Tompkins Square Park today via Derek Berg...
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Grant Shaffer's NY See
Here's the latest NY See panel, East Village-based illustrator Grant Shaffer's observational sketch diary of things that he sees and hears around the neighborhood.
A visit to Metropolis Vintage on Broadway
Photos and interview by Stacie Joy
Meeting Richard Colligan at the new location — as of late May — of Metropolis at 803 Broadway (between 11th Street and 12th Street) was a trip down memory lane.
Richard’s vintage shop was my neighbor on Avenue B back in the 1990s and I still have a t-shirt I bought there 20-plus years ago.
We played the “do you remember game” for a while reminiscing about the old days when he paid $1,000 a month for rent on the store, had Hells Angels shopping there for denim and bought from MTV VJs who lived in the area.
Here's what else he had to say...
You first opened the store in 1990 at 96 Avenue B between Sixth and Seventh Streets. Did you envision that nearly 30 years later you’d not only still be doing well in business, but also in a large retail space on Broadway?
Well, I really loved a store called Canal Jean Co. They always had a mix of new and vintage clothing and I wanted to be like Canal Jean. I wanted to open a big space for a long time so I guess, yes — it is a dream come true.
As for 30 years — WOW — I always wanted to make it to 65 and then think about quitting but the question was could I keep up with the younger dealers in vintage as per styles and sourcing?
[Avenue B photo via Richard Colligan]
How long had you been looking for a larger space? Was staying in the neighborhood important to you?
It took about a year between looking and negotiating to get the space. [Metropolis left Avenue B for 43 Third Ave. before heading to Broadway.] Yes, it was very important to stay in the neighborhood. I mean, I did think about Brooklyn or Harlem but my roots are in the East Village.
Your concert/band t-shirts always seem to be popular, accounting for approximately 50 percent of your sales. What are people coming into the store looking for these days?
Besides t-shirts? Definitely 1990s-style clothing. Like Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Cross Colours, JNCO jeans, lots of color. Denim is selling good to women, especially smaller-size jeans or high-waisted ones. In t-shirts, classic rock is big, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, the Grateful Dead.
Who is your typical customer? Are your in-store shoppers different than your online Etsy shoppers?
In store, the customer age range is 15 to 35, with lots of college students at the old Third Avenue location. But now that I am on Broadway, we get LOTS of tourist. Online Etsy customers sometimes come in but they’re looking for specific items. Inside the store customers can explore and find stuff but still it’s the same basic vintage customer.
How have you seen the neighborhood continue to evolve — at least from a retail perspective?
Well, Avenue B days it was very local, young high school kids from the neighbor and college age or older people who just moved in. The Hells Angels would come in buy denim. It was very very local years ago. The Third Avenue space had lots of college and high school kids from all over the NYC area and some tourists. About 15 years ago we started to get people who had the means to drop a lot of money starting to come in.
What do you think has made Metropolis a survivor here for nearly 30 years?
Very simple: focus on the customer. Go out every week and shop for new items and put things out every week. Don’t keep the best stuff for yourself, offer it to the customer first, let them have that experience of finding that special item. Keep your overhead low and look to new styles and vintage trends. It’s very easy to dismiss new vintage trends as you grow older. Exercise your eyes and train them to look forward and slowly give up on what the past good sellers were.
[Manager Stephen Voland]
[Sales associate Larry Gonzalez]
[Sales associate Skeleton Boy]
[Sales associate Skunk]
What’s next for you and the shop?
Keep doing the same thing but refine it to make our formula better. Try to do more with TV and movie productions.
---
The shop is open every day, noon until 8 p.m.
'Summer and Smoke ' at 72 Gallery
A new exhibit titled "Summer and Smoke" — featuring "punk photography royalty" curated by East Village resident Roberta Bayley — debuts tonight (Thursday!) at the The Great Frog, 72 Orchard St. between Broome and Grand.
The opening reception is from 6-9. After tonight, you can check out the exhibit from noon to 8 p.m Tuesday through Sunday
Here's a list of the photographers with work on display...
