No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no: Why the Mars Bar is closing (maybe)

That's it.

So, the Local East Village via Curbed is reporting that "BFC Partners, builders of luxury condos like Noho's 48 Bond and Downtown Brooklyn's Toren, plans to renovate part of [lower Second Avenue] and add new market-rate housing. This will cause the temporary closure of Mars Bar and its neighboring businesses."

From the Local East Village:

“They won’t choke me,” Hank Penza, the longtime owner of Mars Bar, said of the developers, adding, “I didn’t get off the boat yesterday with a pound of spaghetti in my hand.”

Mr. Penza said that he wasn’t too concerned about the lost revenue, noting that he’ll ultimately get a space that’s three to four times the size. The developers, he said, “are good people” — and that seemed enough for him.

BFC goes before CB3 tomorrow night with its plans, including combining the buildings along Second Avenue near First Street — "perhaps bringing the height all the way up to 12 stories."

So many questions. To be continued....

Eater sums it up nicely:

If a current plan to build low income housing on a parcel of land on lower 2nd Avenue is approved by Community Board 3, the borough president, and the City Council, it will lead to the two year shuttering and eventual rebuilding of famed East Village dive Mars Bar.

Everything inside St. Vincent's currently being auctioned off

I may try to buy an ambulance.

Per an EV Grieve reader: "The only thing sadder than a working hospital is the liquidation of one."

Here's the auction site — happening live right now.

Poll update

As of 2:57, the pro Shake Skackers hold a slim lead in the poll.. Vote here.

Minnie the McSorley's cat now has a Facebook page

Our friend Cat Sitter in the City passed along this, uh, tidbit...



Per Facebook: "I'm an adorable cat who's the target of a frivolous pawsuit."

Indeed! Read about the lawsuit here. Have you seen Minnie on YouTube yet?

Is a Minnie Twitter feed far behind?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

What you didn't know about A Repeat Performance on First Avenue (Neighborhoodr)

Lots of Red Square retail space available (BoweryBoogie)

Another Seventh Street tumor! (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A budget hotel with a Beaux-Arts exterior (Ephemeral NY)

A sad photo of a discarded teddy bear (Shawn Chittle)

For coverage of last night's CB3/SLA meeting, check out:
The Lo-Down

DNAinfo

Eater

Gothamist

And tonight...

Claim: 123 Third Avenue Reaches 'Sales Milestone' in 'East Union Square'

That's the word from the site Uniques Homes. According to the site:

After just two months on the market, 123 Third Avenue, the 47-unit condominium located on 14th Street and Third Avenue in New York City, is 55-percent sold. Following a sales launch in early September, 26 homes are in contract at the latest residential addition to East Union Square, reports exclusive sales and marketing agent Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

And!

The team surpassed the 50-percent mark at remarkable speed, which “speaks volumes to the desire for homes of this caliber in East Union Square,” said Elaine Diratz, of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Set at the nexus of Union Square, Greenwich Village, the East Village and Gramercy Park, East Union Square contains some of the best dining, parks, entertainment and shopping. The famed Greenmarket, Momofuku, Pure Food & Wine, Kiehl’s, and ABC Carpet & Home all provide the quintessential shopping and dining experience. New York is a cornucopia of different neighborhoods, but none with more “best of’s” than in East Union Square.

What if a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park?

The piece in the Times on Sunday about Seventh Street included the following passage:

Near the eastern end of this stretch is Tompkins Square Park, that wonderful 10.5-acre patch that continues to lure the bohemian legions yet resists gentrification against all odds. Originally planned as a farmers’ market, it has been used as a public park since the 1800s and has weathered many seasons since. On any given day, there might be a band making noise, codgers playing chess, schoolchildren all in a line, and a Police Department van slowly cruising through. The echoes of demonstrators yelling “Die, Yuppie Scum” may be very faint these days, but there is no Shake Shack ... yet.

The mention of Shake Shack in the East Village prompted a sudden pain in my groin. In the comments, Jeremiah Moss noted: "the writer is practically begging for a Shake Shack in Tompkins Square Park."

