The Izakaya opening a 2nd East Village location

The Izakaya NYC, the low-key Japanese tapas bar at 326 E. Sixth St. that opened in 2015, is ready to debut a off-shoot on Fourth Street — aptly called the Izakaya NYC on 4th.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy got a quick preview of the space between Avenue A and Avenue B on Wednesday evening...





They were expecting to be ready to open tonight at 215 E. Fourth St. Haven't seen the menu just yet.

The Izakaya team also operates Diner at Nowadays, the indoor-outdoor space on the border of Bushwick and Ridgewood.

No. 215 was previously Chouchou, the Mediterranean-Moroccan bistro that the Marshal seized last summer after two-plus years in business.

Report: Icon Realty made 5x what it paid in sale of 2 East Village buildings

[326-328 E. 4th St.]

A South Carolina-based investor bought two East Village buildings from Icon Realty Management for $30.9 million, The Real Deal reports.

The buildings: 82 Second Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street and 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to The Real Deal, the total price is nearly five times what Icon paid just a few years ago. "The Icon deal, which penciled out to more than $1 million per unit, is also further evidence of how quickly prices are escalating."

In November 2010, preservationists and local politicians unsuccessfully lobbied to landmark 326-328 E. Fourth St., the former Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, an artists’ collective and burial society.

The average price for a rental at No. 328 is $4,845, per Streeteasy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
How's life by 326-328 E. Fourth St. these days?

Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Icon EV now renting on East Fourth Street; anyone in the market for a 6-bedroom apartment?

[Bobby Williams]

The gut-renovated buildings at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D have a name — Icon EV. And the first units from developer Terrence Lowenberg and penthouse-making architect Ramy Issac are are now available for rent starting Sept. 1.

Here's the listing for the buildings over at Icon Realty:

Icon EV is a Brand New Boutique Rental Building located on East 4th street surrounded by a wide array of unique shops, restaurants, bars, and live music venues in New York City's famous East Village.

Distinctive architectural features such as black and white tiled hallways, oak paneled walls and elegant lighting were incorporated into the building's design to create a Classic New York Atmosphere. Residents can unwind, entertain and enjoy unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline from the building's Roof Top Sun Deck.

Apartments Feature:
• Open Gourmet Kitchens with carrera marble countertops, and stainless steel appliances

• Recessed lighting, crown and baseboard molding, and exposed brick walls

• Oversized windows which provide sun filled living spaces

• Wide plank ebony hardwood floors Marble bathrooms with wengay vanities

• Marble bathrooms with wengay vanities

• Premium Bosch Washer and Dryers

• Access to Roof top Sun Deck

Here's how the apartments look...

We found listings for a three-bedroom apartment priced at $4,250 and a two-bedroom unit for $3,500 at No. 326.

No. 328 seems to be the dormier of the pair. There's a six-bedroom apartment listed at Streeteasy for $8,000 ... and a more modest four-bedroom home for $6,000.

As the Times noted in September 2010, the 170-year-old buildings here (now with two extra floors) were an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple ... started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Almost working around the clock on developing 326-328 E. Fourth St.

On the August CB3/SLA docket: Pretty much every East Village storefront will soon be a bar

In August, the SLA & DCA Licensing Committee is the only Community Board 3 group to meet... on Aug. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the usual place — JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at Bowery.

Given the number of applicants, they may need to meet twice in August... there are 45 items in total. (Last August, there were just 16.)

Everyone wants a piece of the East Village Gold Rush... there's no stopping this until every business is a bar. Doesn't it seem that way? It's beyond out of hand.

Here's a look at just some East Village-related items... we don't have much information about any of these applicants just yet... The full rundown is at the CB3 website.

