Showing posts with label mystery lot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery lot. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Marketing the Mystery Lot

So you know developers are turning the long-empty Mystery Lot off 14th/13th Streets near Third Avenue into condos... The Real Deal reported yesterday afternoon that the developers "hired Jacqueline Urgo, president of the Marketing Developers, to promote the property, which is slated for groundbreaking this summer."

Jackie! (Jac? JU?) have WE got some marketing ideas for you! Let's talk! [motions with pinky-thumb to ear as if holding a phone].


More on this later. Meanwhile, the future Mystery Lot address is officially 211 E. 13th St. And another tidbit from Real Deal:

The project will feature a mix of studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, plus 4,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space on East 14th Street. Amenities include a gym, lounge and roof deck with an outdoor kitchen. Buyers will have a chance to purchase private storage and roof terraces.

And on a clear day, you'll be able to smell bacon.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Fishing for rodents at the Mystery Lot


Work continues at the Mystery Lot. Next up! Baiting.

This past Thursday the Post confirmed what's coming here — an 82-unit, eight-story development, which should break ground this summer for a late 2013 opening. "Prices are still to be determined for the project’s studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom units," according to the Post.

By the way, with this new building on the way, you'll need to find somewhere else to dump your Christmas holiday trees.


Thursday, January 19, 2012

[Updated] This feature should get a 'Rise' out of you


We interrupt our regular programming to bring you highlights from today's cover story in the Post's Home section titled "Rise in the East" (heh)


... and they have details on some of these stalled developments, empty parcels and mystery lots that we've been watching though the years ...

Should we start with the bad news or the worse news?

Basically, there's a lot of building here on the horizon. Like!

• The Mystery Lot on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.
This space will become an 82-unit, eight-story development, which should break ground this summer for a late 2013 opening. "Prices are still to be determined for the project’s studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom units," according to the Post.

[Pause]


The article also mentions the developments coming to 74-84 Third Ave. (part of which once belonged to Nevada Smith's) and 316-318 E. Third St., which is awaiting demolition to become an eight story, 33-unit apartment building. Developer David Amirian told the Post that he will offer only studios and one bedroom units.

"The market right now is to build rental. You want to build affordable housing for young people," he said.

Here are photos of the two from the Post.


Hmm, 74-84 Third Ave. looks particularly... ENORMOUS. (I will miss the sun while walking by here.)

A few other passages:

• "[The East Village is] young and up-and-coming, and there are a lot of young professionals who live there and a lot of students and a lot of grad students," Amirian says. "We are definitely looking for other parcels in the neighborhood."

Up-and-coming? Don't you think those days have up and came? Or something.

• Of course, some of the East Village’s rental buildings could eventually go condo. The idea of $2,000-per-square-foot penthouses has to have developers considering the possibility.

Of course!

More on some of the other news items here later when I regain consciousness.

As the Observer put it in their coverage of the Post feature:

In short, the former bastions of East Village grit are giving way to rental buildings where parents will pay for their NYU student to live comfortably and drink heavily.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Mystery Lot discards its holiday tree


And how it looked just a few weeks ago during the annual Mystery Lot Christmas Spectacular at Mystery Lot Center (14 Rock to locals) ...

Friday, December 30, 2011

The digging begins at the Mystery Lot

EV Grieve reader Spencer Elzey sends us these photos this morning from inside the Mystery Lot from the 14th Street side...



Perhaps digging for the new pool?

Previously.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Today in the Mystery Lot


Per Goggla: "The engines are idling, but there's no one in sight. Gate is unlocked...I'm so tempted to go in and play with the machinery."

Previously.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Still drilling at the Mystery Lot


@robbyohara passes along a photo from The Mystery Lot, where work has continued all week...

In October, The Real Deal reported that developer Charles Blaichman paid $33.2 million for the site. As Curbed noted at the time, Blaichman was a partner with Jay-Z and Andre Balazs on the hotel that never happened on West 14th Street; and as a partner with Balazs on a doomed project on West 21st Street.

A commenter on our last Mystery Lot post wrote, "this is going to be a condo. it was purchased with a new jersey developer who builds condos."

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Drilling resumes at the Mystery Lot

Back in August, drillers were drilling away at the Mystery Lot (link here) ...

Today, the drillers are resuming the drilling here off 14th Street and Third Avenue!

[Courtesy of @salim]

What horrible fate awaits this long-empty lot? It very well may be Balazsed. In October, The Real Deal reported that developer Charles Blaichman paid $33.2 million for the site. As Curbed noted at the time, Blaichman was a partner with Jay-Z and Andre Balazs on the hotel that never happened on West 14th Street; and as a partner with Balazs on a doomed project on West 21st Street.

Can we expect the Standard East Union Square one day?

And another hotel? Why, there isn't a new hotel within a block of here!

[The incoming Hyatt Union Square on 14th Street and Fourth Avenue, photographed Sunday]

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: That empty lot on 13th Street

Another view of the Mystery Lot

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Subtle changes at the Mystery Lot, kind of; plus, another Ode!

