Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Brother Rasheim
Occupation: Volunteer
Location: Tompkins Square Park
Time: Noon on Tuesday, March 22

I’m from the city. I came around here in the 1980s. I was homeless and I was checking out some church and the Bowery Mission, some resources, and I used to do volunteer work. It was beautiful. It’s not a good thing being homeless, but for a young man like I was at that time, I was actually learning about the world. I was in the street, but a lot of people told me their stories, so it was very educational, brother.

This community is just as powerful as Harlem. This is a rich multicultural place. This park was a melting pot for many cultures. So every time I come to get this pantry from this beautiful church, I never want to forget where I come from. Trinity is a powerful church. It’s been a soup kitchen for many years, where you can come. They’ve been doing that for over 20 years now, probably more. Every time I come here, it’s actually me walking into a whole historical place.

I was here for the riot that happened. I was here that night. It was pure chaos. I saved a couple peoples’ lives who were throwing bottles at the police. A policeman was going to retaliate and I just yelled out, 'Noooooo! Please!' He snapped out of it, and put his gun in his holster. It was a whole big thing that night. It was horrible.

This was the home, if you want to talk about Woodstock, if you want to talk about Harlem, there was a powerful history here. There were a lot of things that were done here that were beautiful, that brought community. There are a couple community gardens that have been here forever. The Charlie Parker House is right here. That’s where he used to live. That’s a historical landmark right there, brother. A lot of jazz artists came down here from Harlem and did a lot of powerful things here. People used to be out here at three, four, five in the morning playing jazz music and singing love songs from the old 1960s. This is a beautiful melting pot.

And there’s Diane. Diane feeds the homeless here and she helped a lot of people. She has a food ministry, where she comes right out in the park on certain days. She comes here and preaches in this park to the homeless. She was part of the spiritual reform here. She’s a powerful person. She was out here in the early 1980s, preaching when it was rough in this park, telling people to get their lives together.

As a matter of fact, she told me to get myself together. I met her 25 years ago. She told me the truth. I never forgot her for that. She said, ‘You’re a very good, nice young man,’ but she told me I had a very nasty attitude. That hurt my feelings, you know, but she told me the truth. She told me that I was a young man and I had to work on my attitude. She was telling the truth. I have had a lot of issues that I worked on with family and stuff like that, and I worked on it now, and now I’m getting ready to go to my brother’s wedding ceremony in about two weeks, so I got my family in my life.

And me, I’m Brother man, I learn from everybody. I help everybody. And that’s pretty much who I am. So I come here to get this little beautiful pantry here, just to remember where I came from. And soon I’m going to be starting my food ministry, in the same way all of these beautiful people are out here. I’m going to be doing everything. I’m going to be giving referrals to shelters and pantries. I’m going to be feeding people. I’m waiting on some paperwork to come through, so I can receive donations. You have to have things in place, your documents, in order for restaurants and the Salvation Army to donate stuff. So I’m waiting on that. It’s a beautiful place. Life is beautiful.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

'Concrete blowout' at Broadway condo project damages neighboring building

At 809 Broadway, where workers are adding a 10-story addition to the former Blatt Billiards building, a "concrete blowout" during construction on March 11 has caused "extensive damage" to the adjacent property where residents have been forced from their homes, according to city records.



According to the DOB, there are four Stop Work Order complaints for 809 Broadway, including one for "work does not conform to approved construction documents."



Next door, at this building between East 11th Street and East 12th Street, a a Partial Vacate Order remains in effect. Residents have not been allowed back into the building since the construction accident. (City documents show that contractors were admitted inside to remove personal effects for the tenants.) In addition, the 7-Eleven on the ground floor remains closed.





Property records show that Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate is the owner of the damaged 813 Broadway, where the rentals feature four and five bedrooms that range in price from $7,000 to $10,000 a month, via Streeteasy listings.

A neighbor says that residents at 813 won't likely be able to return for at least two more weeks.

