Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with some hoops at Sara D. Roosevelt Park via Stacie Joy) ...

• Two bystanders shot after a nearby argument escalated to gunfire in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday)

• 1 year after building fire, A&C Kitchen grandly reopens on Avenue C (Wednesday) 

• Housing lottery underway for units in this new building on 10th Street (Monday)

• The NYPL's archive of the legendary East Village Eye now available to the public (Tuesday) 

• 'Americans in Paris' at the new Grey Art Museum on Cooper Square (Friday) 

• Architectural sculpture digest: A look at some unique 'Houses and Hotels' at O’Flaherty's (Thursday)

• A familiar face returns to Key Food (Wednesday) 

• Coming attractions: The 'Kim's Video' documentary debuts at the Quad on April 5 (Thursday) 

• Full reveal at 14 Avenue C, where the team behind The Commodore is opening a new outpost (Monday)

• An update from G's Cheesesteaks, opening May 1 on Avenue B and Houston (Thursday) 

• This day on the Bowery in 2007 (Thursday) 

• Your faceless Charlie Brown mural update from 12th Street (Tuesday) 

• Boris & Horton reopens on Avenue A (Tuesday)

• Openings: Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) ... Not as Bitter brings the fresh fruit lattes to 10th Street (Tuesday) 

• PLNT Burger closes its Union Square outpost (Monday) 

• Meet Belvedere, the Russian tortoise (Thursday) 

• Perk Espresso & Coffee Bar closes on 14th Street (Monday)

• Goodbye Dolly (Monday) 

• Awash in debt, Body Shop shuts down operations (Tuesday) 

... and a post we didn't get around to posting this past week... Starlight Convenience coming to 110 Third Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street... (bring back the Variety Theater!)

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1 year after building fire, A&C Kitchen grandly reopens on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Great news for fans of A&C Kitchen — the longtime quick-serve and affordable Chinese restaurant reopened yesterday at 136 Avenue C after more than a year on the sidelines. (H/T Ryan John Lee for the first report.)

Mr. Li, who has owned the business for 30-plus years, was happy to see many returning customers...

It had been a rough 13 months here. 

On Feb. 27, 2023, a two-alarm fire broke out behind the building between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. Initial reports blamed a "lit object" discarded from a window down to the courtyard. 

The fire destroyed a ground-floor apartment. A&C Kitchen sustained some water damage — mostly in its basement. 

However, as we understand it, the gas was shut off as a precaution, and it took some time (and red-tape cutting) to get all the proper approvals in place ... and the various inspections.

We've mentioned this before: One of the original chefs from Dojo works here, and the menu includes such old favorites as the hijiki tofu burger. 

Find the restaurant's website here. For phone orders: (212) 677-8112. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The owner of A&C Kitchen on Avenue C would like to reopen his business now

Restaurants can now apply to participate in NYC's new outdoor dining program

Workers removed the curbside dining structure outside the 

former Huertas space on 1st Avenue last week. Photo by adammash

A new era for the city's permanent outdoor dining program began yesterday.

And you may not noticed — yet. Yesterday marked the first day that food service establishments could start applying online to join the Dining Out NYC program. (Apply here.)

City officials released the new guidelines, "Dining Out NYC," early last month. As previously noted, the significant change is that enclosed, year-round roadway dining structures will no longer be permitted. The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle. Additionally, these establishments are restricted to operating only from April through November. 

According to city officials, if restaurants plan to offer diners open-air options, owners will have to remove their old outdoor dining setups and replace them by the summer. 

"We're getting outdoor dining right, getting sheds down, getting trash off our streets, and fundamentally changing what it feels like to be outside in New York City," Mayor Adams said in a statement yesterday announcing the new dining portal.

Per the city's release announcing "Dining Out NYC" ...

