Davey drill arrives ahead of rumored development at former East 14th Street post office

Here's further proof of some kind of future development at the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch on East 14th Street.

A reader spotted workers taking soil samples outside 438 E. 14th St. yesterday.

Signs about asbestos removal went up on Aug. 15.

A quick recap:

This post office branch just west of Avenue A closed for good in February. (The USPS is leasing the former Duane Reade at 333 E. 14th St. for retail services.) Previously, the Stuyvesant Stationery shop next door to the post office lost its lease and closed. Both single-level buildings share the same landlord.

To date, there's nothing on file with the DOB to suggest any demolition or new development here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Asbestos abatement to begin at former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Torah ark from East Village synagogue finds new home on Wall Street

[Photo from April by Bobby Williams]

The ornate Torah ark from the soon-to-be-condoed Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 E. Sixth St. has been been moved to Episcopal St. Paul's Chapel, part of Trinity Wall Street.

According to The Wall Street Journal:

Changing demographics and a real estate deal played into this ark's path to an Episcopal church. Local historians and preservationists say Anshei Meseritz, built in 1910, was the last surviving tenement shul in the East Village. It was one of hundreds of similar shuls created to memorialize the birthplaces of immigrants living in what is now the East Village and Lower East Side.

The aron ha kodesh, or sacred ark, at Anshei Meseritz filled most of a back wall, reaching at least 12 feet high to a stained-glass window. The white and gold ark, with its painted faux marble, plump carved birds, striped spheres and a mix of Hebrew and Yiddish writing, represented a mix of new and old-world design...

As previously reported, the city approved the condo-conversion plans last December. Workers will renovate the building and add two floors.

The landmarked building between Avenue A and First Avenue was in disrepair and the congregation's population had dwindled. Synagogue leaders signed a 99-year lease with East River Partners worth some $1.2 million. The renovations include a penthouse addition and an elevator. The synagogue will reportedly retain space on the ground floor and basement for their use.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plan to add condos to historic East Sixth Street synagogue back on

Play spot the potential penthouse atop the East Village synagogue

A final look inside the Anshei Meseritz synagogue on East Sixth Street

Stained-glass windows removed ahead of condo conversion at Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Noted

Heh.

Spotted along Avenue A yesterday.

Previously.

Construction gets loud at 277 E. 7th St., but for different reasons

During the seemingly never-ending construction of the six-floor, six-unit residence rising from a former parking lot at 277 E. Seventh St. near Avenue D, we've heard a fair share of grumbling from neighbors.

Such as!

This construction is unreal. They start LOUD at exactly 7 am every day. I'm not sure what exactly they're doing that takes so long with such little progress.

I think they might actually be building their own powertools to use.

And!

The worst of the noise (yelling, banging, throwing things off high floors) starts right at 7am and lasts until 8:30 or so. The rest of the day, the guys are mostly looking at their cell phones.

Construction achieved a new milestone yesterday. A neighbor reported that the workers were blasting music from inside the under-contruction building... when they weren't texting or talking on the phone.

Some reports on Boilermaker, now open on 1st Avenue and East 1st Street

Golden Cadillac, the 1970s-themed bar that opened in the former Boca Chica space on First Avenue at East First Street, closed for good last July 3 after just eight months in business.

The owners revamped the space for another retro creation called Boilermaker, which is now open ... and enjoying press galore.

Here's a look at some of the previews/reviews.

First, Fork in the Road:

If design details and personnel are reminders of the previous concept, though, the menu couldn't be more different. Boilermaker takes its cues from a different era, the late 19th and early 20th century, when dockworkers would hunker down in bars for a post-shift beer and a shot, usually whiskey.

And the Daily News:

[Y]ou can try an All American ($6) which is Narragansett Lager and a shot of Ancient Age Bourbon, and groups of three or more can order the Bucket of Boilermakers ($45), that comes with a six-pack of Miller High Life and six shots of Buffalo Trace Bourbon.

The bar features cocktails on tap, like the the Uncle Jalapeño ($10) with tequila, jalapeño and pineapple soda. Or get nerdy with the Ken Burns Effect, which is a stirred drink with rye whiskey, oloroso sherry, maraschino liqueur and Angostura bitters.

“I asked people what they’d be willing to pay for a cocktail or beer and lowered it by a dollar,” says Greg Boehm of Cocktail Kingdom, one of the co-owners.

And here's the drinks menu that we borrowed from Gothamist...

Boilermaker Cocktail Menu

Previously on EV Grieve:
Boca Chica apparently won't be reopening on First Avenue; and the return of Golden Cadillac

End of the road: Golden Cadillac closes tomorrow night (29 comments)

5 years later, Os Gêmeos returning to the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

[EVG photo from July]

While construction continues on the new two-floor building that will rise from the former home of Billy's Antiques on East Houston and Elizabeth, the adjacent Houston/Bowery Mural Wall makes a return next week.

