Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Watch 21 E. First St. grow before your eyes

The 12-story residential building under construction on Second Avenue at East First Street — officially 21 E. First St. — seems to be quickly progressing...

How it looked in the summer of 2011...

[Google]

And we stopped by every week (or every other week in some cases) to monitor the progress....

June 2

June 9

June 23

June 30

July 14

July 22

Aug. 4

Aug. 11

Aug. 25

Sept. 1

Sept. 8


We're gonna need a bigger camera. Well at least a different vantage point.

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: Rembrandt Duran (and Lucy)
Occupation: Clothing Designer
Location: 9th Street and Avenue A (Tompkins Square Park)
Time: 3:58 on Monday, September 10

"I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 21 years. I’m a Mexican-Dutch New York City born designer. I own my own brand; it’s called Adeen. I’ve always been into cartoons and I just fell in love with the way the cartoons were dressed, so I kind of now design things that aren’t costumey but are reminiscent of the cartoons. It’s my favorite cartoon characters from back in the day but in a really fashionable way. So I guess that’s how my whole brand came alive. The motto is, “Bringing that Saturday morning cartoon feel.”

Surprisingly, everybody has been really receptive towards it. It’s been 2 years since I started the brand and I have 23 stores worldwide that carry my stuff: Sydney, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, LA, and now New York.

I used to be one of those bad kids in the neighborhood. When I was younger, I had really long curly hair and everybody thought I was a girl so I’d run around the sprinklers naked and people would come up to me and be like ‘you’re not a girl!’

One time I almost got shot. We fucked with the wrong cab driver. It was like, "Up, okay… Gotta go; he has a gun." There were other things we did as well that were funny to us at the time, but wouldn’t have been funny to anyone else.

My whole group of friends are not as bad as they used to be anymore; they all changed their lives around. We’re all doing our own things. Either they’re skating, rollerblading, or they’re all off in college. I guess we all just started hanging out less and started focusing more. Everybody’s prospering and doing really great.

The $2 falafel spot is the best; the one on 2nd Avenue between 7th and 8th. Cheep's. Mamoun's is gross; they don’t even have good hot sauce — it’s too hot! The dollar pizza place is the best. That’s really where I chill around the neighborhood."

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

At Kembra Pfahler's 'Fuck Island'


Artist-musician Kembra Pfahler has a new exhibit at PARTICIPANT Inc. at 253 East Houston ... the opening reception was Sunday. (The exhibit runs through Oct. 14). Photographer Walter Wlodarczyk shared these photos with us from Sunday. (See more of his photos here.)



Per the press materials:

“Fuck Island” is a protest anthem, love song, and manifesto written for her band, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. As Pfahler describes this song-as-exhibtion: “It’s the first annual Karen Black cock festival. But it’s really more like a happy funeral. We are celebrating the death of the patriarch, and you are all party to this secret.”

For out more about the exhibit here.

Bait & Hook opens today on 14th Street and Second Avenue

Signs went up for Bait & Hook here at East 14th Street and Second Avenue back on Aug. 29, as we first noted. ... taking over for the short-lived Meatball Factory ... (which took over from the Pizza Hut-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's combo).

Anyway, Bait & Hook opens today... and here is the official news release, cut-and-paste for your pleasure and my laziness...

On Wednesday, September 12th, the East Village will welcome its newest eatery in the form of Bait & Hook, located at 231 2nd avenue on the corner of 14th street. Bait & Hook will serve comfort seafood classics including: the signature Lobster Roll, smokey New England Clam Chowder and Lobster Mac & Cheese as well as original dishes like the Crab Chorizo Corn Pizza, Chicken Waffle Sandwich, bacon-topped Scallop Roll, White Clam Pizza and Shrimp Scampi Pizza, along with a fresh Raw Bar selection. Executive Chef Joe Bachman developed the no-nonsense menu for Bait & Hook, incorporating fresh, local ingredients to dish.

Bait & Hook offers a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere where seafood is the star. Diners can enjoy a reasonably priced meal without compromising high-end, quality cuisine and service. Bait & Hook provides the perfect destination for a quick bite, affordable date or a group gathering, with something on the menu to please everyone in your party. Including non-seafood items as well as vegetarian options.

"We wanted to open a place that offered New Yorkers an affordable, casual dining experience, with the feel of a seafood shack but the taste of an ocean-side eatery," said Executive Chef Joe Bachman.

With Labor Day behind us, Bait & Hook gives New Yorkers a chance to experience a summer treat all year long. The nautical-themed restaurant will transform the corner of 14th and 2nd into a New England hang out with a 23-foot bar serving 10-12 local craft beers and wines.

After stints at Park Avenue Café, Fulton and Neuman's Catering, where he created menus for high-profile clients like Angelina Jolie, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson, Executive Chef Joe Bachman was brought on to head the kitchen at Bait & Hook. Bachman brings his knack for creative dishes and high quality cuisine to the restaurant.