Final program rules include clear design requirements, siting criteria on where outdoor dining setups can be located in relation to other street features, like subway entrances, fire hydrants, and more, and the types of materials that can be used in outdoor setups. They also require that the setups preserve clear sidewalk paths and emergency roadway lanes — including water-filled, rat-resistant protective barriers for roadway setups — and use easily moveable furniture and coverings. Ultimately, the final rules will create a lighter-weight outdoor dining experience with lines of sight, as compared to the fully enclosed shacks of the temporary COVID-19-era program. 

This link has guidelines for roadway and sidewalk dining.

Meanwhile, last week, the city unveiled a prototype for a new style of outdoor dining structure. One of the test-pilot restaurants was Sunday to Sunday on Orchard Street.  

As for the existing structures that went up during the pandemic, per CBS 2: "Any restaurant participating in the temporary outdoor dining program that does not apply to join Dining Out NYC by the deadline will need to remove their structures after Aug. 3."

The city's first public e-bike charging site for delivery workers unveiled on Cooper Square

City officials yesterday: 

... activated the first of five public e-battery charging locations as part of the city's new six-month pilot program to test safe, public charging of lithium-ion batteries by an initial group of 100 delivery workers. The first charging site is located in Cooper Square ... and is a key component of the administration's overall “Charge Safe, Ride Safe: New York City's Electric Micromobility Action Plan" to support safe e-bike use and prevent deadly lithium-ion battery fires. New York City is among the first major cities in the United States to launch a public e-bike charging pilot program.

The Essex Market will also receive an e-bike charging station in the coming weeks. 

Per the Times:

During the pilot program, up to 100 delivery workers can volunteer to use the charging hubs for free and provide feedback to the city. The program will cost about $950,000 in city funding. Its results will inform the city’s efforts "to expand safe and affordable e-battery charging to all New Yorkers," city transportation officials said.

The new charging sites come amid ongoing concerns over fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries.

According to ABC 7 and other media outlets, 18 people died, and 150 people were injured in 268 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in NYC last year. 

Last Friday, 27-year-old journalist Fazil Khan was killed and 22 others injured during a fire in a six-floor apartment building in Harlem. FDNY officials said the fire started in an apartment shared by six delivery workers charging lithium-ion batteries. 

Meanwhile, the Times pointed out that the city received "a $25 million federal grant last year to install 173 outdoor charging stations for e-bikes and other e-mobility devices at 53 of the city’s subsidized public housing complexes, but none have been built yet."

It will likely be months before you see any signs of these, The City reported.

And another angle brought up in Streetsblog's coverage:

When it comes to electric charging infrastructure for cars, DOT has been able to install 100 chargers at sidewalks in all five boroughs within 18 months, and the agency is eyeing tens of thousands more in the coming decade, Streetsblog reported. 

Nevertheless, the asked why it appeared to be easier for the agency to accommodate electric cars than e-bikes, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Commissioner contended it was not more challenging to set up the e-bike infrastructure.

Photos courtesy of the DOT

Tuesday morning in review

Photo from 9th and A by Steven 

Waking to a slushy snowfall this morning... as the entire NYC metropolitan area and northeast corridor remains under a Winter Storm Warning (the first in two years) until 6 p.m. 

Readers have reported gusty winds and sloppy sidewalks... though not close to the 4-8 inches forecast (yet).

Meanwhile, flames were spotted coming from a manhole on the southbound lane of Avenue A between Sixth Street and Seventh Street ... as the salty runoff caused some sparks here... the FDNY was quickly on the scene. 

Thanks to EVG reader Emma for this clip...

 

... and a shot with Con Ed and the FDNY via Derek Berg...

Updated 5 p.m. 

We've heard from several readers about the stubborn (and dramatic) manhole fire ... the FDNY (with Con Ed) eventually had to clear out part of (half of?) the open-air curbside space at Kazuza Lounge...

Jolene set to close soon on Great Jones

Updated 2/9: Jolene closes on Feb. 10.

ICYMI: Jolene, the bistro-cafe at 54 Great Jones St. between the Bowery and Lafayette, will close soon.

