East Village is No. 1 in Lower Manhattan for garbage, noise and rodent complaints, study finds

[EVG file photo of 6th Street]

DNAInfo has the results of a RentHop study tracking 311 complaints in six Lower Manhattan neighborhoods.

Here's how this neighborhood stacks up vs. No. 2 Chinatown:

East Village: 680.3 garbage complaints and 572.9 rodent complaints per square mile, 75.5 noise complaints per 1,000 residents

Chinatown: 486.5 garbage complaints and 344.2 rodent complaints per square mile, 47.8 noise complaints per 1,000 residents

You can find an interactive map and more results from the survey here.

Vandalized MCA mural blacked out

As previously reported, someone destroyed the MCA tribute mural on East Seventh Street near First Avenue on Saturday night.

@cramcept, who created the previous two MCA murals, painted over this yesterday. He says that he will eventually create something new featuring MCA here.

The mural arrived last May 4, on the third anniversary of Adam Yauch's death. Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, died of cancer on May 4 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
There's a new MCA in town

Someone vandalized the MCA mural on 7th Street

Pommes Frites opens today in new home on MacDougal Street

[Image via Twitter]

Former East Village mainstay Pommes Frites, destroyed in the deadly Second Avenue gas explosion in March 2015, reopened today in its new MacDougal Street location.

The New York Times spoke with tearful co-owner Suzanne Levinson:

“Reopening is extremely poignant for me,” Ms. Levinson said. “But it doesn’t change what happened. The day that the building collapsed, I did not mourn the loss of my business. I haven’t mourned the loss of my business for one day. It’s just a business.” She added: “When I think about what happened to us, I don’t think about us, I think about what happened to the young men.”

She bowed her head and her shoulders heaved with sobs. The two young men, Mr. Locón and Mr. Figueroa, she said, are constantly on her mind.

“I don’t want it to be an opening with fireworks and fanfare,” she continued after a pause. “We are insignificant compared to the impact this had, compared to what happened to the families and loved ones. We’re French fries.”

They will be running with limited staff and hours for the next two weeks, per the Pommes Frites Facebook page.

The new location is at 128 MacDougal St. between Bleecker and West Third Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
With space too expensive in the East Village, Pommes Frites will reopen on MacDougal Street

After 98 years in business, Surma Books & Music is closing

Jeremiah Moss first heard the rumor on Friday ... and DNAinfo confirmed the news later: Surma Books & Music will close some time next month at 11 E. Seventh St. after 98 years in business. The Ukrainian speciality shop's third-generation owner, Markian Surmach, declined to comment further.


[Photo from 2013 by James Maher]

We featured Surmach in an Out and About in the East Village in May 2013. Here's an excerpt of that interview:

This store was founded in 1918 by my grandfather, who came through Ellis Island in 1910. The neighborhood was very different. It was very Eastern European and more solidly Ukrainian than it is now.

I was born in this neighborhood and lived here until I was 6, when we moved up to Rockland Country. And I moved back here when I was 18 for college and such. But because of the shop here and being a child in this family you were recruited to work every free moment that you had. Me and my sister spent almost every weekend in the shop growing up. So I was always in and out of the city most of the time.

I moved to Colorado for 15 years and lived a very different life. The objective of some people who live here is how to get out, so I moved and then I was brought back in again. My dad passed away [in 2003] and I got the call, “Okay, what are we gonna do now,” so I came back. I live a couple blocks away now. Moving back has been an adjustment but I love New York and I love the shop.

In the beginning the store catered to those who didn’t speak a lick of English, to help them assimilate into New York life. My grandfather was catering to people who needed virtually everything. It was like a PC Richards, in a way. The old Gramophone that’s up in the corner of the shop was cutting-edge technology at the time. That’s what he was selling. He even sold washing machines. You name it and he was selling it — everything that people needed to live in New York.

The Surmach family owns the building here near Cooper Square. It is rumored to be in the process of being sold.

Previously

103 St. Mark's Place sells for $11.5 million

The 6-story building between Avenue A and First Avenue has a new owner.

An EVG reader who lives in the building learned of the transaction via a note under the door on Friday.

The Commercial Observer noted the deal Friday afternoon ... reporting that Allied XVII LLC (with a Great Neck, N.Y., address) paid Adria Realty Investment Association $11.5 million.

Per the Observer:

The building ... has 21 apartments and two retail spaces, both occupied by a dentist’s office, with a lease expiring next year. Only six of the residential units are free-market and the rest are rent-stablized with average monthly rents of approximately $1,500.