809 Broadway was the longtime home until 2013 to Blatt Billiards, a pool table manufacturer that had owned and occupied the building since 1972. Blatt principals Ronald Blatt and Bruce Roeder reportedly sold the building to a buyer who was identified only as 809 Broadway Holding LLC.

The Commercial Observer noted last July that 809 Broadway Holding LLC "is a partnership of three private investors led by its principal Ariel Rom." New York-based IDM Capital is the project's development manager, per the Observer.

There are approved permits on file to boost the height of the 55-foot building to 199 feet, adding 10 stories to the existing five-story structure. In total, the building will house 10 luxury condos, including one duplex and one triplex penthouse on the top floors.

Here are renderings via ODA-Architecture...





The construction incident at 809 Broadway sounds similar to what occurred in 2012 at 133 Third Ave., where workers accidentally sent wet concrete oozing through a wall and into an the NYU dorm next door on East 14th Street. The owner of the building that NYU leases the dorm from subsequently sued to halt the project. The 16-story residential building has remained dormant since the accident. Recently approved amendments to work permits suggest that constructions will resume again here.

Thank you to EVG reader Mitchell Schneider for the tip and photos

Laundromat-replacing laundromat closing on East 10th Street

Closing signs are up now at Le Pressing, the laundromat/dry cleaner at 204 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Le Pressing opened in early 2014 ... taking over the space from Mimi and her son, who operated a laundromat here for many years. They had to close in 2013 after a rent increase.

According to the sign, Le Pressing will close after the business day on March 31.

H/T to Blue Glass for the photo

Report: Comptroller Scott Stringer looking at city's decision to lift deed at the former Rivington House

[EVG file photo]

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is examining the de Blasio administration's decision to lift deed restrictions on the Rivington House, a move that netted the nursing home operator a $72 million profit off the property's sale to condo developers, The Wall Street Journal reports. (Subscription required.)

Per the Journal:

In early 2015, the Allure Group, a for-profit nursing care provider, purchased the building for $28 million, and months later paid the city $16.15 million to remove the restrictions that limited the building’s use, records show.

About three months after the city lifted the restrictions, Allure sold the building for $116 million to a residential developer that plans to convert it into luxury condominiums, over the objections of some community leaders.

Officials in the mayor’s office and at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the agency that lifted the deed restriction, had understood at the time that the property would be turned into a for-profit nursing home, Austin Finan, a spokesman for Mr. de Blasio, said Tuesday.

[The Wall Street Journal]

Here's more from The Lo-Down, who has been following this story, from back on Feb. 29.

The building is at 45 Rivington St., which overlooks Sara D. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What next then for 45 Rivington St.?

Report: Developers buy former LES nursing facility for luxury housing

Afternoon break in Tompkins Square Park

Photo today by Grant Shaffer

Report: M9 stop on Avenue C gets light after 7 years in the dark

The city's first solar-powered bus shelter is now in place at the southbound M9 bus stop on Avenue C and East 16th Street, DNAinfo reports.

The shelter has been dark since 2009, when a Con Ed crew disconnected lights from its power source, according to a Community Board 6 member.

Per the article:

Residents have avoided using the stop for years and, in 2013, a [Con Ed] truck fatally struck 88-year-old Stella Huang as she crossed East 16th Street, a tragedy that many blamed on the area’s poor lighting...

As for the solar lights, the city may install a similar set-up at other unlit bus shelters around NYC.

Image via Google Street View

BP station on East Houston and Lafayette closes April 14

A 7-story boutique office building is in the works for the parcel of land on East Houston and Lafayette that currently houses the always-busy BP station as well as the Irish pub Puck Fair.

Puck Fair will close for good this coming Sunday. (The goodbye party is Friday.)

Soon after, the BP station will shut down... officially on April 14...



Per the sign, BP is positioning this as a move... to the existing BP on East 23rd Street at the FDR. (The BP also closed at Second Avenue and East First Street to make way for a new development.)