Does the author know something that we don't? Or is this just wishful thinking?

So... what if a big, mooing cash cow of a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park ... just like the one in Madison Square Park?



As Jeremiah recently wrote: "We know what happens when popular, higher end businesses are introduced into a neighborhood. Like the mongoose and gypsy moth, they have a powerful and irreversible effect on the ecosystem."

What would the release of a Shake Shack mean to the Tompkins Square Park and East Village ecosystem? [The poll actually works now! Vote early and often!]

Shack attack! What would you think about a Shake Shake opening in Tompkins Square Park? The end is near Are there Shake Shacks in Greenland? I will fight like hell to make sure it never opens Who cares, we lost the war a long time ago I actually like Shake Shake and would welcome it Do these granny jeans make me look fat? view results

There are 6 LES apartments on the market for more than $7,500 a month

You know last week we had that post on the $30,000-a-month apartment on East First Street, which we figured was the highest-ever rental in the neighborhoood... The B@C (Blumstein at Corcoran) real estate blog had more on the topic... and Team B@C confirmed this:

"I’ve looked in Corcoran’s system, and despite one apartment that was briefly listed as a $2,150,000/month 1 BR (likely off by a factor of 1,000) it would indeed by the highest rent commanded in the area.

"No matter where you are in the city, rents like these mean you are getting something unique and/or huge. While there is only one other apartment over $20,000 currently (or ever) on the market, 6 tip the scales at $7,500 or more per month. For an area as big as the EV/LES this is a reasonable number of high end apartments. With a relatively low apartment density and as most buildings are 100 years old and chopped into studios, 1 and 2 bedrooms, rentals like this are rare to come by. Comparatively, the Upper East Side currently has 83 units over $7,500/mo, and the Upper West Side has 70. Of course, both these neighborhoods are relatively large, have many more mid-high rises and with locations (of some) right on Central Park they command high premiums."

Here is a listing of the six $7,500-plus apartments in the Lower East Side available now.

East Side Gourmet Deli closes on Avenue B

The East Side Gourmet Deli, formerly known as Cibao's, has closed on Avenue B at Fourth Street... Papi and company cleaned out the store on Saturday...




We don't know why the market closed ... perhaps the competition from the new salad tossers at East Village Finest Deli across the street... Anyway, some longtime residents on Avenue B recall the 1980s when there were other items for sale and what not in the back room here...

Healthy choice?

Last week, Urban Roots, the natural foods store on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street, shuttered without much notice...

Over the weekend, a sign for a competing health food store — Healthfully Organic Market on East Fourth Street — suddenly appeared...



Unless the two stores are owned by the same people, this move seems rather tacky...

Holiday wishes

Avenue A near 12th Street.

More holiday wishes

Alphabets on Avenue A.

Noted

On St. Mark's Place late this afternoon via @JimGaffigan

The Ross Global Academy Charter School placed on closure list

The Ross Global Academy Charter School on East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue was one of 12 "failing" schools that NYC officials said should be phased out. According to reports, the school has had six principals in five years.

The Wall Street Journal has more on Ross here.

Virage closed for renovations this week

EV Grieve reader ~evilsugar25 reports that Virage is closed on Seventh Street and Second Avenue...



The sign offers an explanation...

4:47 p.m., Orchard Street, Dec. 6

Photo courtesy of Shawn Chittle.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

Dining at Polonia: "This place is not going to attract any douchebag crowds anytime soon, so don't fret" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Motorino team planning eatery under the Sunshine Hotel (The Lo-Down)

A comprehensive history of Dry Dock and St. Brigid's (EV Transitions)

NYC in photos from different eras (Flaming Pablum)

5 things disappearing from New York (Blah Blog Blah)

The "ice pick bandit" has been apprehended (Runnin' Scared)

"Castle" on Canal Street (BoweryBoogie)

Taking a stand against NYU expansion (Gothamist)

Looking at Time Square's transition (Curbed)

Melanie has a shot of an @EVLambo competitor from earlier this year (East Village Corner)

Judging the Mr. Lower East Side pageant (Slum Goddess)

And the Times apparently didn't accept BaHa's online comment on the Seventh Street feature. We have accepted it:

"Ageist, youth-worshipping twaddle, standard issue for NYT reporting whenever it ventures downtown."