Gabriel Stulman, founder of the West Village-based restaurant group Happy Cooking Hospitality, made the announcement last week. 

Per the media alert that we received:

I'm writing to break the news that Jolene will be closing soon. We have had to write a letter like this before, and it never gets easier — but the experience has only strengthened my belief that we learn as much from our experiences that don't succeed as the ones that do. 

We didn't go looking for the restaurant that is Jolene, it found us. My kids went to school with the grandchild of the building owner. Over drop-off one day, a connection was made that unlocked the doors. We loved the tiny space and the block with its proud fire station... 

... we're leaving with our heads held high and we hope that all the good mojo will make the next keyholders of 54 Great Jones a storied success. 

Stulman started here with The Jones, an all-day cafe that opened in August 2019... changing concepts to Jolene, named after the Dolly Parton song, in May 2021.

The closing had been rumored since an application landed on the Community Board 2 website (PDF here) last month for a new concept via Eric Kruvant and Darin Rubell, who operate Mister Paradise on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

Before The Jones, No. 54 was home to the Great Jones Cafe, which never reopened after Jim Moffett, the longtime owner, died in July 2018 at age 59. The Cafe, a popular yet low-key spot, first arrived in 1983.

City unveils the final rules for the permanent outdoor dining program

Workers remove the curbside dining structure from Phebe's on Jan. 27 

The final rules for the city's permanent outdoor dining program, set to launch next month, are now in the books. 

On Friday, city officials released the new guidelines, titled "Dining Out NYC." The significant change: Enclosed, year-round roadway dining structures will no longer be permitted. The revised regulations stipulate that roadway cafes must now be open-air, easily portable, and simple to assemble and dismantle. Additionally, these establishments are restricted to operating only from April through November. 

According to city officials, if restaurants plan to offer diners open-air options, owners will have to remove their old outdoor dining setups and replace them by the summer. 

Per the city's release announcing "Dining Out NYC" ...

Final program rules include clear design requirements, siting criteria on where outdoor dining setups can be located in relation to other street features, like subway entrances, fire hydrants, and more, and the types of materials that can be used in outdoor setups. They also require that the setups preserve clear sidewalk paths and emergency roadway lanes — including water-filled, rat-resistant protective barriers for roadway setups —– and use easily moveable furniture and coverings. Ultimately, the final rules will create a lighter-weight outdoor dining experience with lines of sight, as compared to the fully enclosed shacks of the temporary COVID-19-era program. 

"This administration has found a way to continue outdoor dining in New York City while prioritizing cleanliness,' said New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch. "Under these rules, New Yorkers will be asking for a table, and the rats will be saying, 'Check, please!'"

 This link has guidelines for roadway and sidewalk dining.

Meanwhile, Kazuka at 107 Avenue A has brought the booths outside for some open-air hookah action here near Seventh Street... 

ll

These East Village tenants held a dance party to call out their landlord's sewage treatment

This past Tuesday, East Village residents and their supporters gathered outside 256 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue to call on their landlord for safe building conditions. 

The newly formed EV Scharfman Coalition, along with the Cooper Square Committee, was behind this "Scharfman, Cut The Sh*t!" Dance Party. NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and Assembly Member Harvey Epstein also spoke on behalf of the tenants.

Some background, per Cooper Square officials: 

Tenants of landlord Mark Scharfman are calling on their landlord to meet with them as they've requested, stop taking tenants to court for legally withholding rent during sewage flooding, treat them respectfully, and provide safe, sanitary living conditions. 

After three rounds of sewage flooding in one East Village building and similar issues in another building, several responses from the fire department, and requests for repairs and maintenance unanswered or seriously delayed, tenants have banded together to bring attention to the terrible conditions they've lived through as well as their experiences with their landlord and management company as some now face housing court because they legally withheld rent for unlivable conditions. 