The folks behind The Great Frog created the gallery space in their rock 'n' roll ring shop and boutique. This marks their third exhibit since the spring.
A bendy thing moment at 11 Avenue C as new development passes the halfway mark
The work has really progressed here at 11 Avenue C at Second Street... where the new 10-story residential building has been in the bendy-thing phase this summer...
You can see how far it has progressed...
That was after the foundation work started in December 2016 on this triangular lot that housed the neighborhood's last gas station. (Real-estate sites always incorrectly name the BP on Second Avenue at First Street.)
Rotwein + Blake are the architects of record. Here's more about 11 Avenue C/350 E. Houston St. via their website:
The narrow triangular site, presented numerous challenges from its odd shape to zoning constraints, Rotwein+Blake crafted a well thought-out solution to maximize potential development opportunity for the client. At ten stories, the building will have 4,600 SF of ground level retail, 46 residential apartments and a landscaped roof terrace.
The buildings retail component engages the more lively Houston Street side on a pedestrian level, with an abundance of storefront glass, awnings and stone details, while the residential entrance on 2nd Street, creates a more private and embracing gesture. The brick and zinc façade blend a modern twist to a historic warehouse style, reminiscent of the now, chic residential adaptive reuse projects of Soho and Tribeca.
The plywood rendering states the project's completion date as March 2018.
Previously on EV Grieve:
You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C
Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C
State seizes Mobil station on Avenue C and Houston for nonpayment of taxes
New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units
A look inside the last East Village gas station
Pile driving for new building on Avenue C prompts arrival of crack monitors next door
Report: retail portion of Ben Shaoul's luxury condoplex on Houston and Orchard sells for a whopping $88 million
That's three retail tenants in total — the Marshalls, the coming-soon CVS and the Equinox on the upper two floors here along Houston between Ludlow and Orchard.
The Real Deal has the story:
The developers behind 196 Orchard Street, Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Management and Michael Miller’s Real Estate Equities Corp., sold the retail portion of the building to the AR Global affiliate New York City REIT, sources told The Real Deal. The sale price is $88.75 million, which makes it the most expensive deal for a retail condo in more than two years.
The price works out to more than $1,475 per square foot.
Back to TRD:
The deal is the most expensive sale of a retail condo since Savanna sold the retail portion of 10 Madison Square west for $97.5 million in the spring of 2017 to TH Real Estate (now Nuveen Real Estate).
This property here previously housed a single row of storefronts, including Ray's Pizza, Bereket and Lobster Joint. As Shaoul told the Times back in 2017, the small businesses that closed were "part of evolution ... You call it gentrification, I call it 'cleaning it up.'"
Shaoul and REEC bought the air rights from Katz's next door to help make this condoplex a reality.
Green Garden Buffet coming to 9th Street
[Photo by Steven]
Awning signage is up now for Green Garden Buffet on 332 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue... not sure what this is (other than some kind of buffet!) at the moment.
This space was previously home for 22 years to Gallery Vercon, who wasn't offered a lease in 2016 after Raphael Toledano bought the building. (The property is now owned by Renaissance Realty Group in Brooklyn.)
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
'Wealthy, anonymous individual' buys Boys' Club building; will remain in use for a nonprofit
As we reported last week, multiple sources told us that the Boys' Club have sold their Harriman Clubhouse to a "nonprofit arts organization and will be a theater and house various arts-related entities." In addition, the Boys' Club would rent part of the space for one more year while searching for a new space in the area.
However, a Boys' Club rep told us that building has not been sold, and "the process is continuing."
And one week later: Crain's reports that the building on Avenue A and 10th Street was sold for $32 million to "a wealthy, anonymous individual."
Per Crain's:
Paul Wolf, a real estate broker and adviser who specializes in working with nonprofits and who represented the foundation, said the buyer wanted to remain anonymous. Wolf said the buyer was planning to sell the property, potentially at a substantial loss, to a nonprofit that would maintain its civic use.
"The goal is to keep this as a community facility," said Wolf, who is co-president of the firm Denham Wolf. "The intent is to sell it to a nonprofit at a lower price than the purchase price."