Yesterday, Goldman Properties, the property owner and curator of the wall, issued a news release saying that the currently covered mural will be unveiled again this coming Tuesday at 5 p.m.

In July, workers trashed the makeshift canvas that covered the wall. What remained, though, was the original wall with the mural from 2009 by Os Gêmeos, the twin brothers and street artists from Brazil. This was the first mural that Goldman commissioned for the space.



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Houston/Bowery Mural Wall has been boarded up

The mural wall will remain on the Bowery and East Houston

Os Gêmeos: (Almost) day by day

Exit flagger

The flag man directing traffic at the construction site along 185-193 Avenue B waved the black SUV through the red light, according to witnesses, where it was promptly hit by another car at East 12th Street …



Meanwhile, the construction crew is pouring concrete at night without lights for the 7-story mixed-used residential building.

Thanks to EVG Facebook friend Derrick Loris for the photos.

BEWARE OF TREE CAT

Going for a walk today in Tompkins Square Park…

Photo by Bobby Williams

'Misinformation' cited as DOB issues Stop Work Order at the former PS 64; community meeting set for Sunday afternoon

[EVG file photo]

Developer Gregg Singer's plan to turn the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center into a dorm are on hold once again.

Here's the information we just received from Rosie Mendez's office...

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez will be joined by colleagues and community residents to celebrate a major step in trying to reclaim the historic landmarked building The Former P.S. 64 that once housed CHARAS/El Bohio Cultural Community Center.

On Sept. 22, the Department of Buildings (DOB) issued a Stop Work Order to halt any construction that may have begun under a Partial Work Permit that was issued based on misinformation to the Department.

Gregg Singer, the owner of 9th & 10th Street LLC, entered into separate lease agreements with Cooper Union and the Joffrey Ballet Center Concert Group Program (CGP) to convert the building into a student dormitory. On July 25, 2014, the Department of Buildings (DOB) approved Singer's application to have the CGP considered a not-for-profit with housing accommodations as opposed to a dormitory and issued a partial work permit in August to convert the ground and 1st floor into dormitory rooms for CGP.

After reviewing the objections raised by Councilwoman Rosie Mendez in a letter dated September 3, 2014, DOB determined that the lease agreements in which Singer and the two parties entered into did not meet the agency's criteria for a lease with an educational institution.

Moreover, DOB determined that CGP could not be considered a not-for-profit with housing accommodations since the application contained misinformation that disqualifies CGP for this status.

The Councilwoman surrounded by community residents will be presenting DOB’s findings in the latest of that this long standing battle to reclaim the building for community use.

The presentation is Sunday afternoon at 1 outside 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Singer bought the building from the city in 1998.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

City approves dorm conversion plans for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Report: 50,000 square feet of condos coming to the former 2nd Avenue BP station

The BP station on Second Avenue and East First Street closed in early July.

And now The Deal Deal hears what's next: 50,000 square feet of condominiums and 7,000 square feet of retail.

AORE Capital, which purchased the site for $32 million, will take charge of the site’s development. There are no details yet on how tall the building will stand, how many residential units it will include or the prices of those units.

As a comparison of what is in store here ... the newish Jupiter 21 across the Avenue at the site of the former Mars Bar is 57,658 square feet.


[EVG file photo]

There's nothing yet on file with the DOB about the new development.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

The 2nd Avenue BP station has closed

Post discovers that cyclists often run the light at 1st Avenue and St. Mark's Place

From the Post today:

For New York cyclists, red lights means go almost 80 percent of the time — despite an NYPD crackdown and the recent deaths of two pedestrians hit by bikes, The Post has found.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, reporters at three busy intersections observed 1,006 cyclists encounter a red signal — often with pedestrians in the crosswalks — and a staggering 796 of them passed through before it turned green.

As your can see from the graphic, First Avenue and St. Mark's Place was one of the intersections where a Post reporter hung out for 8 hours watching.

Out and About in the East Village, Part 1

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: Michael “Mikey” Cole
Occupation: Owner and Head Chef, Mikey Likes It Ice Cream
Location: 199 Avenue A (Between 12th and 13th)
Time: 1:30 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 17

Thirty-Five years ago, born and raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I grew up in Stuyvesant Town, across the way. My parents are from Sierra Leone, West Africa. [They came here] when they were around their late 20s or 30, I think.

They tried to teach me lessons that I didn’t really know. They tried to be very rigid when I was a child, which kind of also makes you want to venture off and see the crazy side of the world. My mom was a nurse. My dad worked at the supermarket and then he worked for the City of New York. He carried like two, three jobs and my mom had two jobs, so sometimes they wouldn’t see each other for two or three days. I see my parents work hard and that’s what instilled the value of working hard myself. They tried to get me what I needed. I wanted them Jordans, ‘You’re getting the Avias.’ Damn. But they’re sneakers, so, you know? I’m glad that they instilled a hardworking value in myself.

