Report: Landlord Jared Kushner 'treats both rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants badly'

[Reader photo at 118 E. 4th St. from March 6]

Gothamist checks in with a long look on life in a property owned by Jared Kushner/Westminster Management. And there haven't been any shortage of tenant horror stories since Kushner started buying up properties here in 2013, as we've noted at EVG through the years. (According to the Cooper Square Committee, Kushner is the neighborhood's second-largest landlord after Steve Croman.)

As we noted earlier this month, tenants at 118 E. Fourth St. went to Manhattan Housing Court on March 3 as part of ongoing litigation against Kushner. Tenants there had been without gas for cooking since October. There are other issues too, such as collapsed ceilings, overflowing trash and sporadic heat. (Tenants got the gas restored afterwards.)

In defense of Kushner/Westminster, a spokesperson responds: "Unfortunately, like many other old buildings in New York City, repair issues arise periodically and we inherited problems when we purchased this building. We are grateful that our residents have voiced their concerns. We value their tenancy and we are committed to a mutually beneficial long term building management-tenant relationship."

Brandon Kielbasa at the Cooper Square Committee tells Gothamist that Kushner "treats both rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants badly, and seems to feel that he can get away with not maintaining buildings because the housing market is so tight he can keep them full anyway."

And one outcome of all this in Kushner-owned properties, per Gothamist:

The economic differences between the old and new residents paying three times as much have also created a culture clash. Some longtime East Villagers, nurses and artists and filmmakers loyal to the neighborhood, resent the transient, party-animal culture of affluent students and out-of-towners in their first New York apartment who will be gone when their lease expires.

“We used to have a community in this building,” laments one man. Before ... Kushner, says Kim Stetz, “we didn’t have SantaCon in our building. We didn’t have raging parties with people throwing up out their windows.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated

Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Tenant activists praise lead reform, urge for more protections from city against predatory landlords

On Tuesday, members of the Lead Dust Free New York City coalition marched through parts of the Lower East Side and East Village, stopping at three buildings — 113 Stanton St., 57 Second Ave. and 233 E. Fifth St. — "where shoddy renovations have released lead dust into the air."

The group, including organizers from the Cooper Square Committee and Icon Tenants United, Tenants Taking Control and the Alliance of Croman Tenants, also praised elected officials for introducing laws aimed at protecting them and urged them to continue pushing for more lead reform.











Here's more background via a news release from the Cooper Square Committee...

Known collectively as the Stand for Tenant Safety (or STS) Laws, they included a new, Real Time Enforcement statute, as well as a tenant bill of rights that must be posted in buildings where construction takes place. They also created a new position within the Department of Buildings, called the Office of the Tenant Advocate.

This year, the City Council is looking at 25 more new bills to further protect tenants from lead exposure. The thrust of some of these bills is to break down the silos that current separately the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, the Department of Buildings and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Marchers demanded that these laws also be enacted to further prevent the erosion of affordable housing in New York City.

As in other cities around the United States ... New York is being inundated by a hyper-gentrification tsunami that has been permanently pushing middle- and lower-income tenants out of their homes. Some landlords, hungry for quick returns, continue to pursue the practice of predatory equity, which worsens the city’s affordable housing crisis. These same landlords typically ignore safe work practices while renovating their buildings.

All photos courtesy of Tenants Taking Control

Previously on EV Grieve:
Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Ongoing concerns about demolition work and elevated lead levels in Toledano-owned buildings

Get the lead out: Tenants call for protections from lead dust during renovations

Yes, China Wok has closed

As a follow-up post to last Wednesday's item about China Wok's downed gates on Avenue B at Third Street... an EVG reader shared this photo from yesterday, showing that the CW signage has been removed, and the interior cleaned out.

The unofficial word here is that the owners decided to close after a rent increase. (The building is among those in Steve Croman's empire.)

We heard that the folks who ran China Wok also own a similar to-go establishment on Canal Street.


[EVG photo from the summer]

This corner space is for rent with an ask of $6,495 a month.