Bait & Hook will be both a neighborhood classic as well as popular New York City destination. Open seven days a week, serving lunch from 12PM-4PM and dinner from 5PM until late, Bait & Hook is an ideal spot to grab lunch on the go or a bite to eat after a long day of work with daily lunch and happy hour specials. The East Village location seats over 50 guests, allowing guests to enjoy the luxury of comfort-style seafood.

You can find the menu via the Bait & Hook website here.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Downtown, Sept. 11, 2012, 8:35 p.m.


Photo by jdx.

On the horizon


Photo by Bobby Williams.

Now you can buy all of 238 E. Fourth St.


You may recall that the lower portion (all 6,500 square feet) of 238 E. Fourth St. near Avenue B has been on the market for $8.5 million ... Now, as The Wall Street Journal reports today, the penthouse space is available as well ... meaning you can make this a single dream home for $12.4 million. Perhaps it will now be fit for Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz?

h/t Curbed

50-54 Second Ave. IS NOT FOR SALE

[Dated photo via the DJK website]

Yesterday, we noted that a listing appeared for 50-54 Second Ave. ... the six-story building going for $10 million.

However, Allan Gallaway, a senior VP with DJK Commercial Realty, told us this afternoon that the building is not for sale — the listing was a mistake at their end.

So, meanwhile, let's go to Pak Punjab or grab a pizza at Proto, which is quite good.

A prayer at Ladder Company 3 this morning


Ladder Company 3 on East 13th Street near Fourth Avenue lost 12 firefighters — half of its crew — on Sept. 11, 2001. Here's a profile on Company 3 via CBS News.

Photo by Amy Wasserman via Twitter.

154 Second Avenue starting to show off its girders

Two months have passed since we checked in on the progress at 154 Second Ave., where workers will be adding several new floors for "luxury rental apartments."

Kind of hard to say what's happening behind the scaffolding. EVG reader Terry Howell notes that most of July brought intermittent banging and knocking without much evidence of actual "construction."

Then! In early August, he noticed that workers delivered a pile of girders. Let's take a look at the latest photos that he shared...





Terry also hears that the remaining structure facade will not be kept — eventually it will all be demolished.

Here's what the address looked like in the 1940s, via Vanishing New York...


And one day...


Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

Noted

A reader sends this along... spotted in the lobby of a building owned by Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate... where there is an ongoing rat problem. Tenants are hopeful someone gets the hint...

Is a 99-cent store going into the Copper Building retail space on Avenue B?

[October 2010]

We've been curious about what would take the corner retail space here at the Copper Building on Avenue B and East 13th Street ... home of million-dollar penthouses.

There was an a rumor about a 7-Eleven opening here... But that is simply not true — the retail-space-for-lease ad specified no delis or laundromats.

In recent weeks, workers have put up brown paper on the windows... and we finally got a look inside.... Let's see, packages of undershirts...


... and plastic toys for kids...


Looks like a 99-cent type of store ... like the ones remaining around the corner on East 14th Street. We asked a broker here last week for information on the new tenant, but never heard back.

Previously.

Your work is done here, assholes

Here on East Seventh Street and First Avenue... someone broke off the 7-foot sunflower about to bloom... and there is a note for that person now...


Thanks to EVG reader Raquel Shapira for the photo...

What's coming to 201 First Ave.

Sa Aming Nayon, the Filipino restaurant that opened here on First Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street in June 2011, closed less than a year later this past spring...

Workers have been tooling around the space... several readers recently asked what was coming here... Time Out provided the answer several weeks ago. The place will be called Jeepney, from the people behind Maharlika down First Avenue at Seventh Street.

Per Time Out:

The young guns behind behind ... Maharlika will put a Pinoy twist on the gastropub this fall. To eat, find Southeast Asian-inflected plates, including a meat loaf with ground chorizo, duck-egg yolks and an heirloom-tomato gravy. Styled after the ubiquitous colorfully decorated WWII jeeps in the old country, called “jeepneys,” the 70-seat spot will be kitted out with hand-painted signs.

Shine on


A photo from Friday night... by Bobby Williams...

Monday, September 10, 2012

Chico's cab fare

Chico was at work today on a mural for the rolldown gate at Percy's on Avenue A at East 13th Street...

[Bobby Williams]

...and later...

[‏@danielleintheev]

How you can help protect the Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street

From the EV Grieve inbox from the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors...

[The proposed hotel]

Below are details sent from the Merchant's House Museum regarding an extremely important hearing that could indeed impact the structural safety of the city's only fully intact Federal-style rowhouse, the landmark Merchant's House Museum at 25 E. 4th St.

At issue is a proposal to build a 9-story hotel tower on the adjacent 27 E. 4th St., an enterprise that experts agree would have a devastating impact on the Merchant's House.