Mark Scharfman, the owner of the buildings and a landlord associated with close to 150 buildings in NYC, many of which are managed under his Beach Lane Property Management Company, has been accused of tax fraud by multiple organizations, serious maltreatment of tenants, and more for years. In addition, Scharfman has been on the Public Advocate's Worst Landlord List, coming in at number 44 in 2021 and number 28 in 2020.

"The conditions that these tenants have suffered through, including fecal matter entering into their apartments, is beyond the pale," said Cooper Square Committee organizer Illapa Sairitupac. "Scharfman has an obligation to listen to his tenants and keep his buildings in good repair at the very minimum. We demand he take them seriously."

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cooper Square Committee (@coopersquare)

EVG Etc.: Remembering Wayne Kramer; celebrating Black History Month

Early evening view from 2nd Avenue

• RIP Wayne Kramer of the MC5 (Pitchfork ... The Associated Press... Detroit Free Press) 

• New York eyes rule changes to hire thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers who have legal work status in the U.S. (Bloomberg ... Gothamist) 

• Police seek four men who robbed the market on Eighth Street at Avenue D (CBS 2 ... The Post)

WANTED ROBBERY: 1/31/24 @NYPD9pct @ 8:00 AM inside 403 E 8 St four unidentified individuals approached a store employee. One of the individuals displayed a firearm & the others proceeded to remove currency & tobacco products from the deli. Any info call us at 800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/cj8PBdb5u7

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) February 1, 2024

• Gov. Hochul called the rollout of New York's cannabis program a "disaster" (The City) 

• Celebrating Black History Month at the Abrons Art Center on the Lower East Side (Official site) ... take a guided tour of African American history in the East Village (Village Preservation)

• Inside the new exhibit, called "A Union of Hope," at the Tenement Museum (PIX11 ... official site) 

• Veselka has closed its outpost in the Market Line food hall on the LES after five years (Eater) 

• Inside the home of a yoga instructor on St. Mark's Place (Curbed)

• East Village students call for a ban on horse carriages in the city (The Village Sun)

• Sietsema praises the Thai dishes at the newish Rynn, 105 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue  (Eater) 

• A quickie review of Potenza Centrale on Avenue B (The Infatuation ... previously on EVG) 

• A tiny Orthodox synagogue, a relic of the old Jewish Lower East Side, struggles to survive (NY Jewish Week) 

• Yu and Me Books reopens on Mulberry Street after fire (NY1 ... NBC 4) 

• Check out NYC's new garbage truck (Gothamist)

• Next up in the 35mm series at the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue and 12th Street — "Casablanca" on Feb. 12 (Official site) 

• Vaya con Dios! It's the North American premiere of a new 4K restoration of... of "Point Break"! (Metrograph) Too cerebral? You could also see "Alphaville."

 

Amid an influx of asylum seekers in the East Village, elected officials urge the city to open more reticketing centers

Photos last week by Stacie Joy

City Council leaders say the Adams administration needs to create more reticketing centers in NYC to meet the demand created by the Mayor's 30- and 60-day shelter limit stays. 

The letter, signed by District 2 Councilmember Carlina Rivera, House Speaker Adrienne E. Adams, and Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, calls the situation at the city's lone center, located at the former St. Brigid School on Seventh Street and Avenue B, "untenable and increasingly unmanageable." 

The lines here are only getting longer as more asylum seekers arrive here to reapply for a cot assignment or shelter location. Those in the line have been evicted due to the city's shelter limit, implemented late last year, which is 60 days for families and 30 days for individuals.

As previously reported, the long lines often result in many people being unable to enter before the site closes, forcing some to sleep outside the building or in Tompkins Square Park, where the city removed the public restrooms on Jan. 9.

Here's more from the letter: 

With more than one center and a consideration for locations in each borough, the City can ensure people do not stand on line in the cold without access to even basic facilities like bathrooms. Multiple locations would also ensure that people are closer to culturally competent, community-based programs and services. 