EV Grieve Etc.: Appreciating Sen. Squadron's service; visiting Flower Power Herbs & Roots

[A Fine morning the other day on Avenue C]

Remembering State Sen. Daniel Squadron's service to the neighborhood as he leaves office (The Lo-Down) Who will fill his seat? (Town & Village)

Singer-songwriter Dave Deporis, who performed at the Sidewalk on Avenue A, was killed during a robbery in Oakland (SPIN)

A visit to Flower Power Herbs & Roots on Ninth Street (Off the Grid ... previously)

The juvenile red-tailed hawks haven't left home (Tompkins Square Park) just yet (Laura Goggin Photography)

Club Cumming will open on Sixth Street on Sept. 15 (Tasting Table)

Local ice cream shop owner discuss the rigors of the business (Grub Street)


[Another Croman-Rikers tag appears on 6th Street]

Sun Bakery on Essex Street appears to have closed (BoweryBoogie)

Two screenings of 1963's "Greenwich Village Story" this weekend (Anthology Film Archives)

Blue Apron had the most disappointing IPO of the decade (Grub Street)

"Rogue" bikeshare company to unleash cycles in the city on Monday (New York Post)

The story of Keith Haring's Berlin Wall mural (Dangerous Minds)

What's next at the French Roast space on Sixth Avenue? (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

... and on Sunday afternoon at 3, take in the latest installment of "Music Under the Willow" at the Creative Little Garden on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. Details here.


[Creative Little Garden pic via Facebook]

La Lucha space for rent on Avenue A

The 6-year-old La Lucha quickly shut down after service last Wednesday night, as we first reported.

And just like that the for rent sign from landlord Steve Croman's 9300 Realty arrived on the front window of the taco shop at 147 Avenue A between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street. (The listing isn't online just yet.)

As for La Lucha, the proprietors left this message on their Facebook page:

New location coming soon. Due to the outrageous cost of operating in the village we decided it's best to relocate. In the mean time catch our Taco truck on Franklin Ave in Bedford, BK.

Laundromat replaces laundromat on Avenue B

Back in January, the laundromat at 44 Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street relocated to Clinton Street.

The familiar "call Harvey" sign of the Croman Empire went up …

And now EVG reader John shares these photos of the new tenant: A new laundromat/dry cleaners. (No word if they will serve grilled cheese sandwiches.)



This is the third time in recent memory where a laundromat closed … only to be replaced by another laundromat. (Here and here.)

Coming soon: Ando Patisserie on 10th Street; Unique Omakase on 1st Avenue

Photos by Steven

Signage is up now for Ando Patisserie at 214 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

We're told this will be an Asian-inspired bakery that will also serve a variety of teas. There's an Instagram account here. 

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Meanwhile, signage is up at 120 1/2 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place for Unique Omakase. 

Restaurant reps were scheduled to appear before CB3's SLA committee back on Monday for a liquor license. 

According to the questionnaire, Unique Omakase will have an 11-seat sushi bar with daily hours of noon to 11 p.m. The sushi chef here previously worked at Shinn East on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

An outpost of the London-based Bubbleology Tea chain was the last tenant here, closing in late 2021 after nearly two years in service.

Previously, the building's landlord, convicted felon Steve Croman, didn't/wouldn't renew the lease of the International Bar ... which closed in November 2017 before merging with the Coal Yard down the block.

Not a lot of information about what's next for these 2 former East Village bars

This past weekend someone removed the handpainted Grassroots Tavern sign from here at 20 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...



Kind of surprised no one tried to take it earlier (it was bolted into the wall pretty well). The bar closed after 42 years on New Year's Eve.

As previously reported, the new owner of the bar is Richard Precious, who operates the mini chain of Irish-style pubs called The Ginger Man (including the one on 36th Street).

To date, not much has been made public about his plans for the space. In addition, not much has happened inside the space (aside from some minor clean up and keg removal). An EVG tipster recently found the door open, and ventured inside.

I went over and spoke to one of the guys inside. I asked him when are they going to open. He said kind of laughing "April or May. You know how it is." I then asked are they going to use the name Ginger Man or Grassroots. He said no to Ginger Man and possibly for Grassroots. I have no idea what is the guy’s position in the organization, so you never know what’s really going to happen. To be continued.

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And over at 120 1/2 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... the for rent sign has been removed from the former International Bar (the asking rent is $9,955) ...



According to one former employee, a bubble tea shop is moving in. Now this has not been confirmed ... and could merely be a sarcastic (yet seemingly probable) response ...



The latest iteration of the International Bar closed this past Thanksgiving. (Non-renewal of lease, via landlord Steve Croman.) The bar merged with its sister saloon, the Coal Yard, one block to the south between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

H/T Steven!

