EV Grieve

Monday, May 5, 2014

The Miss Lily's 7A Cafe sidewalk awning is going up

Last Thursday, we got our first glimpse of the new sign at the former 7A space — Miss Lily's 7A Cafe ... this morning, workers here on Avenue A and East Seventh Street have been installing the sidewalk awning...

The new space will apparently be a combo of Melvin's Juice Box and Miss Lily's on West Houston ... mixed with the cafe ambiance of 7A.

Photos today by Shawn Chittle

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some part of 7A will stay in the new 7A's name

Details emerge about what's next for former the 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar spaces

The former 7A will apparently be called Miss Lily's 7A Cafe (27 comments)

Another round of plans to convert the Whitehouse Hostel on the Bowery into a 9-floor hotel

The Whitehouse Hotel, the hostel/flophouse combo on the Bowery, has been on Deathwatch for years now. Dating back to 2008, developer Sam Chang had been trying to convert the property at 338-340 Bowery into a 9- (or 10-) floor hotel.

As The Commercial Observer reported this past Friday afternoon, Chang is now selling the property (officially called Bowery's Whitehouse Hotel and Hostel of New York) between Great Jones and Bond to an unknown buyer for $12 million.

We looked at DOB records and found that plans were filed on April 23 for a 9-floor hotel with a proposed 68 rooms. (Total cost of the project is listed at $5 million.) Michael Lisowski of Otte Architecture is the architect of record. It's not clear if the Whitehouse would be demolished for the new hotel, or if new floors would be dropped on top of the existing structure. (We're leaning toward the full demo, of course.) Sixteen Hotel LLC, the company affiliated with Chang, is still listed as the property owners on the latest permits.

According to the DOB, the city disapproved plans here for a 10-floor hotel in July 2011 with Gene Kaufman as the architect of record.

Despite a renovation to make itself more appealing to backpackers and other thrill seekers in 2011, the Whitehouse had retained some of the Bowery edge of yore. For $45, guests can stay in a tiny room where the walls don't go up to the ceiling.

Meanwhile, it might not to be too much longer before that sidewalk bridge returns here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More tenant meetings for White House residents; plus the bed bugs will be exterminated

NoHo flea market gutted ahead of new condo project on Broadway

[EVG file photo from May 2013]

The long-running, open-air shops in NoHo on Broadway near East Fourth Street are no more… EVG Facebook friend Michael Hirsch noted that workers gutted the space on Saturday…

[Photo by Michael Hirsch]

[Photo via EVG Facebook friend Melanie Martinez]

[MM]

… and a little later …

This has been in the making now for the past 18 months or so. There are plans on file for a new 12-story building. Here's a look at a rendering…

The DOB hasn't approved the plans for the new building just yet. The 12-story, 13-unit project (which includes a set-back penthouse) will have 3,970-square-feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Read more about the project at Curbed here.

According to Off the Grid, the space at 688 Broadway has been a parking lot since 1960 when two loft buildings were demolished.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Retail plans revealed for 12-floor condo building replacing open-air market on Broadway

New dorm reaches street level on Cooper Square

[EVG photo from March 22]

The other morning we took a look through the blogger portals on the plywood at 200 E. Sixth St. at Cooper Square… where a 13-floor dorm is in the works for Marymount Manhattan College.

And the building is now up to the street level …

One of these days it will look something like this rendering…

[Photo by Robert Miner]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Updated: Here's what the newest East Village dorm will look like

Dig bottoms out on Cooper Square; here comes the dorm, here comes the dorm!

The Marshal takes possession of The Sunburnt Cow after its closes for good

The Sunburnt Cow called it a day on April 27 after 11 years at 137 Avenue C.

Meanwhile, several EVG readers noted the arrival of a "marshal's legal possession" flyer on the former bar's front door later last week…

Meanwhile, there's still an active listing for the space at Misrahi Realty. (Asking rent: $5,400 a month.) However, the whole (now-empty) building is getting a gut rehab and an extra floor courtesy of architect Ramy Issac.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Renovations in store for 137 Avenue C, home to the Sunburnt Cow

The Sunburnt Cow closes for good at the end of this month

Contrada offers a sneak preview in the former Calliope

As we first pointed out last week, Calliope, the nearly two-year-old French bistro at 84 E. Fourth St. and Second Avenue, has closed … with the ownership promising a quick reboot of the space with a new restaurant called Contrada. (The owners apparently won't need to change the C on the marquee.)

