[Updated] An urban garden grows atop Umbrella House on Avenue C

Via the EVG inbox…

Today from 4 to 7 pm the former Lower East Side squat Umbrella House will host an open house to inaugurate its urban farming project. At 5 pm members of Umbrella’s Rooftop Garden Committee will speak briefly about the development of the project.

EVENT RAINDATE: Sunday July 19; 4 — 7 pm.

This 820 square foot intensive green roof serves as a source of fresh produce for building residents, as a means to assist in storm water management, and as a model for other New York

The garden was initially conceived in early 2012 and construction was completed in December 2014. Now in its first growing season, the garden is producing swiss chard, broccoli, white onions, eggplant, okra, spinach, zucchini, basil, sugar snap peas, jalapeno peppers, lamb’s quarters, and several varieties of tomatoes; as well as medicinal plants: hyssop, lemon balm, chamomile, calendula, and passion flower.

Umbrella’s Rooftop Garden involved extensive construction: structural steel framing and concrete planking were required to build the raised 8” planting bed. Construction cost was $150,000. Area architect Paul Castrucci was the project architect.

Umbrella House members believe that this project is a worthy example for other co-ops and property owners to emulate.

Umbrella House Garden Committee and Co-op Board Member Parker Pracjek states: “Access to healthy food through Farmer’s Markets, Green Food Carts, and Farm to Table initiatives have made some improvements to food health literacy in New York City, but more must be done. Food justice should be expanded to urban farming to transform underused spaces into productive environments. The benefits of urban farming are far-reaching and include decreased carbon footprint, responsible use of natural and human resources and community health.”

[Image via the Umbrella House website]

Umbrella House is at 21 Avenue C between East Second Street and East Third Street.

Read more about the garden here. The New York Times has a feature on the garden here.

Updated 9:26 a.m.

Due to showers and thunderstorms forecast for this afternoon, the Umbrella House Garden Open House has been rescheduled for tomorrow 4-7 p.m.

Ricardo León Peña Villa, 1960-2011

Ricardo León Peña Villa — the Colombian-born poet known affectionately as El Poe — passed away on Friday at Beth Israel Hospital where he had been in the intensive care unit the last few weeks. He was 50.

There's a small memorial set up in his honor outside the Umbrella House on Avenue C where he had lived and helped manage the building.

In a tribute written by Manuel Bermúdez Tiberio:

Ricardo, for those who knew him, was a special human being, lived a million lives. His day was 24 hours spent, used, designed, written, worked ... because his favorite phrase was "do something now because when we die will be a long rest."

You can find out more about this life here.

Tonight: Umbrella House Convenes

Stepping Up at the Umbrella House

The local barber shop leasing space from the Umbrella House on Avenue C looks nearly ready to open.



In April:



Previously on EV Grieve:
What's happening at the Umbrella House?

At the Umbrella House: "A Gift to Your Eyes With Love"

The installation is up at the Umbrella House on Avenue C.

What's happening at the Umbrella House?

There is plywood and a "store for rent" sign up at the Umbrella House, the former squat -- named for its leaky roof -- at 21-23 Avenue C between Second Street and Third Street.




I was curious about what tenant might be coming to this space. I contacted the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), the nonprofit that has acted as a liaison between the tenants and the city throughout the renovation process of the former LES squats.

Here's what UHAB spokesperson Jess Wisloski told me: "Despite the for rent sign on the building, Umbrella has found a tenant -- a local barbershop is planning to expand their business. We hope to see it open for business in the next few months once their renovation of the space is complete."

Previously...before the plywood...







There's a lengthy, complicated backstory on the renovations of the former LES squats. Too much for a blog post. The Dec. 31-Jan. 6, 2009, issue of The Villager explores the issue in-depth in an article titled "Former squats are worth lots, but residents can’t cash in." An excerpt:

In a series of high-profile clashes — particularly on E. 13th and E. Fifth Sts. — the city forcibly evicted many of the squatters in the 1990s. But in 2002, City Hall took a radically new approach: Eleven of the 12 remaining East Village squats were sold for $1 apiece to the nonprofit Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. Under the agreement, the squatters, with UHAB’s guidance, would bring their buildings up to code within one year, then buy them — for just $250 per apartment — and the buildings would become permanently affordable, Housing Development Fund Corporation, or H.D.F.C., co-ops.

In a nutshell from the article, some homesteaders are upset that the lengthy renovations were financed with what they call unfair loans that have saddled them with debt.



Despite some tension between the sides, a UHAB official told The Villager that "four to six of the former squats will be converted to co-ops sometime between now and February," with the Umbrella House being the first to convert.

I asked Wisloski about this timetable: "The Umbrella House has not converted yet, but we hope it will be in the next few months."

One question that I didn't ask: The owner of the barber shop will then pay his/her rent to the newly formed Umbrella House co-op?





For further reading on the Umbrella House:
In Images, the Lower East Side of Starker Days (The New York Times)

Squatters' rights (City Limits)
The article has details on the three-day standoff in 1989 between the Umbrella House squatters and the city...with the cops blocking off C between Second and Third Streets...

A brief history of New York City's Squats (City Limits)

Sweat Equity Pays Off (The Brooklyn Rail)

Squat the world! (Not Bored)