VeryThai coming to Avenue B

Signage is up for VeryThai at 186 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street.

We have very little information about the new restaurant at the moment. They were pre-approved for a beer-wine license during this month's CB3-SLA meeting. The application (PDF) on file for that committee meeting shows daily hours of 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The restaurant will have nine tables seating 29 people.

It appears that VeryThai will not be using the garden space that the previous tenant, Barbone, had. The low-key Italian restaurant closed after 10 years last June when landlord Steve Croman reportedly wouldn't renew the lease.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included... 

• East Village Loves NYC prepares 1st holiday feast; tops more than 70,000 meals made for hungry New Yorkers in 2020 (Wednesday) 

• A Visit with Frank "Frankie Christmas" Bianco (Tuesday) 

• This East Village resident is holding a one-man protest against landlord Steve Croman (Tuesday)

• High winds takes down the B&H Dairy awning (Friday) 

• About Evil Katsu, a pop-up ghost kitchen now open on the Lower East Side (Monday) 

• East Village season's greetings (Friday)

• Gallery Watch: Mrs. Evan Williams by Jamian Juliano-Vilan at JTT Gallery (Wednesday) 

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday) 

• The Village Voice is returning, and is this a good thing? (Wednesday)

• You may now drive — or jump up and down on — 1st Avenue at 7th Street again (Wednesday ... Monday) 

• Sweet Generation is leaving the East Village (Thursday)

• MiGarba shuts down on 4th Avenue: "We close due to New York restrictions and unsustainable rent" (Monday) 

• The now-closed Bleecker Street Bar looks to relocate to Broadway (Monday) 

• Sauced Up! spreads its wings on 2nd Avenue (Monday) 

• Medan Pasar now serving Malaysian cuisine on 7th Street (Thursday) 

• Signage reveal for Greenwich Marketplace on 4th Avenue (Thursday) 

• Teso Life is open on St. Mark's Place (Monday) 

• EVG turns 13 — thank you for the kind words! (Monday)

... and a scene from outdoor dining early last week on Sixth Street...

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Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Personal ad as seen on St. Mark’s Place. Must hate Vincent Gallo. pic.twitter.com/HphpMmXDyx

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) December 26, 2020

The Asian Taste awning has arrived on 3rd and B; China Wok redux?

[Photo by Salim]

On Saturday, EVG regular Salim reported that workers put in place the new awning for Asian Taste (hello Choc font!), coming soon to the space on the northwest corner of Avenue B and Third Street.

There is an unconfirmed reader report that Asian Taste is from the same family who ran the previous establishment here, the quick-serve China Wok that closed in early December. (A reader also spotted one of the former China Wok cooks helping with the sign.)

Upon its closure in December, there were rumors that the business was Cromanated via landlord Steve Croman. The for-rent sign arrived in mid-December.

Whatever the case, the family felt good enough to return to this corner.


[Photo Saturday evening by Harold Chester]

Week in Grieview

Posts from this past week included ... (with a photo outside the recently reopened Nowhere on 14th Street)

• RIP Penny Rand (Wednesday) 

• Tenants: Pigeons have made empty apartment a health hazard in this Steve Croman-owned building on 7th Street (Tuesday) 

• You can own the shuttered Avenue A diner Odessa, now for sale on Craigslist (Friday) 

• Cinema Paradiso trying again with CB3 for Avenue A theater-cafe concept (Thursday) 

•  787 Coffee is opening a new location (and office) on 10th Street at 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Department of Buildings: 202 Avenue A does not have a "valid certificate of occupancy" (Tuesday) 

• Gaia Italian Cafe teases a return (Tuesday) 

• Think Coffee's brand-new curbside dining space catches fire on 4th Avenue (Thursday) 

• Uprooted tree in Tompkins Square Park (Friday) 

• Spiegel said to be returning to 1st Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Food Emporium has closed on Union Square (Monday) 

• Parks Department clears out the encampment from the Tompkins Square Park chess tables (Saturday) 

• Something to sing about: Planet Rose is reopening on Avenue A (Tuesday) 

• Rockwood Music Hall returns with live music (Thursday) 

• Gia signage arrives on the Bowery (Monday) 

• Marinara Pizza makes this corner of 10th Street and 2nd Avenue their own (Tuesday) 

• Stickett Inn bringing its cider to 1st Avenue (Thursday)

• Tony's Pizza debuts on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• New alt.coffee concept vying for former Meatball Shop space on Stanton Street (Tuesday) 

... and yesterday, we're told that the 3CD Block Association planted flowers in the tree pits along Third Street between Avenue C and Avenue D ... said one resident: "An incredible effort on the part of people on the block."