Renewal with Complaint History

• Affaire (Chow Main Corp), 240 E 4th St (aka 50 Ave B) (op)

• The Delancey (ADR Restaurant Inc), 168 Delancey St (op)

• UCB East (Upright Citizens Brigade East Village LLC), 155 E 3rd St (wb)

Sidewalk Café Application

• Mary Anns's (Vargomez Corp), 300 E 5th St

• Bareburger (Bare City Two LLC), 85 2nd Ave

Applications within Resolution Areas

• To be Determined, 172 Ave B (op)

This the is the rumored BBQ place coming to the former Mercadito Cantina space...

• Urge (Prince 28 LLC), 14 Ave B (op)

Ugh. No one will give up trying this space between East Second Street and Houston. CB3 shot down applicants hoping to open various clubs and brewpubs here in the past...

• Croissanteria (Croissanteria Inc), 68 Ave A (wb)

As mentioned yesterday...

• Caffe Buon Gusto (Ave B Buon Gusto Corp), 76 Ave B (wb)

They've been touting a bring your own bottle policy since opening...

• Seiei LLC, 130 St Marks Pl (wb)

Alterations

• NY Tofu House (6 St Marks Restaurant LLC), 6 St Marks Pl (wb/convert storage to dining room)

• Goat Town (511 E 5th St LLC), 511 E 5th St (op/extend front window hours)

• Lakeside Lounge (La Ritt Inc), 162-164 Ave B (op/add bar)

New Liquor License Applications

• Hi Collar (Sobaya Restaurant Inc), 214 E 10th St (wb)

The former Rai Rai Ken space...

• Café Himalaya (Norsang Café Inc), 78 E 1st St (wb)

[Bobby Williams]

• Shanasheel Corp, 124 E 4th St (wb)

This is the former Social Tees space... they moved to East Second Street last December...

• Ramen and Gyoza House Zen 6 (Zen 6 LLC), 328 E 6th St (wb)

• To be Determined, 224 E 10th St (wb)

Merciel is the boutique that sold wedding dresses... they recently closed, and something booze-related hopes to take its place.

• To be Determined, 139 E 12th St (wb)

Something coming to the long-closed D&M Convenience store at Third Avenue.

• Alder Restaurant LLC, 157 2nd Ave (op)

Hmm... this is the address for Plum Pizzeria and Bar...

• Feast (Two Guize LLC), 102 3rd Ave (op)

The New York Central Framing Annex has moved around the corner to East 12th Street... and a restaurant-bar is in the works for the old space...

• The Sterling Room, 189 E 3rd St (op)

This is the Le Caire Lounge space...

• To be Determined, 179 E 3rd St (wb)

Something in the works for the string of newly remodeled storefronts between Avenue A and Avenue B...

• To be Determined, 79 St Marks Pl (op)

Something new for the former Typhoon Lounge space... which closed in March.

Corporate Change (not heard at committee)

• Flea Market (Alouette Corp), 131 Ave A (op)

We discussed this matter back here.

• Spice Cove (CNR Enterprises NY Inc), 326 E 6th St (wb)

------

b=beer only | wb=wine & beer only | op=liquor, wine, & beer | alt=alterations |up=upgrades

Workers arrive to chop down trees at 326-328 E. Fourth St.

EV Grieve reader Ileana sends along these photos, noting the activity in front of 326-328 E. Fourth St. ... which is being prepped to become luxury housing...



"Tree service company came today to start cutting down the townhouse trees. As of this afternoon, they had not yet gotten to the mulberry trees in front that are growing out of the steps and provide East 4th street residents with delicious berries in June."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Sign marks start of renovations at 326-328 E. Fourth St.

Despite a lot of outreach and awareness by a variety of local politicians and preservations groups, the historic townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D continue their journey toward the luxury condo afterlife... EV Grieve reader Steve sends along photos of new signs up on the property...



The DOB issued work permits here back on Nov. 16 — the same day that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy held a rally and press conference to try to preserve these buildings...

As the standard sign reads, this project "will improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers." And later... "Here on 326-328 E. 4th Street a new apartment building is being built that will contribute to the lively community."



Two floors will be added here to create more luxury housing... Will this addition "contribute to the lively community"?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Read more abou tthe preservation efforts here.

