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You're in luck! EVG regular Jose Garcia spotted this operation on East Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C... the sign explains how it works...
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It appears the manager of the New York Sports Club called the city rather than ask Manny to move his things to another spot along the block, which most other business owners on this block do. Manny is happy to oblige.
Considering the eyesore and highly illegal-looking construction that's been taking up the sidewalk for MONTHS now outside the sports club, it seems like a real douchey move.
Manny is a sweetheart and favorite of many locals in the neighborhood.
I just wanted to say — as the General Manager of the NYSC on Ave A that I am shocked to see how badly my company is getting dragged thru the mud with this. Manny and I have personally chatted multiple times and I was disappointed to see the city throw away his things again.
Just so most of you are aware this is the third time that I know of that this has happened and as all of you know..(weve only been here for 3 months). I can assure you that NYSC myself and my staff included had NOTHING to do with the fact that he had his things thrown away. The first time this happened before we were even open I immediately ran down to Manny and apologized for his belongings being thrown away.
Manny sells his things in front of the methadone clinic and he's not near our storefront, which is why we have no problem with him doing his business, he knows that because we have spoken and I say hello to him almost everyday.
On behalf of NYSC I apologize for this happening but it did not come from us, I even spoke to the construction team and they had nothing to do with it.
Now for the real issue the SIDEWALK! This is killing everyone's business and is a huge problem with the community and me. Just so everyone is aware the sidewalk has been the city not giving us to remove an oil tank that was abandoned beneath the old sidewalk. And so everyone is updated it will be completed by the end of this month if not sooner.
If anyone has any questions please feel free to stop by, tour the gym and see that we are not some "big business" or call me...
It is with great regret and sadness that we have to close this location of Café Pick Me Up due to a forced closure. It has been such a beautiful experience and pleasure to serve this neighborhood and our friends for so many years.
Luckily, we are able to move our operation to GNOCCO at 337 East 10th Street. We know this won’t be able to replace the memories and location of the original Café Pick Me Up, but we think this will at least partially fill the vacuum of a chapter that lasted so many years.
CAFÉ PICK ME UP WILL OFFICIALLY CLOSE MAY 31ST AT 10PM.
The first Monday in June will begin the week-long auction of the historical content in the café (including sale of all objects, furniture, and tables).
You are all invited to the opening at GNOCCO on June 3rd with free coffee for all starting at 10AM and served till 4pm.
Thank you all for your business over the years and see you soon at GNOCCO!
PS: Stay tuned for the next venture at 147 Avenue A.
¬-The Café Pick Me Up Team
Name: Alicia Mercado
Occupation: Medicaid Employee
Location: 5th Street and Avenue C
Time: Loisaida Festival, 5:45 p.m. Sunday, May 24
I’ve been a Lower East Sider all my life. I’ve been on 5th and C for the last 25. From what my dad tells me, because I was relatively young when he came to the neighborhood, this was a rehab. It was barren land. There were a lot of burned-down buildings. It was drug infested and there were a lot of crack houses.
My dad pretty much came in with a bunch of his friends, purchased the building at auction, and started a homestead. We had eight members and we had a lot of volunteers. We had a lot of volunteers throughout the years. It was great, it was fun. It was a lot of cold winters with no windows, walking on beams, but it was worth it.
We lucked out with getting a perfectly intact shell, but if you stood in the basement and looked up you could see the sky. The building was inundated with crack vials and syringes, so we had to be very careful when we were excavating. It was bad. It was infested with asbestos so we had to get special cleaning for that. That held us back another four years. It took about 15 years [total]. We did the sweat equity ourselves. That saved us a whole lot of money and then we hired general contractors to get the plumbing and the electricity done.
The Loisaida Festival definitely gets smaller and smaller every year. It used to span all the way from Houston Street to 14th and every year they seem to take away a block. It’s dwindling and it seems to be more commercial than [it used to be]. Before they used to have a lot of giveaways, a lot of face painting that didn’t cost the neighborhood anything, but now it’s changed.
The crime is here. We have a lot of drugs on our block. It’s heavy. We have a lot of dope. It’s coming back with a vengeance. You see like, they’re mummies. It gets worse every summer. The last four summers have been so bad. We just had a shooting. It was alarming. My son was playing his guitar and I was like, ‘duck!’ It was very loud. It was about 10 p.m. and then all of a sudden the cop cars were on top of the sidewalks. A guy got shot.
But the schools are a lot better. Ever since they broke them down into several in one building. It used to be one principal for one great big school. Now they’ve split them down to four different schools with four different principals in the same building. It makes it easier to manage. The one here has three schools in it and it runs well. My son goes to East Side. He’s got a middle school and high school on one side and a girl’s prep on the other side. It runs beautifully – winning schools. They’re going off to college now, whereas 20 years ago kids weren’t even graduating.
The subject property is a 5-story, mixed-use, walk-up building containing 15 residential units, 2 ground floor retail units and a cell tower. Of the 15 apartments, there are 14 studios and one 1-bedroom. All of the apartments are rent stabilized and contain an average legal rent of approximately $2,400. With an actual average rent of approximately $1,769 per month, this provides an investor significant immediate rental upside.
The property contains two retail tenants: ABC East 14 Cleaners, which occupies 800 square feet with a month-to-month lease and New Tasty King, which occupies 800 square feet and is also on a month-to-month lease. The two tenants are paying an approximate average of $109 per square foot.
The property is located adjacent to Extell’s new development which will have over 30,000 square feet of retail asking $250 per square foot. Further retail upside can be recognized by building out the retail space using the property’s additional air rights. The property also features a cell tower on the roof, which pays $750 per month and has a lease expiring on June 30, 2019.