Foul play

On the bill tonight at the Cake Shop on Ludlow Street — Las Piñas, who are bringing their brand of surf punk from Argentina. The video is for their song "Panteras."

EV Grieve Etc.: Protesting Steve Croman; previewing the Ramones

[Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Derek Berg]

Tenants get the boot from landlord Steve Croman's office (DNAinfo ... B+B)

City Council weighing oversight hearings on shady Rivington House deal (Capital New York)

A preview of the Ramones exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art that opened Sunday (Gothamist)

And that time the Ramones smiled in a photo (The New York Times)

Difethialone, which has been banned by the EPA for residential use, is being used to kill rats in a public park (Laura Goggin Photogrpahy)

A selection of films Roland Barthes cared for, decried, and, in some instances, helped make (Anthology Film Archives)

"Why New York’s Most Important Art District Is Now the Lower East Side" (Artsy)

A trip to Coney Island (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Pommes Frites one step closer to opening on MacDougal Street (NY Yimby)

...and moving via Citi Bike continues to be a challenge...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Condos hit the market at former East 13th Street dumping ground

The new residences at 536 E. 13th St. arrived on the market this week... the 6-floor building between Avenue A and Avenue B features 11 homes, which range in price from $1.3 to $1.6 million for around 830-860 feet and one bedroom, according to Streeteasy. (Three of the listed homes are already in contract.)

Here's more on the units via Town:

The condominium consists of 11 residences, with a full floor unit at the ground level and only two homes per floor on the upper five stories. The ground floor residence offers 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, plus home office, and a generous fully landscaped rear yard designed by Terrain Landscape Architects. Floors two through five consist of eight one bedroom residences with windowed home offices, and the sixth floor residences include two full bedrooms.

Each of the rear homes include balconies, while the fifth floor front and sixth floor units include spacious private roof terraces; all with quintessential New York City skyline views. Additionally, each residence includes a dedicated storage room in the basement.

As for the individual units, back to Town:

From the interiors, the beautiful windows allow natural light to wash the entirety of the clean and elegant living spaces within. Each light filled home is enhanced by the feeling of openness and clarity provided by wide plank oak floors, custom doorways and high ceilings of more than nine feet.

The kitchens and bathrooms offer subtle details, rich materials, and high quality fixtures and equipment. Bianco Dolomite marble and mirrored glass meld seamlessly into the walls of each bathroom; while top of the line fixtures, including Toto and Zuma provide refined comfort. Each kitchen is punctuated by function.

You can see for yourself during an open house Sunday afternoon at 2.

The lot had been home to a stalled development for years... until this project kicked into gear during 2013.

[December 2009]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to own a stalled project lot on East 13th Street

A dormant construction site on East 13th Street

536 E. 13th Street is a real dump now

Proprietors offer more details about proposed Vietnamese restaurant for St. Mark's Place

A Vietnamese restaurant is in the works for the old Luca Bar space at 119 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue, as we first reported.

The three principals, who will appear before CB3's SLA committee on April 18 in hopes of securing a full liquor license, have posted letters on adjacent buildings.

The letters offer a few more details about what's in store for No. 119...



In part:

"Our restaurant will feature creative, classic and contemporary Vietnamese cuisine featuring dishes like a Green Papaya Salad with Prawns, Whole Bass grilled in a banana leaf, Lemongrass Pork Chops...

We will be applying for a liquor license so that we may complement our cuisine with Vietnamese-inspired cocktails containing unique Southeast Asian fruits and juices, and beverages that will otherwise pair well with food."

Their proposed hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday; until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

According to the questionnaire (a 30-page PDF) on file at the CB3 website, two of the proprietors have worked for Stephen Starr's Starr Restaurants, whose NYC establishments include Upland, El Vez, The Clocktower, Morimoto and Buddakan.

Luca Bar closed in April 2015.

The CB3 SLA committee meeting is April 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

On the corners of Avenue C: Albert Trummer's incoming Sanatorium; a closed pizzeria

Yesterday, we reported that the demo orders are now in to take down the Mobil station on Avenue C and East Second Street/East Houston to make way for a 10-story residential building.

This prompted several readers to note the changes on other nearby corners of Avenue C.

So let's start with the northeast corner of Avenue C and Second Street... as reported last summer, mixologist Albert Trummer is opening a cocktail bar in the space that last housed Adinah's Farm...


[Photo from Wednesday]


[Photo from March 26]

The space is called Sanatorium ... no word on an official opening date just yet... (their Instagram account said February...)

Albert Trummer announces his new NYC bar Sanatorium - opening New York Fashion Week February 2016

A photo posted by @sanatoriumnyc on Dec 13, 2015 at 5:56pm PST

-----

Meanwhile, Majesty Pizza and Grill on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Third Street closed back in January...