Tonight: Umbrella House Convenes

Bob Arihood hospitalized

Jefferson Siegel from The Villager and Daily News passed along the following information...

The East Village may not see Bob Arihood in front of Ray's for a while, or see updates to his blog, because Bob was hospitalized early Friday for an ongoing condition he's had for years. On Sunday doctors started running some tests and by early this coming week they should have a clearer diagnosis and be able to formulate a plan of treatment. Right now Bob doesn't want to name the hospital. We speak daily so I'll keep you posted on developments.

We wish Bob the best... and hope to see him back soon outside Ray's...

[Photo of Bob via The New York Times/Jessica Dimmock]

Miracles in real-estate listings: The two renovated apartments that look exactly alike

Last week, we pointed out the newly renovated apartments at 222 Avenue B were now on the market... Here's the listing...



And here's what the listing shows for the bathroom and living room...




This must be a popular interior look.... As an eagle-eyed reader notes, these very same photos are also used for a newly renovated Lower East Side apartment listed at CitiHabitats...



Either real estate agencies are using stock photos... or, perhaps, someone is using the wrong photos...

Anyway, not sure where those double-doors lead to at 222 Avenue B... just looks like one door to me...

Nuyorican Poets Café is expanding; plus, looking at the Big Doves mural next door

In its East Third Street report last Friday, The Wall Street Journal noted that Nuyorican Poets Café "is in the process of expanding its three upper floors with the help of a $500,000 grant received from the city. The money is going toward developing additional performance space, a classroom and a multimedia lab."



Meanwhile, in July 2009, I did a post about Ezo's Clash-inspired mural being painted over... granted, the mural was nicked up...still, as a Clash fan, I was sorry to see it go...




Anyway, been meaning to point out the new murals here. These arrived last summer... Excellent work from Big Doves...

Bowery Poetry Club opens a pop up shop for the holidays

The Bowery Poetry Club is now featuring a Pop Up Shop for artists and vendors through Dec. 24... Poet/artist Sam Jablon is coordinating ... He says the art exhibit part is almost filled. "We are looking for vendors to pay some rent, and sell their crafts/goods for the holiday season."

Interested vendors may contact Jablon at: samuel@samueljablon.com

Cooper Square Hotel ready for chilly reception

Winterizing at the Coop.

Meanwhile, as Jeremiah reported on Friday, there's rumor that the SoHo Grand Hotel team has bought the troubled Cooper Square Hotel.

More dessert for former Ben & Jerry's space?

Paper is up at the former Ben & Jerry's space on Third Avenue and NYU... which closed back in September, as Jeremiah reported. (Ben and Jerry's closed, not NYU.) There aren't any permits on file for this space... still, it appears some work has been going on here... Prime location.... Can't imagine that we're in for any surprises here... It has to be dessert related, don't you think?

No more Lil' Monsters on East 10th Street

Not sure exactly when Lil' Monsters, the pet care and animal rescue, shuttered at 279 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue...


They opened last year around this time... I actually had to remove the post for a time. I was getting bombarded with e-mails and comments from people in North Carolina. For some reason, they seemed to think I owned the space and was responsible for kidnapping their pets. Seriously.

ConEd laying cable on Avenue B

Swung by 7B for a drink tonight... and Avenue B between Seventh Street and Sixth Street is closed right now... A ConEd worker said they were "replacing cable." I had a tough time finding a place to park my car because of this.*


*Kidding, Jesus! Kidding about driving, that is. I mean, ConEd is really working there.

This is the cat that allegedly attacked a New Jersey woman at McSorley's

Thanks to the reader who passed along this adorable YouTube link of Minnie at McSorley's... Previously.

3:57 p.m., Fourth Street, Dec. 5

Looking east to Avenue D.

