Check out the former Salvation Army Family Store on 4th Avenue

The plywood recently came down at the under-renovation storefront at 112 Fourth Ave. near 12th Street.

You'd never know that this was, until October 2019, the longtime home of the Salvation Army Family Store. SA reps told us at the time that the landlord had terminated their lease. 

The storefront is now being pitched for restaurant usage — or anyone else who can afford the monthly asking rent of $38,000. (Listing here.) The space has three levels, with 2,400 square feet on the ground floor. 

The Salvation Army Family Store on 4th Avenue is closing next week

In recent years I've been surprised that the Salvation Army Family Store, seemingly out of place along this increasingly upscale corridor, remains open on Fourth Avenue.

Sure enough, as EVG reader David pointed out yesterday, the shop at 112 Fourth Ave. near 12th Street is closing: Oct. 31 is the last day in business.



I reached out to the Salvation Army's NY office to find out why this location is closing. (I also want to know how long this outpost has been here — more than 25 years at least.) Will update when/if I hear back.

Anyway, sorry to see them go. I've also picked up a variety of dishes, records and clothes here through the years...

Updated 1:30 p.m.:

Heard back from Tim Raines, marketing and development director at the Salvation Army: "Our lease has been terminated by the landlord. We continue to search for new properties that will allow us to serve our loyal customers, donors and most important, the people we serve thanks to the proceeds from our Family Stores."

He noted the following: Donors may find additional dropoff locations or schedule a free pickup of their donation by visiting SATRUCK.ORG or by calling 800.SA.TRUCK.

Thursday's parting shot

Shopping at the Salvation Army today on Fourth Avenue... photo by Derek Berg

The 1 remaining piece of the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery

Workers have torn down the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street … but one piece of the structure at 347 Bowery remains… as we spotted through the handy blogger portals on the plywood…



Perhaps the developers of the incoming 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential building are keeping this detail for some authenticity? (Heh.)

Rest in pieces: The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence is gone

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street is pretty much officially gone. We spotted a few bricks and beams through the plywood on Saturday. Otherwise…



Flashback!



The serious demo work commenced on Nov. 10.

Workers demolished the building to make way for a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development. We haven't seen any renderings for the new building yet.

Here's a sketch of the proposed building for 347 Bowery that we spotted at the owner Urban Muse's website back in March...



At 13 floors, it will be blocking some views to residents who live next door at 52E4, the 15 stories of condo with a gated entrance on East Fourth Street. Some residents of the new building will also enjoy pool views below at 52E4.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

And then there was 1 floor

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street is nearly gone… Goggla's photo from Friday shows the remains of the ground floor.

Workers are demolishing the building to make way for a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development.

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence now with a little off the top

A whole floor, actually … Goggla told us yesterday that the building at 347 Bowery and East Third is without its top floor now. (Not to mention its roof.)

And later, toward sunset…



As we've noted, workers are demolishing the building to make way for a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development. The project is still waiting for city approval.

Demolition finally underway at 347 Bowery

We first spotted the permits to demolish the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street back in January. The scaffolding and construction netting arrived in early June. And now in the past week the jackhammer-toting workers have been on the scene slowly chipping away at the three-story building.





The building will give way to a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development. The project is still waiting for city approval.

Signage points to a Dec. 31 deadline for the demolition.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

347 Bowery wrapped and ready for demolition

We first spotted the permits to demolish the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street back in January.

Now workers have apparently finished with the sidewalk bridge and scaffolding at the site. (The first of the demo gear arrived on May 28.)





Bowery Street?



The sidewalk bridge partially collapsed on June 1. Witnesses said it was struck by a box truck.

The three-story building will give way to a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development that may or may not include same-floor parking privileges.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

Sidewalk bridge collapses on the Bowery

[EVG photo from Thursday]

The sidewalk bridge arrived last Wednesday ahead of the demolition of Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street.

Earlier this evening, a portion of the structure came crashing down, nearly blocking the entrance to the 7-Eleven next door… and spilling into the street…



EVG regular Pinhead shared these photos … and said that the FDNY responded within 2 minutes … thankfully, no one was injured …



The Residence closed in August 2008. It will be torn down to make way for a 13-floor residential building.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

[EVG file photo]

Back in January, we heard that Salvation Army's former East Village Residence here at East Third Street would yield to a 13-story, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development.