At the rally to save 326 and 328 E. Fourth St.

Today at noon, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC), Councilmember Rosie Mendez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy held a rally and press conference ... You can check out more photos at the GVSHP Flickr page...

Per the GVSHP:

These houses were the first and only structures ever built on these sites and retain a remarkable level of original architectural detail. Having evolved from shipbuilding merchant’s homes to multi-family tenements to a synagogue to the home of an anarchist utopian arts collective, 326 & 328 East 4th Street capture New York and especially the East Village’s evolution over more than a century and a half. With all-too-few buildings in the East Village enjoying much-needed landmark protections, we must save 326 & 328 East 4th Street before it is too late!

You can read more about the ongoing conservation battle here.

And, um, any word on this from the Landmarks Preservation Commission?

Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Back in March, we wrote about the side-by-side townhouses for sale on East Fourth Street near Avenue D....



There's a new listing for two townhouses at 326-328 E. Fourth St. between Avenue C and Avenue D... 12 bedrooms in the two homes... and both buildings are going for $4.6 million... According to the listing:

Extraordinary Opportunity. Two side by side townhouses that have 46 feet of street frontage and a 46 foot by 50 foot rear garden await your vision, dreams and renovation. Extensive original details throughout the townhouses. These properties will be delivered vacant, are currently over 7,000 square feet and come with an additional 10,000 square feet of air rights. Beautifully located across community gardens and on a charming block. This could also be a development site or for institutional use.

As the Times reports today, this is home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler."

Per their article by Colin Moynihan:

For decades, the East Village has been home to countless avant-garde organizations and collectives, drawn to the area by its cultural vitality and low cost of living.

Those days of affordability, however, appear to have largely vanished, and over the last decade or so many of the creative groups that once had a home in the East Village have moved or become defunct.

Faced with tax liens, the group is selling the two old brick buildings on East Fourth Street near Avenue D that it has owned since 1974. The group is also beginning the complicated process of cataloging the contents.

The Times also notes that the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the East Village Community Coalition are working to to get landmark status here. "In letters to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the groups said the houses dated to around 1840 and retained original cornices, molded stone sills, windows and ironwork, among other features. 'That these houses have remained virtually unchanged in the past 170 years is miraculous and noteworthy,' the preservation groups wrote. 'That they could be lost to irresponsible development would be nothing short of tragic.'"

Read more about it at the NYPress.

Speaking of development, the campaign is well under way to sell the buildings. Per Blumstein at Corcoran:

Deep in the Alphabet lies a potential Gem of an investment. Two buildings, old and in disrepair, are on the market as a set. Just recently the price was reduced from $4,300,000 to $3,950,000.

What makes them so special is the air rights that come with the buildings – 17,630 buildable square feet. At the current asking price, that is $224 per square foot to buy. Even with good quality construction you could put up condos at under $700 a square foot, and the lowest condo (a resale) is on the market in the Alphabet for $800 a square foot with the average at $1,051 and the highs around $1,700 per square foot (The Copper Building is selling at 215 Ave B with the remaining units averaging around $1,256 a square foot). Given the 2-3 years minimum before completion, the fact that it would be new development and a likely upturning real estate market, a buyer/developer could be poised for considerable returns.

Anyway, the GVSHP has documentation showing "the house’s original owner built the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (nearby Avenue D was the East River’s edge, which in the early 19th century was full of working piers before shipping activity shifted to the wider and deeper Hudson); that in the late 19th century these houses were transformed from homes of successful merchants into tenements to house the waves of immigrants moving into the area; that in the early 20th century 326 and 328 East 4th Street were converted to house a Hungarian Synagogue."

Per the GVSHP:

YOU CAN HELP! Please write a letter to the city today urging the Commission to consider landmark designation for 326 and 328 East 4th Street right away, and to protect these remarkable survivors which capture so many important aspects of the evolving history of the East Village and New York — CLICK HERE for a sample letter and contact information.