Hot take!
"This is a remarkable turn of events," said state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who last year was one among several elected officials to criticize the club's decision to sell. "Certainly this is a very valuable property in a highly desirable neighborhood right next to a park. But instead of a private developer that wants to build condos, we're getting a foundation that wants to invest in the local community."
Executive Director Stephen Tosh said the Boys' Club will remain at 287 E. 10th St. for the next year while it searches for new space.
As I first reported in June 2018, Tosh told alumni about the BCNY's plan to sell its Harriman Clubhouse, which opened in 1901. The BCNY would continue to use the space through June 2019. A listing for the 7-story building arrived on the Cushman & Wakefield website last October with a $32 million asking price.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Local elected officials urge Boys' Club officials to postpone sale of the Harriman Clubhouse
Boys' Club of New York selling East Village building; will remain open through June 2019
During noon rally today, local elected officials will seek postponement of Boys' Club building sale
[Updated] Exclusive: The Boys' Club of New York puts the Harriman Clubhouse on the sales market for $32 million
Boys' Club fast tracks sale of East Village clubhouse as final bids are due Oct. 30
RUMOR: The Boys' Club building on 10th and A has a new owner; will remain in use as a nonprofit
Budding sinkhole of the day
EVG regular MP points out this sinkhole in progress on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue outside Mudspot...
A traffic cone marks the spot... or else it was provided as a sacrifice. We hear that the sinkhole's inner core has a temperature of 5505 °C, though that hasn't been confirmed.
Collapsing Scenery and Bush Tetras playing free benefit show Friday in Tompkins Square Park
Collapsing Scenery is headlining a free show in Tompkins Square Park on Friday afternoon.
The duo, Don Devore and Reggie Debris, released their latest album, Stress Positions, on June 28. As Brooklyn Vegan described the LP: "It’s quite the gonzo record that mixes post-punk, shoegaze, hip hop, dance music and more into one heady cocktail."
Also on the bill: LES no-wave legends Bush Tetras (who are releasing a new 7-inch single this month) as well as ZAH and Nymph. The show is scheduled from 2-6 p.m.
The show is also a benefit for Avenues For Justice, formerly the Andrew Glover Youth Program, around the corner from the Park on Avenue B. As amNY recently put it, Avenues for Justice is "a court advocacy program dedicated to rescuing New Yorkers in their teens and early 20s from the soul-crushing spiral of incarceration."
[Updated] A look at La Plaza's new fence
Updated 2 p.m. See below!
La Plaza Cultural, the community garden/green space on the southwest corner of Ninth Street and Avenue C, has been closed to the public since the spring for an installation of a new fence.
As you can see from these photos from the other day, the fence is up and around the garden, though work remains. (OK, there are technically two fences up ...)
Per the most recent La Plaza e-newsletter dated July 12: "Much of it’s in, but the work has not yet been completed. We’re waiting to hear what the hold-up is. Either way, it’s close! And it's a really beautiful, well-crafted fence that should stand a good long time."
No word just yet on an official reopening date for La Plaza, which local residents and activists founded in 1976.
Updated
The construction fence is gone... thanks to Eddie for the pic...
Previously on EV Grieve:
A fall day to remove the Winter Flowers from La Plaza Cultural
A wake for the last willow trees at La Plaza Cultural
At the Weeping Willow Wake
Gone green: 12th Street bike lane returns
EVG regular Greg Masters reports that the city repainted the 12th Street bike lane yesterday ...
The city milled and paved the street in early May, and finally got around to putting down a fresh coat of green paint.
This eastbound bike lane arrived last November ahead of the anticipated L-train shutdown to help alleviate anticipated commute congestion.
However, after the shutdown became the slowdown, the city announced in April that the bike lanes on 12th Street and 13th Street would remain permanent.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
July 16
An EVG reader shared this photo today from Fourth Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street... guess this heat is making people do crazy things like discard their perfectly good Christmas tree from last year (or maybe the year before). This one just needs a little water and should be good as new. Likely best for an apartment that doesn't have any smokers.
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