mark's Place ... marking the end of the hot dog purveyor's four years here... (A Papaya King rep confirmed the closure to me in an email.)



As reported on Friday, Real Estate Equities Corporation is planning to demolish the existing low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue to make way for a 7-story office building. That also means the end here at some point for the Continental, Korilla BBQ and E Smoke Shop.

The Papaya King opened in the East Village in May 2013. The original location on Third Avenue and 86th Street and newer spot in downtown Brooklyn remain in service.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: Papaya King sign going up on St. Mark's Place — right now

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Plans are in the works to redevelop the three-building assemblage on the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

According to The Real Deal:

[Real Estate Equities Corporation REEC], led by Brandon Miller and Mark Siegel, is planning to demolish the existing low-rise buildings at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue to make way for one new property. Plans call for a seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building, including 6,000 square feet of corner retail.

That will mean the end of the businesses along here, including the Continental, Korilla BBQ, E Smoke Shop and Papaya King. (The former McDonald's structure is also part of the new development.)



REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties for a little more than $150 million, per The Real Deal.

In June 2015, The Real Deal reported that real-estate investor Arthur Shapolsky was in contract to buy the corner buildings for roughly $50 million.

However, Joseph Gabay, whose family owns the properties, told me this past June that they had not been sold despite the continued rumors.

That situation has apparently changed. Gabay did not respond to an email to confirm this deal.

As of last evening, there weren't any new permits on file with the Department of Buildings indicating any new work on the properties. There isn't any word just yet on a timeline for the businesses to close.

The development will likely fuel more talk of the Midtown Southification of this part of the neighborhood with 51 Astor Place/IBM Watson Building/Death Star right across the Avenue.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Shake Shack effect? McDonald's on 3rd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed after 20 years

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Papaya King, now with its own bottled sodas

Via the EVG inbox... if it's of interest...

Beginning this Friday, July 28, Papaya King’s new line of bottled, ready-to-drink sodas will be available at all New York locations. The Papaya King bottled beverages come in five flavors — Grape, Pineapple, Black Cherry, Orange and Vanilla Cream.

This launch marks Papaya King’s first entry into the ready-to-drink soda category.

The bottles will be available at the 3 St. Mark's Place location.

Papaya King will start serving beer next Monday on St. Mark's Place

Via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Starting Monday, November 24, you can have a beer with your meal at 3 St. Marks Pl. 12oz Heineken Light Bottles and 12oz Brooklyn Lager Cans will be available to start, with new items being added each season.

The beer will be available Sunday through Thursday from 11:00AM – 10:00PM and Friday & Saturday from 11:00AM – 11:00PM. You must purchase a food item off the menu to buy and enjoy a beer.

Unlike the other Papaya and Hot Dog copycat restaurants in New York City, Papaya King on St. Marks Pl. is more than a grab and go location. With a giant projection screen along the back wall, old school arcade games in the front, foosball in the back, loud music and a long picnic table down the middle, it is a place to rub elbows with your friends, neighbors, classmates and someone new.

The Papaya King owners were turned down for a beer license back in May 2013. According to CB3 documents, the St. Mark's Block Association and 8 St. Mark's Tenants' Association submitted letters and testimony in opposition to this application.

CB3 again turned down their application in September 2013, citing a failure "to provide substantial community support from area residents." While five people spoke out in support of the license, only one of them actually lived within the CB3 boundaries, according to CB3 documents.

So it looks as if Papaya King made some concessions, cutting back the proposed hours for beer sales. (They originally wanted to sell beer until 4 a.m. Thursday through Sundays.)

Papaya King opened in the East Village in May 2013. Papaya King opened on East 86th Street in 1932.

Papaya King going mobile starting tomorrow

From the EVG inbox yesterday...

Papaya King is bringing its all beef frankfurters with all the toppings, tasty tropical drinks and fried treats to the streets of New York on their first ever food truck. With two restaurants in Manhattan located at 86th St. and St. Mark's Place, going mobile is the next step in the Papaya King expansion.

Wayne Rosenbaum has run Papaya King since his team bought the restaurant chain 5 years ago. Since the purchase, they have opened a second location, on St. Mark's Place and remodeled the 86th St. location. “We were trying to find a way to have a great location without paying sky-rocket rents,” Rosenbaum stated about why The King has decided on launching a food truck now.

The truck will be parked in Midtown, equidistant to each restaurant during the week and in Flatiron, Soho, and Union Square on the weekends. To find out the exact location, you can find them on Twitter at @PapayaKingTruck or go to their website.

The truck officially debuts tomorrow at 52nd Street and Sixth Avenue. If you are there between 2-3 p.m., then you can get a plain frank with sauerkraut for $1.

Archie & Sons, a new luncheonette, opening very soon at 23 Third Ave.

[Photo from last week]

Work is wrapping up at 23 Third Ave. near St. Mark's Place... where Archie & Sons, a 1950s-style luncheonette, is expected to open this week...

There was a casting call for staff on July 22...



Archie & Sons has roots on Long Island (Hewlett) where proprietor Howie Cohen ran Archie's Deli until 2010. He's bringing that concept here.

Cohen is also one of the investors who bought the Papaya King brand several years ago.

