'Good riddance' Chase, and — a development to watch in 2016

The Chase branch at 130 Second Ave. and St. Mark's Place closed back on Nov. 13, consolidating with the branch two blocks to the north.

This past weekend someone took notice to this development...


[Photo by Steven]

Had we actually got around to doing one... this would have made some kind of "developments to watch in 2016" listicle or something. To recap! The retail space via Icon Realty has been on the market, with an asking price of $72,000 a month... the listing notes the address is acceptable for "General Retail Use, Restaurants/Bar, Office Space, Gyms/Fitness Centers."

As previously reported,, the former Chase space allows for redevelopment of the current 2,380-square-foot site into a mixed-use retail and residential project of 9,520 square feet.


[Photo from December by Steven]

A few EVG regulars figure we'll be in for a few extra floors here one of these days...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Chase space on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place is for rent

2 East Village Chase Bank branches are closing for good on Nov. 12

Chase branch on 2nd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has the potential to get 4x larger with new owner

The East Village is down 2 Chase branches

Icon wraps former Chase branch at St. Mark's Place with retail ribbon

Conspiracy theories: Who was the anonymous donor behind St. Brigid's $20 million donation?

Headlines from May 22, 2008 ...


On this date (or, online the day before!), we learned that an anonymous donor came to the rescue of St. Brigid's, which reopens Sunday, saving the historic building's grounds on Avenue B and East Eighth Street from life as a condo or dorm. (There was also talk in 2003-2004 that the Cabrini Center would move here from down on East Fifth Street, as The Villager reported.)

Per the Times: "The gift includes $10 million to restore the building, at 119 Avenue B; $2 million to establish an endowment for the parish so that it might best meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people living in the community'; and $8 million to support the St. Brigid's School and other Catholic schools in need."

Great news. And fodder for conspiracy theorists. Matt Dillon! Bette Midler! The Villager mentioned Chuck Feeney, "an Irish-American philanthropist who has given about $400 million anonymously through The Atlantic Philanthropies, which he endowed."

And now, Dave on 7th shares his conspiracy theory:

Ever since St Brigid's was saved, I've wondered why, after going to literally the last hour in trying to demolish the church and sell off its incredibly valuable real estate, the Archdiocese would suddenly accept the offer of an anonymous donor and essentially rebuild the whole church from scratch.

My theory is that the "donor" is in fact the Archdiocese itself, and they needed to remain anonymous because they had just closed like four parishes in the neighborhood.

Interestingly, the parish that survived the cuts was St Emeric, which is housed in a nondescript church located on a dead-end street behind a power plant.

At some point a year or two ago, I saw flyers on Avenue C announcing that the Cardinal would be holding a mass at St Emeric. That's a BIG deal for a little church in a nondescript building behind a power plant.

Then came the announcement that St Emeric would "merge" with St Brigid's, and that the parish priest would come from St Emeric. That clinched it for me.

This was a deal between St Emeric and the Cardinal (who, by the way, is going to lead the first mass in the new church, again a very BIG deal) to rebuild the church and turn it over to whatever order St Emeric's is. And it all had to remain anonymous and unassociated with the Archdiocese or else the other parishes that were closed, in possession of perfectly good structures would be up in arms. This way it had nothing to do with them, they were at the mercy of a wealthy donor.

In the end, I'm just glad the building was saved, but that's how I think it all happened.

What do you think? I'm still going with Matt Dillon as the donor ... all those "Wild Things" residuals ...

Looking for the plane truth

EVG reader M shares this photo that he took last night around 7 in the sky over the East Village...

It's a little grainy... but you can clearly make out two planes... M first asked if we had heard anything about two planes. We had not. "I guess it was nothing...or at least nothing we'll ever hear about."

True.

Here's a narrative from M: "They were both flying in the same western direction, with the trailing plane gaining on the front plane. When I lost sight of them they couldn't have been more than a football field apart. And both were at roughly the same altitude from what I could see I'd guess 10,000 feet, so not a photo op type flight."

Any non-Lady Gaga-related theories? Like, fighter jets?

Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

It didn't take long for the conspiracy theorists to say what IF yesterday's fire turns out to be suspicious ... after all, 14th Street and Avenue A is prime real estate ... and many of the storefronts along this stretch of single-level businesses have been for rent for months and months...

As I noted last summer: "This area on 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is ripe for development. So when when the 'space available' signs went up last summer (2008)...Hello Marc Jacobs! Hello huge Chase branch!'"



Well... according to the Post, the fire started at Pete's-a-Pizza, where a welder was working on a fire-access door. There, his welding torch apparently set some grease on fire. And that was it.

Anyway, Rainbow took over a big space here last July.




The area here also falls outside the East Village/Lower East Side Rezoning ... Noted one reader, "a nice fat dorm here would solve NYU's missing square footage."

Anyway, I'm not suggesting that anything happened here aside from a terrible, accidental fire that destroyed four local businesses... but, it is something to think about... and we've been around long enough to see the unthinkable happen... luxury hotels on the Bowery? An NYU dorm popping up at the site of a venerable pool hall/concert venue//club?

Meanwhile, I've been told that the owners of Stuyvesant Grocery do have insurance. No word just yet on what their plans are. I meant to add that I hope all the businesses will be able to rebuild and reopen here.

The dog days of summer

This past weekend, I walked by that new apartment building going up on 13th Street near Third Avenue. It was boarded up; no activity going on...

After seeing the attack-dog sign, I knocked on the plywood. Made some noise. Threw a rock. No barking. Nothing. Perhaps it was the dog's day off. Or, given the economy, maybe one attack dog has to work several different sites during the weekend. Or, given that it was about 500 degrees out, and there was no one around to give the dog fresh water...Or maybe there never has been a dog on site...

Conspiracies: Where are all the fliers?

Last night, I saw several fliers around the neighborhood for the July 11 protest at 47 E. 3rd St. When I went by where the fliers had been (dramatic pause), they were gone! It's possible, of course, that the fliers were removed by local shopkeepers or people interested in going or neatniks. Or! Someone is purposefully taking them down so that no one knows about the protest...

Which you can read more about in Patrick Hedlund's Mixed Use column in this week's The Villager.