H/T Bobby G!

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

EV Grieve Etc.: Concern over L train shutdown; praise for Little Tong Noodle House

[Photo on 4th Street by Derek Berg]

Appeals Court overturns Sheldon Silver’s conviction on corruption charges (The Lo-Down)

Concern over the L train shutdown (amNew York)

Praise for two newish Vietnamese restaurants in the East Village, Hanoi House and Madame Vo (The New York Times)

The Roger Ailes Memorial Show on display in this LES gallery (artNews)

East Village-based Artichoke Basille Pizza opening an outpost in South Beach (Miami New Times)

Pete Wells gives two stars to Little Tong Noodle House on First Avenue at 11th Street (The New York Times)

Where artists live in NYC (Curbed)

There's a new sales team for Ben Shaoul's Orchard Street condoplex (The Real Deal)

Community service for alleged neo-Nazi who assaulted two Columbia University students on the LES (The Post ... previously)

A bartender and her favorite regular went sober, but still hang out at B-side on Avenue B (Vice)

Life after Croman (The Real Deal)

Stuyvesant Square Park fence finally restored (Town & Village)

Interview with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Spin)

Bad Brains on 11th Street (Flaming Pablum)

Via the EVG inbox: "Please join the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World for an educational seminar on the Marshall Islands and its ongoing struggle from the radiological contamination due to nuclear weapons testing during the 1940s and 1950s." The seminar will take place at Maryhouse, 55 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue from 2-4:30 p.m. tomorrow (July 15).

The new smoke shops of lower Avenue B

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Grab & Go Convenience is now open at 23 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street. 

It's a full-service smoke shop offering flower, cartridges, edibles, prerolls, lozenges/candies, etc. Plus, tobacco products. And, uh, sex toys. (We said full service!)

Meanwhile, a smoke shop is also in the works for 9-11 Avenue B, one block to the south... in space that was, for six decades, Raul's Barber Shop. 

These shops will compete with Green Line, which opened in late October at 42 Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street...

The 9-11 Avenue B and 42 Avenue B spaces are in buildings owned by Steve Croman.

Bubbleology Tea signs a lease on 1st Avenue

As previously noted, the London-based Bubbleology Tea chain was planning to open at 120 1/2 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

In its listing of recent real-estate transactions, the Times reported yesterday that the owners of this franchise signed a seven-year lease for the space, which previously housed the International Bar.

From the Times:

London-based bubble tea franchise has signed a seven-year lease for its flagship shop to open this summer in a 750-square-foot storefront, with a backyard patio, in this five-story East Village walk-up. The shop will feature milk- and fruit-based bubble tea blends including Oreo Crush, along with alcoholic brews including Raspberry Mar-Tea-Ni.

The annual rent was listed at $105,000 — $8,750 per month.

The owners were seeking a full-liquor license for the address. However, CB3 denied their application last month, citing "insufficient public benefit ... for a business seeking to add tea-infused cocktails to its drink menu to sustain its business plan, in an area well-served with licensed businesses furnishing cocktails," per the minutes from that meeting.

It's not known at the moment if Bubbleology Tea is seeking a license directly from the State Liquor Authority for its Raspberry Mar-Tea-Ni and other boozy teas.

The latest iteration of the International Bar closed this past Thanksgiving. (Non-renewal of lease, via landlord Steve Croman.) The bar merged with its sister saloon, the Coal Yard, one block to the south between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Bubbleology Tea, possibly coming soon to 1st Avenue

$4,495 a month — for this

Snack Dragon, the tiny taco shack on East Third Street near Avenue B, ended its East Village tenure on Halloween night. Cause of death: Cromanation (aka, a big high rent hike courtesy of landlord Steve Croman).

We knew that the asking rent is $4,495 for this small space — roughly 100 square feet. However, that size vs. asking rent didn't really sink in until we saw the space emptied out this past week...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Cromanated: The East Village Snack Dragon Taco Shack is closing

Snack Dragon has officially closed

Amato Opera looks to be getting an encore as city OKs residential use

[EVG file photo]

On the Bowery, the historic Amato Opera building has sat vacant since the company closed on May 31, 2009.