According to preliminary paperwork filed with the city yesterday, the building will, in fact, be 13 floors. There isn't much other info at the moment, so we'll have to wait to see about those same-floor parking spaces.

Here's a sketch of the proposed building for 347 Bowery that we spotted at the owner Urban Muse's website...



To recap what some news here to date.

The Lo-Down reported last July that Urban Muse, a privately held firm that "acquires, develops, repositions, operates and brands" commercial and residential real estate, bought the space in a $19 million deal.

Workers are currently handling the asbestos abatement right now ahead of a demolition.

The Salvation Army's East Village Residence closed in August 2008. (Find some history of the space here.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Asbestos abatement underway at the former Salvation Army's East Village Residence

Just a quick follow-up to our post from last Wednesday about the pending demolition of the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street.

For starters, the asbestos abatement has apparently commenced here ahead of ripping down the building to make way for a 13-story mixed-use residential development.

As for that development, BoweryBoogie points out an intriguing (and pretty fucked-up) possibility … designer Giauco Lolli-Ghetti of Urban Muse bought the space for $19 million … As BoweryBoogie noted, Lolli-Ghetti has a 2009 patent on a "vertical integrated parking system" that connects each condo with a private parking space on the same floor.

Same-floor parking? Puts that bike storage room in the basement to shame.

Meanwhile, until No. 347 comes down, the party continues on the corner…



Previously on EV Grieve:
Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Claim: 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-story mixed-use residential development

The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Several weeks ago, we spotted permits on file with the city to demolish the interior of the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street.

We thought, perhaps, this meant that the 3-story building was in for a gut renovation.

Guess not.

There are new permits now on file to demolish the whole building.

There's no word on what's next here from the privately held real estate firm who owns the space.

The shelter closed in August 2008.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reactions to new Bowery hotel: 'It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater'

Why do the French hate us?

Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Permits filed to demolish former Salvation Army residence on the Bowery

Looking at what may be coming to 347 Bowery

Koi is one of the bars/restaurants going before the CB3/SLA tonight. Koi is applying for a full liquor license.

In preparation for this, some higher-profile Koi employees held a meet-and-greet at Sala Restaurant on the Bowery last Thursday to answer any questions about Koi possibly turning the former Salvation Army East Village Residence into another outpost of the upscale sushi eatery. (The other locations are in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and in NYC at Bryant Park).

There wasn't any planned presentation. It was rather informal. And awkward. Not many people were there, at least when I was around. (And no naked sushi models.) And the people who were there didn't strike me as the concerned-neighbor type. (The Lo-Down was there too and has additional coverage.)

A few random things from the evening:

— Everyone from Koi was really nice in that trying-too-hard way. But, still, nice.

— The patrons of the Bryant Park Koi were described as low-key, mellow, more mature (i.e., not a bunch of partygoers prone to peeing and vomiting in the streets — my words not their words).

— Someone from Koi volunteered that the former Salvation Army Residence would actually become a restaurant and not merely flipped to be converted into another condo/hotel/high rise. Hadn't even thought of that.

— Koi co-owner/CEO Nick Haque wasn't present, but he is expected tonight at the CB3 meeting.

There were pamphlets offering a few more details on the proposed restaurant. Two floors for the restaurant/bar...6,000-square-feet...230 total seats...overheard someone say the exterior design would be in keeping with the neighborhood.







To learn more about Koi, I visited their Web site and read the many press clippings available.





That write-up in Wine & Spirits on top is my favorite. In describing the LA Koi: "Its valet zone is standing-room-only with paparazzi hoping to catch a glimpse of Paris Hilton or Lindsay Lohan stepping out of an Escalade, and its bar is three deep with supermodels and those who like to be seen with them."

Hmm... Just think of the lux row lining up here...the Bowery Hotel and Cooper Square Hotel and DBGB and 52 East Fourth St and Keith McNally's coming-soon pizza joint and ....

Your invite to meet your new neighbor who wants to turn a men's shelter into a high-end sushi joint

On Monday, fancy sushi eatery Koi goes before the CB3 for a full-liquor license for a proposed restaurant at 347 Bowery, the site of the former Salvation Army's East Village Residence.