As a child the neighborhood was cool. You had to stay out of trouble. You went anywhere around here and there was trouble up and down. I remember Friday the 13th or Rookie Day, that’s what we used to call it. It was real. I would get out of school at PS 19 and would go outside and be like, ‘Man, this is some fake bullying holiday.’ There were like 60 kids waiting outside to pummel you. You were like, ‘Damn, I’m gonna have to pull the Barry Sanders off to get home.’ But it was definitely fun growing up.

From Avenue B, 14th and Avenue B, the Campos projects there, they always had problems with the kids from Avenue D, which was two blocks from there, so when you came down to this area people didn’t want to venture off past Avenue B. Even Avenue A was tough. You would get off the train and just stay on First Avenue until you’d find your street and then you’d turn left or right. People rarely wanted to come into these areas. On 14th and First, there was drug dealing going on and clashes between people. In the 80s, even the 90s, you’d come outside and there was always something going on. You’d walk outside and walk down 13th Street and there was a bunch of people hanging outside and drinking on the stoop.

What was cool was the competitiveness. Kips Bay, up on 28th Street, these guys played basketball. Then you’d get the kids from Campos, Avenue D, 12th Street, 6th Street, who would play basketball. So all of us would roam around with our own teams of five. You’d roll five deep. After you’d lose, ‘Okay lets pack it up, let’s go over here.’ That’s what the weekends were like. You’d get to know other kids because we were all playing basketball. We all did the same damn thing anyway. You might not know their names but you’d say what’s up walking by. I can’t really walk down the street without someone saying, ‘Hey Mikey, how you doing?’ Now I have the store but way before that it was like that.

I got into ice cream because of my aunt. [Yesterday] was her birthday. When I was younger she would take me to school in the morning. Her name was Luciana but I called her Lucy. She was on my mother’s side. My grandfather was a chef on cruise ships, so my aunt came over and all she wanted to do was learn to cook just like her father.

So when I was in the third, fourth, fifth grade, since my parents weren’t home, I would sign up for Boys Club and go there a couple days a week. But my parents still didn’t want me out, so I was forced to go to cooking school with my aunt. I was the kid in the corner who would sit at the table with a whipping bowl or something smaller. Because of that, I was intrigued with cooking at a young age.

When my parents left me at home, my mom would leave like five dollars. ‘Get some pizza for you and your sister,’ and I’d be like, ‘Let’s not get pizza today, lets go to the supermarket, see what we can get for five bucks and make something.’ I made some nasty tasting ramen noodle experiments. But one day I was like, ‘I’m not eating like this anymore, I’m going to eat good tasting food’ and I just sort of learned cooking. Growing up, I became the kid that, showing up at any barbeque, and people were like, ‘Pass Mikey the tongs!’ I would be anywhere. I would be like, ‘Hey guys, I’m hanging out today,’ and it would automatically become, ‘Yo, Mikey’s cooking burgers.’ Everybody’s running to the grill.

I went to high school in Rhode Island, and then I ended up going to Johnson and Wales culinary course out there when I was in high school. I wanted to cook all the time. My mom would leave and my dad would be like, ‘I’m glad she’s gone, you’re cooking tonight.’ Then my aunt Lucy passed away. When she passed away my parents sent me to her apartment to clean. So I’m cleaning up the apartment and I saw four or five cookbooks up in the shelf. I’m short and I tried to reach for it and all the books fell and one of them opened up to an ice cream recipe and she actually was writing one herself. The school would make her write menus and stuff.

So then I came home, went to the supermarket, bought all the stuff and tried making the ice cream. I didn’t have an ice cream maker, I didn’t have nothing, I just did it in a freezer with a bowl and would stir it every half an hour. The texture came out disgusting, but the taste was kind of old school. It was like Julia Childs type stuff, but it needed to get some Mikey [influence]. So I sat there and started researching.

That recipe from my aunt is actually the base of ice cream that I use to make all these ice creams. The flavor is me giving it flavor on the top.

Next week: Mikey Cole on starting the business from home. "We’d be at my house for hours filling up the freezer with ice cream until my mom was like, ‘You gotta get that shit out of here.’

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

Let's talk about rats

The 6th Street A - B Block Association is co-hosting a talk on rat prevention with the NYC Department of Health tomorrow night at 7 at the 6th & B Community Garden. Details are on the flyer below…



An organizer says that the area has been inundated with rats of late … in part because of the demolition of 98-100 Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street.

Meanwhile, in Tompkins Square Park, some people think the rat population is near the levels of the TSP Ratstravaganza during the summer of 2011.

And, despite the signs, people never stop feeding the birds and squirrels ... ultimately helping supply the rat colonies ...