In January 2009, Anthony Amato, the company's 88-year-old founder, announced that he had sold the building that the Opera had called home since 1964. (Amato died in December 2011.)

In recent years, new landlord Steve Croman had applied to convert the theater at 319 Bowery between East First Street and East Second Street into a commercial and residential building. Now according to DOB records, the city approved the plans on Monday. Plans show three residential units above the ground-floor retail space, which is still on the market.


[Rendering for 319 Bowery via RKF]

Plans originally called for a penthouse here... though we didn't see any mention of that in the approved permits.



BoweryBoogie got a look inside the decaying Amato Opera back in June 2013. (Check out those photos here.) The building was later hit with a Stop Work Order.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Life after the Amato Opera

Costume drama on the Bowery as the Amato Opera empties out

Ruin of the Bowery nearly complete: Last season for the Amato Opera

6 posts from June

A mini month in review... with a photo of a juvenile red-tailed hawk by Derek Berg...

• Mount Sinai Beth Israel decides against plans to relocate and downsize (June 21)

• At fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church, it's moving day for the historic New York Liberty Bell (June 17) 

• RIP Hash Halper, aka New York Romantic (June 15) 

• Portraits from the Park Prom (June 9)

• RIP Penny Rand (June 2) 

• Tenants: Pigeons have made empty apartment a health hazard in this Steve Croman-owned building on 7th Street (June 1)

Summer 2021

Because nothing says summer 2021 like a photo of Key Food! 

 A sampling of the 460 EVG posts from June through August as we head into the Labor Day Weekend... 

• The East Village Neighbors Community Fridge is up and running again after vandal strikes (Aug. 24) 

• Kestrel maneuvers to rescue this fledging along Avenue B (Aug. 17) 

• At the LESUPA Reunion 2021 (Aug. 14) 

• Thanks to Humans of New York, Mary O's will be making scones for the foreseeable future (Aug. 11)

• Former tenants of the fire-destroyed 48 E. 7th St. want to hear from landlord Faith Popcorn (Aug. 9) 

• About Hi Noona, serving up unique Korean-influenced juices and smoothies on 12th Street (Aug. 4) 

• Construction hell is consuming the intersection of 1st Avenue at 7th Street (Aug. 3) 

• First sign of the B Bar & Grill-replacing 21-story office building on the Bowery (Aug. 2)

• Renovation watch: This is what the inside of the former Hells Angels HQ looks like now (July 29) 

• Author Q&A: About the dystopian East Village future of 'Drained' (July 23) 

• Local blog contributor tries the Kraft Mac-n-Cheese ice cream at Van Leeuwen (July 15) 

• PJ O’Rourke regroups with a pop-up space on Broadway (July 14) 

• Murder investigation on 1st Avenue (July 14) 

• Attention Kmart shoppers: The Astor Place location is now closed after 25 years in business (July 12) 

• A conversation with Lilly Dancyger, author of the East Village memoir 'Negative Space' (July 1) 

•  How you can help The Bowery Mission protect New Yorkers from summer heat (June 28) 

 • At the 27th annual Drag March (June 27) 

• Mount Sinai Beth Israel decides against plans to relocate and downsize (June 21)

• At fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church, it's moving day for the historic New York Liberty Bell (June 17) 

• RIP Hash Halper, aka New York Romantic (June 15) 

• Portraits from the Park Prom (June 9)

• RIP Penny Rand (June 2) 

• Tenants: Pigeons have made empty apartment a health hazard in this Steve Croman-owned building on 7th Street (June 1)

Picturesque ivy coming down on East 8th Street

The abundant ivy on the east-facing wall that frames the De Colores Community Yard & Cultural Center on Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C won't be around for much longer.

A volunteer gardener at De Colores explained that the ivy has been obscuring some windows at 309 E. Eighth St. and has been harboring an untold number of pests. ("Lots of bugs, rodents, squirrels, bees, wasps, birds — you name it.")

In addition, parts of the wall that haven't been covered with ivy are also damaged, so there's some hope that the landlord (Steve Croman) of the gut-renovated building will make some repairs on the exterior.

The ivy is nearly 3-feet thick in areas and is nearly 60-feet high.

"The main roots — the size of a tree trunk — have been cut and it will probably start dying soon," the volunteer gardener said. "People love the ivy and stop and take pictures of it all the time, so here's your last chance."