More photos from tonight's First Avenue fire

Thanks to jdx for these photos. Witnesses said the fire started around 7:30-7:40... It was under control by 8... The fire was between Second Street and Third Street. Previously.

EV Grieve reader Anna sent along the above shot from tonight's fire on First Avenue... She saw a bus on the scene taking displaced residents to a shelter for the evening...

Breaking: Fire on First Avenue

Dozens of fire trucks are on First Avenue between Second and Third Street. The fire seems to be under control. A paramedic on the scene didn't think there were any injuries. One witness said the fire started on the roof. More soon.

Middle of Avenue A, 5 p.m., Dec. 22

Where did you all go?

Joe Strummer, Dec. 22, 2002

Thanks to East Village Radio for the reminder... today marks the eighth anniversary of Joe Strummer's death...

You can watch the video that includes the mural's creation here... (Someone disabled the embedding...)

Meanwhile...

When trees are cold

High noon on Avenue A

...on such a winter's day... photo courtesy of jdx ... see more here.

Census 2010 and the East Village

As I first reported, the Census Bureau released data galore yesterday as part of their decennial look at America's demographics.

Oh, nevermind all that! (I made a mistake about the Census info — see the comments.) So I guess that I've been browsing local date from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009.

Back to the original post...

And The Times has this amazing interactive map ... every city, every block in America... You can search by zip code... I typed in 10009 ... here are a few screengrabs for ...

Race/ethnicity:


Households with income over $200,000:


Median monthly rent:


I randomly picked census tract 2602, roughly Ninth Street to Sixth Street, from Avenue B to Avenue D... the median monthly rent is $1,576 — up 46 percent since 2000. Census tract 2202's median monthly rent is $1,647 — up 57 percent since 2000. (The tract looks to include Second and Third Street from Avenue B and Avenue D...)

Anyway, I haven't had much more time to investigate the area in greater detail.... Here's the link. One word of caution: This interactive tool will cut down your productivity today by 89 percent over yesterday.

427 E. 12th St. back from the dead?

So that's what you look like! On Monday, workers removed the long-standing sidewalk shed in front of 427. E. 12th St. across from the East Side Community School...



And now...





There aren't any new permits for this space on file with the DOB. (In fact, all the work permits here have long expired.) Plans originally called for a six-story, 12-unit rental. When we last checked in here, back in November 2009, Massey-Knakal had just listed the pit space for $2.3 million. That listing is no longer active. One neighbor figures the presence of the porta-potty (Johnny on the Spot? Loader Up?) means the crew is there to clean out the hole...

6 East Village buildings part of $276 million portfolio

Massey Knakal is handling the sale of 26 multi-family "investment properties" throughout Manhattan. In total, there are 595 apartments, 22 retail stores and approximately 350,000 square feet. The properties can be sold individually in 16 different offerings, per the MK site.

The East Village buildings for sale in this parcel are:

• 410-418 East 13th Street
• 432-434 East 13th Street
• 330 East 6th Street
• 40-44 Avenue B
• 73-75 East 3rd Street
• 221 First Avenue

(Seems to me that most of these were already on the market here...) Combined there are 16 buildings, for a total cost of $276 million. If you want all the gory details, then you can download this 800-page PDF.

I particularly like the photo for 73-75 E. Third St. Happy that the photo includes some local color from the Hells Angels HQ next door at No. 77.

Window shopping on Fulton Street

DOB 111 still on the block

Yesterday, Eater listed a slew of neighborhood restaurants for sale... including Tonda on East Fourth Street and the shuttered Munchies on Essex...

Here's one other eatery on the market: Michael Bao Huynh's DOB 111 on St. Mark's Place near Avenue A ...



According to the listing, rent is $6,250, with $125,000 key money... The eatery opened back in March... they were turned down for a beer-wine license in the spring....

Fork in the Road first pointed out that DOB 111 was on the block this past July. Huynh denied plans to shutter DOB. Via his publicist, he told Fork in the Road "that the spaces may have been listed simply to test the real estate waters."