Volunteers with LESReady!, a Lower East Side nonprofit with organizing and service-provision experience, have identified four potential sites in Council District 2 alone that could support overflow pending the City's approval. It is important that we provide the same services available at St. Brigid's at these additional locations and ask that the managing agencies also do more to provide translation services for both those seeking asylum and the local police precincts who help with the crowds present. 

And... 

Currently, having one reticketing center has not only led to physical capacity concerns, it has created a burden on the adjacent local community and its public spaces. Resources are needed to keep up with quality of life issues. It appears that efficiency at St. Brigid's has been in decline, with travel hardships and the overall cost-effectiveness of the process in place in question. Public safety concerns have increased without a support network available even locally to those waiting. 

Line-cutting has been an ongoing issue. Other problems have been observed by officials and residents ... which likely prompted this newly posted Reticketing Center Code of Conduct. (The city published the Code in multiple languages.) 

The 18 points covered include "ignoring directions from staff and City partners" and "setting fire to anything."

The letter concludes with the Council leaders urging the city to act "quickly and compassionately in creating a better system for the thousands of people coming to St. Brigid's for assistance."

Since October, the former school has operated as a Reticketing Center overseen by the NYC Emergency Management (formerly the Office of Emergency Management or OEM).

According to published reports, the city has spent more than $3 billion on housing and services for asylum seekers since the spring of 2022. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

Observations on the growing humanitarian crisis with asylum seekers in the East Village

Kestrel-eye view of Tompkins Square Park

Thanks to EVG reader Jeremy Schipper for this photo by Tompkins Square Park...

(And one more fire-escape shot and we will have a trends piece!)

Sunday's opening shot

EVG reader John M. discovered a visitor on his fire escape the other morning... per Goggla, this is a juvenile Cooper's hawk ... and for John M. a nice start to the day...

RIP Vinie Burrows

Vinie Burrows, an acclaimed actress and activist who lived in the East Village in Village View along First Avenue, died on Dec. 25. She was 99. 

From her obituary:

Burrows began her Broadway career in the 1950s, starring alongside Ossie Davis in "The Wisteria Trees." She continued to perform on Broadway for several years, appearing in such shows as "The Green Pastures," "The Skin of Our Teeth," and "The Blacks." But Burrows became frustrated with the narrow range of roles available to Black women, and she left Broadway to pursue a solo career in one-woman shows. 

Burrows' one-woman Off-Broadway show, "Walk Together Children," was critically acclaimed and continued as an international tour after its initial run. She went on to perform other one-woman shows, including "Sister! Sister!" "Dark Fire" and “The Great White Way: The Story of Rose McClendon." 

In 2020, she was honored with an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement. Burrows was also an activist who represented the Women's International Democratic Federation at the United Nations.  

As the Amsterdam News reported, Burrows "once noted that her greatest role in life was the one she performed for truth and justice." 

She has been the subject of several tributes in recent days...

Vinie Burrows, an actress who made her mark on Broadway in the 1950s but who grew frustrated by how few choice roles were available for Black women and turned her focus to one-woman shows exploring the legacies of racism and sexism, has died at 99. https://t.co/qakbhiKE74

— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 5, 2024

... including this piece in The New Yorker titled The Many Lives of Vinie Burrows. 

Here's a video message from Burrows from April 2020...

   

Burrows is survived by her son and daughter, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

Documenting the demolition of Middle Collegiate Church

As we noted on Friday, workers finished removing the rest of the sidewalk bridge from the SE corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue, marking the end of the demolition on the Middle Collegiate Church property.

Here's a look at the space now as church officials focus on the next phase of their return to the East Village. (They hold services from their temporary home — East End Temple, 245 E. 17th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. )

Tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, Committee Board 3's Landmarks Committee will hear about a Certificate of Appropriateness for the Middle Collegiate's space at 50 E. Seventh St. (seen below next door to Van Leeuwen) with changes to windows, siding, skylight and the rooftop unit.