“The seller is a local businessman who has owned the building since the early 1980s,” said Lev Mavashev of Alpha Realty, who represented the buyer in the deal. “He is planning for retirement and decided to capitalize in this market. The buyer is a local private investor with numerous holdings in the area. When I called the buyer on this deal, he immediately recognized the opportunity to purchase a building with plenty of unrealized potential and jumped on it, especially in this location.”

Mr. Mavashev said the buyer wanted to “add to his holdings in the area.”

The dental office had been on the rental market. The photo here is from March...


[Photo by Steven]

The dentist, Elan Kauffman, had been accused of alleged insurance fraud in this Fox 5 report from 2011.

The other retail tenant is Take Care, a natural healing center and spa with locations in Malibu and Montauk (per their website).

Meanwhile, per the EVG reader on the new owner: "I haven't heard or read anything either positive or negative about them, so I'm not sure if need to be in a state of super alarm (you know, start getting money orders for my rent checks and having them sent certified to the LLC's address — a P.O. Box! — etc.)"

Sixth Street Community Center CSA launches for the summer/fall

Here are more details via the Center's website:

The Sixth Street CSA has been in existence since 1996, and our members consistently have access to some of the freshest and best quality produce available. From June to November, our partner farms, Hepworth Farms in Ulster County, New York, and Catalpa Ridge Farm in Sussex County, New Jersey, provide over 200 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

At Sixth Street, we believe that all neighborhood residents should have access to fresh, organic, local produce, regardless of their level of income. Our CSA operates on a sliding scale model, and member fees are determined based on the income level of your household. This sliding scale model is made possible in part thanks to a generous grant from Wholesome Wave.

CSA pick-ups are every Tuesday from 5pm-9pm at Sixth Street Community Center, located at 638 E Sixth Street between Avenue B and C.

Learn more about how to take part by visiting the Center's website or calling (212) 677-1863.

The retail space at 20 Avenue A no longer looks like a bank branch

The Chase branch at 20 Avenue A closed last Nov. 12.

Workers have now gutted the ground-floor interior at the corner of East Second Street... showing the space's potential for a new tenant...



As we noted a few weeks ago, there's a new broker for the space. (The third by our count since last June.)

According to the listing at Winick Realty Group, all uses will be considered. The rent is available upon request. Anyway, it's a big space — 4,300 square feet on the ground floor. (There's also a basement.)

Back in February, the listing via Town featured renderings showing two wine bars in this location.

The 62-unit apartment building here exchanged hands in the summer of 2014 for $26.2 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The retail-wine bar possibilities for the former Chase space on Avenue A and East 2nd Street

Week in Grieview

[Members of the Alice Farley Dance Theater during the Dance Parade yesterday. Photo by Steven]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Residents at 444 E. 13th St. will receive a $1 million settlement over claims of harassment by Raphael Toledano (Wednesday)

ABC No Rio set to close next month ahead of demoliton for new building (Tuesday)

First look at the all-new 26 Avenue B (Monday)

Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel "will cut its inpatient capacity" (Wednesday)

A new sign on Avenue A from Donald J. Trump, President of the United States (Monday ... Saturday)

The return of the night heron! (Wednesday)

Spotting Christo and Dora's latest offspring in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

Will a car-free 14th Street make life more bearable during (and after) the L train renovations? (Tuesday)

The Tang bringing Chinese noodles and wraps to 120 First Ave. (Thursday)

The Ignited Lighter Project at Exit9 (Tuesday)

Rolled ice cream for Seventh Street (Wednesday)

The Neptune's new breakfast special to go on First Avenue (Friday)

On this Urban Etiquette Sign, grease is the word (Wednesday)

Reader report: Have you heard Verizon test its emergency generator on Second Avenue? (Friday)

Cava Grill coming soon to Fourth Avenue (Monday)

Guaco Taco now open on East Second Street (Friday)

Small kitchen fire temporarily closes McDonald's on First Avenue (Thursday)

Historic 25 Bleecker St. one step closer to being demolished for a 6-story building (Thursday)

Thor Equities is the new owner of Patricia Field's former retail condo on the Bowery (Wednesday)

Donald Trump dog poop bags (Tuesday)

Someone vandalized the MCA mural on 7th Street

This happened last night next to Abraco on Seventh Street near First Avenue...



The mural, by @cramcept, arrived last May 4, on the third anniversary of Adam Yauch's death. Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, died of cancer on May 4 2012. He was 47.

Updated 10:43 a.m.

Here is a photo of the person who may have been responsible...


[Photo via @porchettaskittles]

Previously on EV Grieve:
There's a new MCA in town

Noted

And who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Outside Tompkins Square Library on East 10th Street this morning...