We noted last month that DOB had been closed for a few too many days for comfort... and I still haven't talked with anyone who has ever eaten here....

Paper jam at 34 Avenue A

The windows at 34 Avenue A, most previously home to Aces & Eights, were papered over this past weekend...




We're not sure what's in store now, if anything. Owner Jevan Damadian wanted to reimagine the space as an upscale tapas joint, by CB3/SLA said otherwise back in November. Per one Avenue A resident with some knowledge of this block what's going on here: "I figured either remodeling without paperwork or trying not to get robbed. I would also vote for skeeball speakeasy."

Tree stump celebrates birthday

Somewhere along Cooper Square the other day.

A tribute to Ruta

On East 10th Street via EV Grieve reader Bobby Williams.

Developing story! Someone dares enter the haunted house on East 13th Street

Last month, we had that great discussion on the possibly haunted and definitely abandoned building at 222 E. 13th St. The building has been sealed up for years.... until now....



EV Grieve reader Adam walked by minutes ago... and the door is open!



To be continued...

Previously on EV Grieve:
A haunted house on East 13th Street?

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Christmas tree vendor hit with $1,500 fine at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery (DNAinfo)

"There's been an alarming 16 percent spike in vehicle and bicycle collisions over the past year that investigators blame in large part on rogue cyclists who have turned city streets into demolition derbies." (New York Post)

Comparing the new and old Fedora signs (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

190 Bowery, circa 1905 (BoweryBoogie)

Sassy holiday gifts that we like (Slum Goddess)

Faustina closing in the Cooper Square Hotel (Diner's Journal via Grub Street)

East Fourth Street's Tonda on the market (Eater)

And today marks the three-year anniversary of EV Grieve. As always, thank you for being part of this. (EV Grieve)

With that, I introduce my new site...

There are now 194 Starbucks in Manhatan

News releases from the EV Grieve inbox...

The Center for an Urban Future, a think tank based in Manhattan, today published its third annual ranking of national retailers that have the most stores in New York City.

This year’s report reveals that that despite the sluggish economy, more national retailers have expanded their presence in the five boroughs over the past year than those that have reduced their number of stores here. The report shows that every borough registered a net increase in national chain stores during the past year, with Brooklyn experiencing the greatest percentage increase of any borough. And for the third year running, Dunkin Donuts comes in as the national retailer with the most stores in the city. Dunkin Donuts now has 210 more stores in the five boroughs than Starbucks, the retailer that came in third on our list.

Overall, the 280 national retailers listed in our 2009 report now have 4.1 percent more stores in the five boroughs than a year ago — increasing from 6,335 stores in 2009 to 6,595 in 2010. Thirty nine percent of those retailers have expanded their footprint in the city during that time, while 20 percent now have fewer stores and 41 percent have the same number of locations. Only one of the chains on last year’s list closed all of their New York City locations this past year, compared to four that shut down between our 2008 and 2009 reports.

Brooklyn had the largest percentage gain of any borough over the past year. The retailers counted in our 2009 report now have 1,325 stores in Brooklyn, up from 1,258 last year — a 5.3 percent gain. Manhattan had the next largest percentage gain (5.1 percent), followed by the Bronx (4.7 percent), Queens (1.9 percent) and Staten Island (1.5 percent).

To make our annual ranking of national retailers as accurate as possible, we add new retailers to our list every year — some of which have entered the New York market in the past year other which we inadvertently left of the list before. This year’s report includes 26 new national retailers, from Red Mango (14 stores) to Lego (2 stores). Overall, this year’s report includes 306 retailers, which have a total of 6,703 stores in the city.

This year, there are 13 retailers with at least 100 stores in the five boroughs—up from 12 in both 2009 and 2008. The new entry is T-Mobile, which now has 117 stores in the city, up from 96 in 2009 and 82 in 2008.

Dunkin Donuts is still far and away the largest national retailer in New York. It now has 466 stores in the city, up from 429 last year and 341 in 2008. Though Dunkin Donuts is only the fourth largest national retail chain in Manhattan — with 115 stores in the borough, it trails Starbucks (194), Subway (163) and Duane Reade (161) — it has the most locations in each of the other four boroughs.