Sure enough, as these reader-submitted photos show, Contrada was open for a sneak preview of sorts this past weekend… apparently they don't have a new liquor license yet. The chalkboard below in the photo is cut off … it reads "They won't let us serve booze yet … but the food is INTOXICATING."

Here is a look at the menu … Contrada is serving food and wine "inspired by the Mediterranean."

[Click on image to enlarge]

Here's the Contrada website with menus and hours. The Contrada Facebook page has some photos of the various dishes and interior.

As for Calliope, Grub Street reported back in January that chefs Ginevra Iverson and Eric Korsh split with the restaurant's financial partner, Eric Anderson.

Hummus and Pita together again … on Broadway

Oh, not really the most exciting news to pass along… unless you like hummus. And pita! Together! Just noting the recent arrival of the new signage for The Hummus & Pita Co. at 815 Broadway near East 12th Street (the former home of the David Z shoe store) … this will be the third Hummus & Pita Co. in the City.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Going Ape on Avenue C

Last night at Specials on C, artist Brandon Sines unveiled a new exhibit titled "Dealing With Things Is Tricky" … an immersion into the world of his character Frank Ape…

Photographer Walter Wlodarczyk was on hand and shared these photos…

Previously on EV Grieve:
Planet of the Frank Ape: Q-and-A with artist Brandon Sines

Everyone loves a parade

[Photo by peter radley]

The scene from outside St. Brigid-St. Emeric on Avenue B and East Eighth Street today … a parade/march in honor of St. Martin de Porres (we think — this isn't really our strong suit)…

[pr]

[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Week in Grieview

[The 6th & B Garden yesterday by Bobby Williams]

20 years of Flower Power in the East Village (Tuesday)

Car slams into Saifee Hardware (Monday)

Q-and-A with Frank Ape creator Brandon Sines (Friday)

More about Kim's closing (Monday)

Writer Greg Masters revisits the 1980s art scene (Tuesday)

Smoking battle in this Avenue A apartment building (Tuesday, 33 comments)

Work resumes at 27 Avenue D, where the Educational Alliance is adding an extension (Monday)

Calliope has closed (Wednesday)

No more "Serendipity" in Tompkins Square Park (Monday)

A 15-story retail-residential complex coming to East 14th Street and Avenue C (Wednesday)

The ongoing development concerns at 243-245 E. Second St. (Wednesday)

Signage revealed for Miss Lily's 7A Cafe (Thursday)

Out and About with Karen Fleisch (Wednesday)

Here are the protected bike lanes for Fourth Avenue/Lafayette (Monday)

Chubby Mary's has closed (Thursday)

Recreating the Tompkins Square Park riot of 1988 for "Ten Thousands Saints" (Friday)

[Photo by Grant Shaffer]

The new luxurious corners of Lafayette (Monday)

The Launderette of Second Avenue is closing (Wednesday)

Full reveal at 227 E. Seventh St. (Monday)

More about a possible Mars Bar comeback (Thursday)

Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield bringing cafe-bar concept to 151 Avenue A (Friday)

Get your free roses at Phebe's right now

Following yesterday's Kentucky Derby-themed party, EVG contributor Derek Berg notes that Phebe's is unloading all of its roses and other floral arrangements used for decorating the place on the Bowery and East Fourth Street…

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[East Houston near Avenue D]

Cab driver convicted in 2011 rape of East Village resident (New York Post)

Rallying to support attorney Stanley Cohen (East Villager)

City settles false arrest claim at Blue Door Video on First Avenue (Gay City News)

Thoughts on the new Russ & Daughters Cafe (BusinessWeek)

Watch monks breakdance in Union Square for MCA Day (Gothamist)

New exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York features Coney Island in the early 1960s (The New York Times)

An interesting history of noise (The Atlantic)

… and El Diablito Taqueria at 60 E. Third St. is celebrating its one-year anniversary today …

… and the documentary "More Than the Rainbow," which chronicles street photographer and former taxi driver Matt Weber, opened at the Quad Cinema on Friday …

We saw it and liked it… the film is more than a look at Weber's work … it involves a discussion of New York City as a medium for photography and the relationship between artist and subject … all set to the music of Thelonious Monk.