Since The Real Deal reported last week that a developer had purchased the Mystery Lot, we've been getting card, letters and questions about the Mystery Lot.

For instance: Have you noticed any changes at the Lot?

Why yes. There's is a newish lock and chain on one of the gates...


...and the fence along the 13th Street side now has these supporty things ...



Moving forward, we will be camped out at the three units here at the back of 123 Third Ave. with balconies overlooking the site...



Hope that the residents don't mind.

And now, another reader submitted Ode to the Mystery Lot poem, or something. Via Cheeks:

To the tune of Like A Prayer, by Madonna...

The Lot is a mystery
The Monster must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home


Meanwhile, the other day, Off the Grid had a post about a public hanging here back in 1824.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Ode to the Mystery Lot


An inspired (and anonymous) reader sent this along...

O Mystery Lot!

Home to dead bodies
But also morning glories

Used by some as a dumpster
But also bore a fabulous monster

Full of contradiction
Don't let us lose you to construction!

Think you can do better? We'd like to hear it. Or at least read it. In the comments... or via gmail...

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Mystery Lot likely facing a luxurious end

Before it was the Mystery Lot

Wednesday afternoon, The Real Deal reported that developer Charles Blaichman bought the long-vacant Mystery Lot on East 14th Street for $33.2 million.

Seems like a good time to repost an earlier item about the lot's former tenant — The Jefferson Theater. Per Cinema Treasures:

The old Jefferson Theatre opened in 1913 as a B.F. Keith’s vaudeville theater in what is now known as the edge of the East Village. Later the RKO Jefferson, this theater was located at 214 E. 14th Street near Third Avenue. The entrance was a narrow space between two tenement houses with the bulk of the theatre (auditorium) located in 13th Street. The Jefferson operated at least into the 1970’s and was demolished in 2000. Today, the site is filled with bricks and debris from the demolition and the old Jefferson as passed on.

And a few photos of the theater through the years...

[Undated photo by tkmonaghan via Cinema Treasures]

[Undated photo via]

[From 1986. By kencmcintyre via Cinema Treasures]


[Top two photos via Warren G. Harris via Cinema Treasures]

[April 2011 from 13th Street]

Jeremiah has a good bit of Jefferson history here.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Breaking: The Mystery Lot likely facing a luxurious end

Oh no!


The Real Deal is reporting this afternoon that developer Charles Blaichman has purchased the long-vacant Mystery Lot on East 14th Street for $33.2 million. Among other projects, Blaichman teamed with Jay-Z for a boutique hotel/development deal near the High Line that eventually imploded.

Excuse us: We need a minute to compose ourselves.

Previous Mystery Lot coverage here.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Meanwhile at the Mystery Lot, jackhammering!




Very mysterious! Without the sound, you might think they were just, oh, maybe urinating on the wall...

Friday, September 30, 2011

How you can make a personal connection to the Mystery Lot

Ohh! This afternoon outside the Mystery Lot on East 14th Street... looks like some street art shenanigans!



And this sign explains what's going on here...

Monday, September 12, 2011

This morning at the Mystery Lot


Uh-oh! Workers arrived at the scene ... However, well-placed Mystery Lot sources believe the work is being done on the Kiehl's building on the corner of 13th Street and Third Avenue here... and not the Mystery Lot... Photo by Shawn Chittle.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Monday, August 1, 2011

Is this the beginning of the end for the Mystery Lot?

An alarmed EV Grieve reader/Mystery Lot aficionado has noted the arrival of workers testing soil samples to monitor the water level...




Or else someone stole this truck and simply tossed it over the fence? Probably not. In any event, such exploratory drilling is required prior to the start of any construction project. The lot has sat vacant since workers demolished the shell of the old Jefferson Theater in 1999.

Builtgross Associates, a subsidiary of Milstein Properties, owns the property. Anthony Bergamo, vice chairman of executive planning for Milstein Properties, told the Local East Village back in March that they didn't expect anything to happen at this site in the near future.

Previously on EV Grieve:
An appreciation: That empty lot on 13th Street

Another view of the Mystery Lot

Friday, May 27, 2011

Mystery Lot monster leaves before getting annexed by NYU

Our friend Lux Living passes along the following photo with this upsetting news, "It seems the doomed monster of the 13th Street Mystery Lot fame has been beamed back up to his home planet."


[A moment of silence]

In reality, workers who were there to mow the rocks and weeds Tuesday most likely removed the little fellow.

And now, a fond look back...

[Via James and Karla Murray]

And, after a storm...


What is your favorite memory of the Mystery Lot Monster/Alien? Were you suspicious that it never applied for a liquor license? Or become a boutique hotel? Or annexed by NYU?

Previously.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Breaking: Workers enter the Mystery Lot; fate of Monster unknown

@TheDevo alerts us to some people inside the Mystery Lot this morning looking at the fallen monster.


Trouble in paradise?

Likely not! These photos by Adam K suggest that the workers are merely Mowing the Mystery Lot...



We hope that they're only mowing, anyway...