By December, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at No. 50.

In recent weeks, EVG correspondent Steven documented the work on the church lot. Middle Collegiate leaders considered this a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers sifted through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that would eventually rise on the property.

In these photos, you can see that workers marked the stones that will be reassembled and used for the new construction.

As previously reported, church leaders said they had to remove what remained on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property. 

The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." 

As for the future of this lot, this is from the Rebuilding Middle Church FAQs:

We aim to have completed our roughly $15MM campaign with cash, grants, and pledges by December 2025. Funds will create Middle's Center for Spirituality, Justice, and the Arts on the site of its historic 1892 former building that can support transformational ministry for centuries to come...

Previously

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from 7th Street at 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg) ...

• Longtime East Village sewing shop Gizmo will be relocating in early 2024 (Wednesday) 

• 2024 marks the 50th year in business for Ray's Candy Store (Monday) 

 • The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed (Friday)

• 2 NYPD officers sustain minor injuries after line cutters cause skirmish at reticketing outpost for asylum seekers on 7th Street (Saturday) 

• 2024 development watch: 33-37 1st Ave. (Tuesday) ... 42-46 2nd Ave. (Wednesday) ... 50-64 3rd Ave. (Thursday)... 280 E. Houston St. (Friday) ... 

• Jen the bookseller closes the book on her Avenue A vending days (Thursday) 

• Le Dive owners looking to take over the Boiler Room space on 4th Street (Thursday)

• About those New Year's Eve fireworks (Monday) 

• Glizzy's has left St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Closings: Milk Burger on Houston (Tuesday) 

• Patis Bakery bringing the bread to Broadway (Tuesday) 

• Yuca Bar closed for renovations on 7th and A (Thursday) 

... and an EVG reader shared this photo from the dog run in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... titled Dogs Frolicking In 1st Snowfall of 2024...

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

The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed

Photo by Steven 

This morning, workers finished removing the rest of the sidewalk bridge from the SE corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue, marking the end of the demolition on the Middle Collegiate Church property.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us this was expected to be a two-to-three-month job. It turned out to be about a month and a half, as work started on Nov. 20.

Lewis also explained that it would be a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers sifted through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property. (We will post some of the in-progress photos next week.)

As previously reported, church leaders said they had to remove what remained on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property. 

The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." 

By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

Development watch: 50-64 3rd Ave. (and TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen is still open)

Demoliton prep continues on the west side of Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street, where six buildings will come down in the months ahead. 

As we first reported, a residential complex is expected to rise along this parcel — 50-64 Third Ave. (See the rendering here.) 

Per previous reports, Kinsmen Property Group — a joint venture between State Building Group and another Toronto company, Madison Group — bought the walk-up buildings over the past three years, paying more than $60 million for the parcel. 

Only one building will remain on the block after the demolition — 48 Third Ave., the 5-story property owned by Isfahany Realty Corp. on the northwest corner at 10th Street with Healthy Greens Gourmet in the retail space. 

On Tuesday, workers were spotted removing the fire escape from the corner building at 11th Street, where Ainsworth was the last retail tenant in the space ...  (thanks to Jacob Ford for these two shots)... 

Meanwhile, plywood now covers the other vacant storefronts and entrances on the block...  

... except for TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen at No. 58... which, despite the appearance of its neighbors, remains in business...

A TLK rep told us that they are open and serving as usual. At this point, the rep said it is not clear how long they will be able to do so.

However, they are participating in the winter Restaurant Week (Jan. 16 – Feb. 4) with a special dinner prix fixe.

Hospitality veteran Michelle Morgan opened the restaurant featuring a healthy, Hong Kong-inspired menu in late 2021.

P.S.

Kotobuki closed in the fall at 56 Third Ave. ... the restaurant is still offering deliveries in the area and plans to open in a new space in the East Village. More here.