While the closing date was only recently announced, the closure was a foregone conclusion. In fact, the demolition permit was filed in December 2014, per city records.

As for 300 Lafayette, once completed, the new building will encompass 80,000 square feet of "flagship retail and boutique office" ...


[Rendering by Cookfox]

So you have a few weeks left to fill up at the pumps, pick up some bagels at the BP shop...



... and take in the unobstructed view of Kendall Jenner at the Calvin Klein wall across East Houston...



Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

Have you seen the glass tower in the works for Lafayette and East Houston?

Filling up: the status of 2 former East Village gas stations

Report: Boutique office building on East Houston and Lafayette at BP site a go

319 E. 6th St. is for sale; conversion to single-family residence a possibility

319 E. Sixth St., a four-story townhouse between First Avenue and Second Avenue, is new to the market.

Here is the listing via Corcoran:

The house is approximately 4762 SF and consists of 3 expansive apartments with high-end finishes. Unit 1 is duplexed on the garden level and parlor floor and includes an excavated basement on the lower level. Unit 2 and 3 are floor-through 1.5B/2B + HO apartments on the 3rd and 4th floors. Features include gated front yard that opens to contemporary designed interiors with up to 12 ft. ceiling height.



Amenities are numerous, with superb South light and views of a quiet tree-lined street and peaceful rear garden. The property is equipped with multi-zone heat and AC; radiant heat floors; white tile and marble baths; 5" Siberian white oak floors, casement style steel and glass French doors; recessed lighting; and newly restored mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that are meticulously maintained. The building is outfitted with a video intercom security system, and is topped off with an irresistible surround-view roof-top terrace.

Certificate of Occupancy is for three-unit but can be converted to single-family residence.

Asking price: $7.95 million.

The building last changed hands for $4.35 million in September 2006, according to public records. It appears the current owner is 319 East Sixth Street, Inc., a corporate trust with a Wilmington, Del., address.

Images via Corcoran

Report: An interest in keeping the Associated on East 14th Street

[EVG file photo]

As you may have read, the Associated Supermarket on West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue faces a likely closure after the building's landlord served the market with a $168,000 monthly rent hike. Local elected officials and community members have been rallying to help save the market.

The owners of the Chelsea location also run the Associated in Stuy Town on East 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. However, as previously reported, this store also faces an uncertain future.

The Town & Village Blog talked with principal owner Joseph Falzon about the situation at the East 14th Street Associated.

Falzon said that he and the other three owners are still working with Blackstone to come to an agreement for the Stuyvesant Town Associated before their lease expires for that store in 2017. No further information was available about a possible lease for the location but a representative for Blackstone confirmed that management is committed to having an affordable grocery store in that space.

Falzon also confirmed that the new owner seemed interested in keeping the store there and he and the owners had a good meeting with Blackstone at the beginning of the year.

Falzon, who, along with his partners, also operates the Avenue C Associated, had wanted confirmation of a lease renewal so that he could renovate the store.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Associated owners not having any luck shopping for a lease renewal on East 14th Street (34 comments)

Petition drive underway to help save the Stuy Town Associated on East 14th Street

Report: New Stuy Town owner pledges to keep a grocery story on East 14th Street, but it may not be Associated

The former Contrada space remains on the market, though now with less key money

The for rent sign arrived at the former Contrada, the Mediterranean-influenced restaurant on Second Avenue at East Fourth Street, last July.

At there time, the asking asking rent was $16,000 with $200,000 key money.

Now a tipster tells us that the space has a new broker... with a new, slightly higher rent ($16,500 a month) but less in key money ($85,000), according to a new listing.

The prime corner space has seen several concepts in recent years, including Calliope and Belcourt.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Contrada has not been open lately

So long to the 1st Monday of spring...

Photo this evening via Bobby Williams

Noted

File under #BuckWild along Avenue A...

Updated 6:31 p.m.

Oh, OK... also on Avenue A...