The Merchant's House is one of the city's most precious historic resources. In recent years, we have seen the destruction of Federal era houses at 35 Cooper Square, 135 Bowery, and in many other locations. Please come out on Tuesday to protect the Merchant's House and stop the inappropriate, out-of-context development that threatens it. — David Mulkins, Chair, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

------

After five postponements, the LPC hearing on the proposed 9-story hotel next door will be held on Tuesday, September 11, at 3:30 p.m. Location: Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor.

We've said it before, but we'll say it again: The proposed building is out of character with the East 4th Street block and is inappropriate to the historic context of the NoHo Historic District.

Until the 1880s, East 4th Street comprised a row of 13 red-brick and white-marble single-family homes stretching from Lafayette Street to Bowery. Each of these homes featured well-articulated facades and gardens in the rear.

Today, only the landmarked 1832 Merchant's House and 1845 Skidmore House, at 37 East 4th Street, survive to suggest the aesthetics and scale of the block during the mid-19th century.

The proposed 9-story, black glass building butting up against and towering over the delicate late-Federal/Greek revival Merchant's House would brutally shatter this vision.

Adding salt to our wound, the proposed development also poses a grave threat to the structural integrity of the Merchant's House. It's not a question of "if," but rather a question of "how much" damage to the exterior brick and the interior architectural elements will be incurred as a result of demolition and construction next door. According to experts, we can't afford to have the building shift, even one-eighth of an inch.

It's still not too late to help. Please send an email to the LPC urging them to reject the developer's plans. Click here for a template letter.

Find a petition here.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation provides more details here.

BoweryBoogie wrote about the planned hotel here.

[UPDATED] 50-54 Second Ave. on the market for $10 million

[Dated photo via the DJK website]

There's a new listing at the DJK website for 50-54 Second Avenue at East Third street. There isn't much information with the listing:

Location, Location, Location. Corner 6 story walkup building, 50'x40' with 10 apartments. Retail component of 2100 square foot can be delivered vacant. Portion vented.Excellent upside potential in extremely desirable East Village.

Streeteasy doesn't have any additional information, except for the price: $10 million. Chester Pechock is listed as the current landlord.

Have any tips about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

UPDATED: THE BUILDING IS NOT FOR SALE.

Have you seen St. Brigid's at night?


There are exterior lights on the East Eighth Street side of the church.


Spectacular. The renovations continue here at Avenue B, with an eye toward a possible October opening.

Previously.

Weeds and new medians on East Houston

Last month, we talked with a reader, who wondered how tall the weeds would get in the under-construction median on East Houston between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Flashback!


Well, crap. We went back with our measuring tape and found that...


...someone chopped down the weeds ... or they died.


But!

Walk a little further toward Avenue C... and the Field of Weeds picks up again...




Perfect location for our Fall Harvest Celebration!

As I've cut-and-pasted previously, the $60 million Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction is expected to end in the summer of 2014. The plan calls for the widening of sidewalks, enlarging of medians, installating new pavement markings and bicycle lanes from Second Avenue to FDR Drive and creating two new plaza areas.

And things look pretty good the closer you travel east toward the FDR...



Previously.

A note for real-estate brokers on East 12th Street

[Click to enlarge image]

"The tenants of this building are not responsible for helping you get into the building or assist you with renting apartment... Therefore, it is unacceptable for you to ring random buzzers all night. It is disturbing to residents who have an expectation of being left along by strangers."

Photo by Dave on 7th.

I Coppi is closed for now on East Ninth Street


I Coppi, the pleasant Italian eatery on East Ninth Street, is closed for now... Dave on 7th and William Klayer sent along the news this past weekend...There is a legal document on the door dated Friday... tough to make out, quite frankly...


This part of the court notice looks as if the restaurant owes $37,600 in rent...


The restaurant opened in 1998 ... and we understand that they might be relocating ... A side note, Porchetta/Porsena owner Sara Jenkins was the chef here back in the early days...

Photos by William Klayer.

St. Mark's Place soon to welcome new most popular business


Spotted last week between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.



[Bottom two photos via Bobby Williams]

Anticipation builds for new pop-up Halloween shop


Sign went up last week here at Halloween City, a pop-up shop in the Shoppes at Red Square on East Houston. We're looking forward to shopping here (no opening date noted just yet) after Halloween ...

EVG: So the Herman Munster costumes didn't move much this season, huh?

HC: That's Kris Humphries.


Seriously, though — Rock On. Or, Turn Heads. Or, Freak On.


Previously.

7-Eleven now giving its regards to Broadway!


Hey, the 7-Eleven that we first reported on here back in February (and almost the same headline!) on Broadway at East 12th Street opened Friday...

[Silence]

Meanwhile, have you noticed how much trash piles up outside the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place?


Anyway, the Axis of 11 is alive and well with four now around here... with more on the way, wouldn't you think?