Bottom photos this week via Scuba Diva

... and this morning in the Park...

Gut renovations enter 16th month at 338 E. Sixth St., where 1 tenant remains

[Photo from yesterday via EVG reader Michael Hirsch]

Three flatbed trucks with sheetrock arrived here yesterday on East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... where Rory Denis remains the only tenant in the building at 338 E. Sixth St.

He has lived in a rent-stabilized apartment here since 1979.

As DNAinfo reported last October, Denis stayed in his apartment despite the best efforts of landlord Nurjahan Ahmed.

Denis reportedly took Ahmed to housing court last year after she switched off the electricity and water. Denis won the case in June 2013, which forced Ahmed to restore the services.

Word here now is that workers have installed the new electrical wiring and plumbing. (DNAinfo reported that the gut renovations began in May 2013.)

Meanwhile, according to city records, a Stop Work Order exists on the address. Per the DOB's ALL-CAP STYLE: "CONSTRUCTION SITE UNSAFE - WORKER CONDITIONS UNSAFE."

The city issued the Stop Work Order last Thursday. Despite this, construction work continues.


[Early last evening]

Previously.

Former St. Mark's Bookshop for lease

Signs went up yesterday at 31 Third Ave. We didn't spot the listing online just yet.

Before moving this past summer to a new storefront on East Third Street, St. Mark's Bookshop had been paying $23,500 a month, according to the Times. (The store's new rent is $6,000.)

Anyway, took a little longer for the "for lease" signs to arrive here. Workers gutted the space back in early July.

The lack of rent signage made it seem as if a new bank branch tenant was already in place for the space.

New laundromat now open at site of former laundromat

Capital Laundry & Dry Cleaners opened this week at 44 Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street. (Thirty percent off on drop-off and pick-up service!)

Back in January, the previous laundromat here relocated to Clinton Street.

As we've noted, this is the third time in recent memory where a laundromat closed … only to be replaced by another laundromat. (Here and here.)

Sammy’s Roumanian Steakhouse: Still got it?

[Via Trip Advisor]

At the Times, Pete Wells files a review on Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse 157 Chrystie St. near Delancey.

All is well!

He calls Sammy's "the most wonderful terrible restaurant in New York."

Woot.

And!

The rest of the Lower East Side can obsess over filament light bulbs and salvaged barn beams; Sammy’s, virtually unchanged since opening in 1975, will be ready when fluorescents and drop ceilings make their triumphant return to fashion. Inside the dining room, lighted like a bail bondsman’s office in Detroit, are hundreds of faded business cards, yellowed newspaper clippings and curled snapshots taped and tacked to every surface. Outside on Chrystie Street, scaffolding obscures the faded red and yellow painted signs in front of the building, which looks as if it has been marked for demolition. Like a Mississippi juke joint, Sammy’s seems to have been put together under the theory that nobody is likely to stay sober long enough to inspect the décor. (Known for selling vodka bottles encased in ice, Sammy’s is New York’s original bottle-service restaurant, and still the only tolerable one.)

Read the whole review here.

Noted

Outside the McDonald's on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place this afternoon. Eat a Big Mac. Do some planks.

Jimmy McMillan wants to wear his karate uniform for an upcoming gubernatorial debate

[Photo from February 2013 by James Maher]

Catching up to this piece in The Wall Street Journal Saturday on St. Mark's Place resident Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party.

He plans on running for governor again, though it hasn't been easy.

It's not clear whether Mr. McMillan will be on the ballot come November. His petitions have been challenged by Mike Welch, a Schenectady science teacher who alleges Mr. McMillan photocopied signatures to meet the 15,000 required for a spot on the ballot. Mr. McMillan says Mr. Welch didn't follow proper procedures filing his objection. The Board of Elections is expected to rule [this] week.

And!

He's already selected an outfit if he is included in a coming debate — his karate uniform. And he sees no need to go out campaigning.

His most convincing campaign literature, he tells people, is their rent receipt: "If you can't see that your rent is too damn high, don't pay me no mind."

You can read the Journal article here. (Subscription may be necessary.)

Going Mobil

The former Mobil station is now all snug behind plywood on Avenue C and East Houston (luckily, workers left blogger portals in the plywood!).

Meanwhile, Mobil management put up a sign showing the nearest convenient locations for another Mobil station…



The station, the last one left in the East Village, abruptly closed on Sept. 2.

Back in March, Hakimian Property filed plans (still waiting for approval) to erect a 9-story mixed-use building on the site. Plans call for 45 residential units and 4,550 square feet of commercial space.

This aerial shot, via www.anitam.com, gives you a good idea of the shape of the lot and what the developers have to work with…



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

RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

State seizes Mobil station on Avenue C and Houston for nonpayment of taxes


[Photo by Michael Sean Edwards from last fall. Click to enlarge.]

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