While we didn't get a chance to speak with Cohen, Blake Gower, part of the Papaya King team, told us a little more about Archie & Sons.

"Howie and his family have been in the business for decades. The presence of B&H and Stage reinforced our thinking that the East Village was the right kind of neighborhood to bring this to life in NYC; there's a certain warmth and appreciation for homey neighborhood places that persists in the East Village," Gower said. "I grew up eating at the original Archie's — I still have dreams about side dishes of Howie's macaroni salad."

Archie's will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They originally announced an Aug. 1 opening date, though Gower said that they may bump that back by a day or two.

23 Third Ave. was mostly recently home to a fairly humdrum slice place.

Papaya King is NOW OPEN on St. Mark's Place

As noted yesterday... at 3 St. Mark's Place...

Who is going to be The King's first customer in the East Village? Doors open at 10am. #thekingisreadytorock #eastvillage #puredeliciousness
— Papaya King (@Papaya_King) May 9, 2013

We thought Paul Kostabi was first in line as of last night. Or he was just waiting for the M8.


[Via Twitter by @nranra]

Papaya King opening TOMORROW on St. Mark's Place

[April 25]

The King just made it official on Twitter:



They are also on this month's CB3/SLA docket for a beer-wine license.

Here's Ralph Gardner Jr. talking about them a few years back at The Wall Street Journal:

I almost feel foolish describing Papaya King and its franks, so familiar I assume it is to just about anybody who has landed in New York more than 15 minutes ago. But for the record, it serves an arguably unimprovable hot dog. Slightly spicy and garlicky, its casing explodes in your mouth to release its mouth-watering contents.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Papaya King coming to St. Mark's Place

All the King's neon

Shawn Chittle notices some new neon at Papaya King, coming very soon to 3 St. Mark's Place.

Papaya King sign now — up

At 3 St. Mark's Place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: Papaya King sign going up on St. Mark's Place — right now

Breaking: Papaya King sign going up on St. Mark's Place — right now

Workers arrived around 7 a.m. today to put up the new Papaya King sign at 3 St. Mark's Place...



... and moments ago, Shawn Chittle spotted workers prepping the sign for placement...



Papaya King hopes to have the shop open by May 1.

Wiener watching on St. Mark's Place

From the EV Grieve Wiener Wire... workers put up the "world's best frank" lettering yesterday at the incoming Papaya King at 3 St. Mark's Place ...

Meanwhile (via Eater last Wednesday), Design Observer interviewed Andrew Bernheimer, the architect who designed the East Village Papaya King. Headline: How to Design an Iconic NY Fast Food Joint? Bernheimer studied everyone from from Katz's to Shake Shack for this creation.

Excerpt!

So how do you design a place that retains the je-ne-sais-quois authenticity of an iconic New York place without it becoming a generic franchise joint?

Use the language of their original store, and then deploy elements in slightly different ways. Don’t merely replicate things. For example, we decided to push the entry in from the street (the opposite of the original incarnation, which occupies a prominent corner on the Upper East Side) and widen it, to create a sheltered entry space. And we made it bright yellow, which picked up on their color scheme. Also, signage is really important. Sometimes we are taught in architecture school (or later on, learn in practice) that nostalgia isn’t valuable, and our impulse is to fight it. But in this case nostalgia was important, very much so.

Lastly, Wiener Watchers are predicting that Papaya King will be ... the place to be this summer... as evidenced by how the space is already attracting crowds...


[Saturday afternoon, via Stephen Popkin]

... and the leftovers from crowds...


[Sunday morning]

Via Twitter, the folks at Papaya King said that they are hoping to open by May 1. "Psyched to be coming downtown."

Welcome to the neighborhood, Papaya King!

Coming very soon to St. Mark's Place near Third Avenue... where the plywood came down last week...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Papaya King coming to St. Mark's Place

Joe's Pizza + Papaya King = Hope?

The recent opening of Joe's Pizza on East 14th Street ...



... and the signs that a Papaya King is coming to St. Mark's Place...



... have been a welcome bit of restaurant/food news for some people ...

Per sam_the_man the the comments yesterday:

First Joe's, now Papaya King? Another win. Could the tide be turning at last?

We heard this same sentiment from others too, either on Facebook or via email. Maybe not every storefront will become, say, a 7-Eleven?

Papaya King coming to St. Mark's Place

[Last week]

We've been waiting to see what would emerge from behind the plywood at 3 St. Mark's Place just east of Third Avenue... where the gem-jewelry store moved next door...

Signs went up this week — Papaya King...



Per the Papaya King website:

Papaya King is the original. Accept no imitations. Since 1932, we have been serving our special recipe, one-of-a-kind franks and tropical drinks to New Yorkers and visitors of all ages and from all walks of life at our original 86th Street location. We have a passion for freshness, quality, flavor & fun. We cook your franks while facing you so that we can see each other’s smiles (and because it’s rude to have you stare at our backs).

Here's Ralph Gardner Jr. talking about them a few years back at The Wall Street Journal:

I almost feel foolish describing Papaya King and its franks, so familiar I assume it is to just about anybody who has landed in New York more than 15 minutes ago. But for the record, it serves an arguably unimprovable hot dog. Slightly spicy and garlicky, its casing explodes in your mouth to release its mouth-watering contents.