Despite its 2009 announcement that it would close some of its New York City locations, Starbucks actually has 11 more stores in the five boroughs this year. It moved up to third place in the rankings, from fourth in 2008 and 2009. Duane Reade climbed up one notch, to fourth place, while McDonald’s has fallen to fifth from its third rank in 2008 and 2009; the burger chain has 17 fewer chains than last year (from 258 to 241 stores).

T-Mobile wasn’t the only cell phone store to increase significantly over the past year. Metro PCS grew from 7 locations in 2009 to 35 this year, a staggering 400 percent increase, while Sprint (from 24 to 33) and Verizon Wireless (45 to 50) also registered notable gains.

Find a PDF of the whole shebangy report here.

Image via.

Bowery Poetry Club to get literary cafe, roast beef

The Bowery Poetry Club has a new tenant...



According to a partner in the deal, the plan is for a literary cafe that also will serve a Massachusetts-style roast beef sandwich. The roast beef will be via Harrison's in North Andover, Mass., which gets mostly rave reviews on Yelp. This will be the city's first Harrison's outpost. Tentative opening date: Feb. 1.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bookstore-cafe wanted for the Bowery Poetry Club

Shockers: Former Village Fabrics has a new tenant, and it isn't an upscale eatery or bank branch

High rents apparently doomed Village Fabrics, which closed on First Avenue and 11th Street back at the end of the summer... We all figured something Momofukuey would take over the corner spot... Well! EV Grieve First Avenue correspondent Blue Glass brings us the news of the new tenant:




A consignment shop called Eleven... with the tagline "where style is only the beginning." I'll take it.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Closing sale at Village Fabrics

Village Fabrics to close next month

Papa John's decides to rename the East Village

The reader who passed this along also notes that Papa John's delivers their pizzas via cars...

Party guy Dr. Doom bringing his hedge funders and models to East First Street penthouse

I meant to mention this from Friday... Bloomberg reported that Nouriel Roubini, the NYU economist (dubbed Dr. Doom) who predicted the global financial crisis, bought that swanky $5.5 million, 3,700-square-foot home at 6 E. First St. that I featured back in June ...



This place had been on the market for nearly four years... At one point, the three-bedroom apartment with a custom walnut wet bar was renting for $25,000 a month.

Maybe Dr. Doom should have rented it instead?

Felix Salmon at Reuters did the rent-vs-buy calculation using that handy-dandy Buy-Rent Calculator at the Times. You can read Felix's assessment here. (Too many numbers for me...)

Anyway, The Wall Street Journal notes that the Doominator owns a loft on Leonard Street... "The apartment was famous for Mr. Roubini's parties, which drew hedge-fund managers and models and occasional coverage in the gossip columns."

Forbes had more on the party angle:

"Rumors of Roubini being a party animal have been wide-spread, reaching vast corners of the internet. Internet gossipers have hit back at Roubini for liking to party, considering him sort of hypocritical given his serious, quasi-painful professional demeanor. Roubini is said to have partied with Russian oligarch Roman Abramnovich, owner of English soccer team Chelsea FC, at St. Baart’s alongside celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, and Prince. Daily Intel even reports, with pictures, that Roubini’s “walls were ‘indented with plaster vulvas,’” at his current Tribeca apartment."

No word just yet if the plaster vulvas — which seem so 2007 — will make the trip to his new home. Read more about his party side on Gawker. [Bottom photo via Gawker]

Previously on EV Grieve:
After nearly 4 years, First Street penthouse finally in contract

Upright Citizens Brigade's future home on Avenue A now has stools in bags, so to speak

Just noting the continued progress here on Avenue A near Third Street. Those bar stools may cause a lot of cargo shorts owners to lose stuff out of their multiple-pocketed cargo shorts. (OK, so multiple-pocketed cargo shorts is redundant.) Hope they have a big lost and found.

Previously.