Summer of Bedbugs moves into the Winter of Bedbugs

The other night on St. Mark's Place. By Samuel Mark.

Xoom holding a coat and cold weather clothing drive

From the EV Grieve inbox...

This coming week, Xoom, the smoothie shop on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, will be having a coat and cold weather clothing drive for the The Hetrick-Martin Institute. Hetrick provides free programs and services to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people in New York City. Please bring gently worn or new coats, sweaters, hats, scarves, etc. to Xoom Monday-Friday and they will deliver them to Hetrick.

If you have any questions, you can call the store 212-505-9666 or e-mail Jennifer the owner at jenn@xoomjuice.com.

Lawsuit blockbusters! Cat scratch fever at McSorley's

The Post has this catty exclusive today....

A New Jersey woman has kicked up a feline fury at the 156-year-old McSorley's Old Ale House, by filing a lawsuit claiming she was viciously attacked by the venerable bar's pet cat and had to be hospitalized.

Cheryl Sibley, 53, of Hasbrouck Heights, says she suffered the mini-mauling in October 2009, according to papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week.

The suit doesn't say exactly how the terrible tabby made a meal of Sibley.

But the woman claims the "live animal" attack left her with "serious injuries" that required medical care, the court papers state.

Gothamist has more photos of Minnie.

[Minnie photo via the Post]

Paging Yukon Cornelius

Outside the Bean on First Avenue and Third Street.

Dear Mercedes-Benz owner,

Please move your car.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

People who use the bike lane

No shit

Third Avenue near 10th Street.

20,000 Leagues Under Avenue A

Frosty is lit up, so to speak

First Avenue near Fifth Street.

Stolen Cost art fetches $4,200 on eBay

As I reported, the Cost Showpaper box turned up missing on Second Avenue near Houston. Gothamist noted earlier this week that the item turned up on eBay.

The bidding ended today...looks like it fetched $4,200.



[Top photo via AWKWORD]

Newspapers continue discovering East Village streets

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported on East Third Street, noting that the area is becoming a nightlife destination, which doesn't always make some longtime locals happy.

Meanwhile, The Real Estate Section in the Times checks in with a piece on Seventh Street titled "Musty Old, Clever Young East Seventh Street."

This is a stretch of the East Village that has enchanted local publications for centuries. For instance, Time Out featured Seventh Street last February.

Anyway!



Unfortunately, I didn't make it past the fourth paragraph of the Times article ... with the scene described at Abraço...

"A lanky Italian with one leg of his corduroys tucked into an argyle sock leaned against a tall, skinny wooden table on the sidewalk, sipping from a demitasse and reading The Financial Times. Inside, a rumpled young man lingered in the open window, wearing homesickness for Brazil on his comely face. At his elbow, a middle-aged woman in matte red lipstick and a hand-knit snood was eyeing the cured olive cookies and chatting about the charms of her East Village neighborhood.

Behind the small counter, one of the proprietors, Jamie McCormick, worked his La Marzocco machine and called greetings to his regulars. “Where you been?” Mr. McCormick said to a reedy young man in a motorcycle jacket with a striped scarf tossed loosely around his neck. “You been on tour?”

Whoa! This is a dangerous level of adjectives. Let's toss a few of them into Wordle!



Oops. I don't think I put them back correctly.

"A hand-knit Italian with one leg of his corduroys tucked into a wooden sock leaned against a skinny argyle table on the sidewalk, sipping from a demitasse and reading olive cookies. Inside, a rumpled scarf lingered in the open window, wearing homesickness for Brazil on his middle-aged face. At his elbow, a comely woman in striped red lipstick and a lanky snood was eyeing the reedy Financial Times and chatting about the charms of her tall neighborhood.

Behind the young counter, one of the proprietors, Jamie McCormick, worked his La Marzocco machine and called greetings to his regulars. “Where you been?” Mr. McCormick said to a cured young man in a motorcycle jacket with a matte small man tossed loosely around his neck. “You been on tour?”