On Thursday night, Koi reps will look to liquor up concerned locals at Sala.



And they offer us an idea of what the place may look like...



Previously on EV Grieve:
On the Bowery: "What in the hell is this?"

On the Bowery: "What the hell is this?"

As Eater noted on Monday, fancy sushi chain Koi is looking to nab a liquor license for a new joint .... at the site of the now-closed Salvation Army residence at 347 Bowery. Seems about right.



The Koi news prompted me to revisit a short story written by Jack Henry Abbott titled "On the Bowery." His piece was part of an anthology titled "Low Rent: A Decade of Prose and Photographs from the Portable Lower East Side" published in 1994.

After serving 19 years in prison, Abbott arrived in Manhattan at 3 a.m. on June 6, 1981. He stayed at the Salvation Army here at 347 Bowery. Here are a few snippets of his short story:

Sitting on the corner across the street there was a man wearing filthy jeans and a tee-shirt. He needed a shave. He was sitting on the curb with his feet in the gutter. There was a dirty handkerchief tied around his head. His long brown hair fell wildly about his shoulders.

He had a steel garbage can turned upside down between his legs. All its contents were in piles around him and he was beating the bottom of the garbage can with a pathetic vengenace. He was using his fists and the palms of his hands, alternately. I stared at him for awhile, then my gaze passed along and took in the immediate environment. Debris was everywhere in the street and sidewalks. Third Avenue traffic had not yet started. The streets were deserted.

Then I noticed a body laying stretched out on the sidewalk against a rundown building. And then another and another and another. The bodies of sleeping derelicts were scattered liberally around the sidewalks and on the stoops on buildings. It took my by surprise. My mind was blank. I finally thought: "What the hell is this?"

One morning someone came in half carrying a man in his late twenties. The man being helped was over six feet tall. He helped him sit on the cushion of the naugahyde couch I was sitting on in front of the fan. It was exceptionally hot that summer.

The man was filthy, his clothes were torn. His right pants leg was bursting at the seams. He had been lying in the gutter down the street for three days before someone decided to help him into the Salvation Army. From what they could get out of him, he had been wandering in the street one night and a car had struck him. He had crawled between two parked cars. His right leg was broken. It had been bleeding.

P.S.

You likely know what later happened to Abbott, who previously had received help from Norman Mailer to get "In the Belly of the Beast" published. Abbott's story has been told many times. Here's a piece from -- why not? -- Wikipedia: "On the morning of July 18 (1981), just six weeks after getting out of prison, Jack Abbott went to a small cafe called the Binibon in Manhattan. He clashed with 22-year-old Richard Adan, son-in-law of the restaurant's owner, over Adan's telling him the restroom was for staff only. The short-tempered Abbott stabbed Adan in the chest, killing him."

In an entry on the Bowery and LES, Brian Rose wrote the following:

I lived around the corner on East 4th Sreet at the time, and ate in Binibon the day of the murder. I was unaware that anything had happened. Nowadays one would expect to find the crime scene taped off, people milling about pointing and murmering, and, perhaps, the beginnings of an informal memorial of flowers. In those days, it was just another murder on the Lower East Side, though once the connection to Mailer was made, the story became national news.

For further reading:
Writer murders writer in the East Village (Ephemeral New York)

For more on the Salvation Army residence hall here, please read: No Salvation (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

More change coming soon to the Bowery?

East Village Podcasts brings the news that the Salvation Army’s East Village Residence at 1 E. Third St. at the Bowery is closed. EVP reports: "We can confirm that we have absolutely no confirmation of a destructive demise for the residence, but we did try to call the number on the door’s sign for more info and received the Army’s voicemail replete with lilting British Isles accent."

Meanwhile, I have taken a solemn oath not to end posts with sarcastic asides such as, "Expect a [Duane Reade, Bank of America branch, PinkBerry, dessert bar, Dunkin' Donuts, 24 Hour Fitness with Derek Jeter, etc., etc.] soon. So I'll let EVP do the work for me with their headline on the post: "Salvation Army Leaves, Wine Bar Next?"