...an eviction notice followed in early February...



An EVG reader who lives nearby notes the pizzeria started selling fresh fruits and vegetables at the end of the year... to give people who didn't want pizza a reason to stop by... apparently they didn't.

----

And across Avenue C... the corner buildings remain abandoned...



There has been a full vacate order on 32 Avenue C at the corner since August 2012. There's nothing on file with the DOB to suggestion anything happening here any time soon.

All dogs in Stuy Town must now have a tag and lanyard

An EVG tipster shared the following missive with us from the senior director of resident relations for Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village:

In an effort to keep PCVST occupied with only registered dogs, Public Safety is requiring all dog owners to hang their dog’s registration tag from the leash handle. Complimentary lanyards are now available to clip on to the handle of the leash so that the registration tag can be clearly visible. After April 30th, 2016, anyone walking a dog on property without a lanyard and tag will be asked to leave the grounds, including dog walkers who walk PCVST dogs along with non-registered dogs.

The lanyard and clips are now available for pickup at the Resident Services Office at 276 1st Avenue Loop and Public Safety at 2 Stuyvesant Oval. If your dog is already registered, simply show your dog’s registration tag to the receptionist and you’ll be given a lanyard.

Per the EVG tipster: "They should worry about out-of-control delivery guys, residents who don't clean up after their dogs and woo-ers."

Fine, as long as the squirrels don't start eating pizza with a fork in Tompkins Square Park

Goggla spotted this happening today in Tompkins Square Park...

As for using a fork with the pizza... to date, the squirrels in the Park seem to have it down... flashback to 2014...


[Photo by Goggla]

[Updated] Drake is lost

These flyers are up around parts of the neighborhood... Drake was last seen last evening at Second Avenue and East Second Street.

Updated!
See the comments... Drake is safe back at home.

H/T Creature

[Updated] Woman in critical condition after being struck by cab on University Place

A yellow cab reportedly jumped the curb this morning on University Place, pinning a woman against a building near East Eighth Street.

The collision happened around 10:50 a.m. NYU College of Dentistry professor John Evans witnessed the incident.

“The woman was facing away from the cab, and when it hit her, she went up in the air and the cab basically pinned her against the wall,” Evans told NYU's Washington Square News.

The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was in critical condition but is currently stable, according to an update at WSN.

Woman hit by taxi in front of Weinstein, in critical condition

-- https://t.co/A6BAxuCDqC pic.twitter.com/D4j9rSSNJn

— Washington Sq. News (@nyunews) April 7, 2016

The cab driver was suffering from a medical attack, which caused him to lose control of the car, police sources told the Post. There apparently haven't been any charges filed as the investigation continues.

Updated:
The Daily News has a different version of things. They reported that the victim, 32-year-old Meral Arisoy "was battling for her life after she was hit and dragged a half block by an out of control cab going the wrong way."

"After the accident, the driver went back to his car to look for something,” [witness Jay] Ahn said. “He didn't like he was fazed too much."

The mayhem started after the unidentified cab driver went the wrong way on East 8th St. and University Place at 10:53 a.m. Thursday, police officials said.

The cabbie smashed into a tree pot and then hit Arisoy whose body got wedged under the car, witnesses said.

Ahn and another witness said the cabbie appeared to be speeding.

Development watch: 14 2nd Ave.

There's finally some activity to note at 14 Second Ave. ... the now (mostly) empty lot adjacent to First Park that housed Irreplaceable Artifacts until its demolition by the city in July 2000.

According to published reports that summer, a wall and two floors collapsed, which forced the evacuation of 51 apartments in three nearby buildings.

As The New York Times reported at the time:

A construction crew was making alterations to the first floor of the four-story shop, Irreplaceable Artifacts, in defiance of an order to stop work, a spokesman for the city's Buildings Department said.

City officials ordered the building destroyed, along with everything inside — including several Tiffany windows valued at $50,000 each and a walnut ceiling from William Randolph Hearst's collection. Evan Blum, the owner of Irreplaceable Artifacts, salvages fixtures from demolished buildings and refurbishes them. The collection was worth millions of dollars, Mr. Blum said.

No one was injured. (No. 14 was not for residential use at this time.)

The site has been tied up for years with litigation between Blum and the city. (The Observer has a nice recap here.)





Yesterday, in a rather vague post, Real Estate Weekly noted the following:

SKW Funding closed a $12 million first lien mortgage loan for the refinance and cross-collateralization of two Manhattan properties.

The first asset is located between Houston Street and East 1st Street on Second Avenue in the East Village.

The site is a predominately vacant land which contains the foundation from a prior structure that was demolished in 2000.

The second site is on 125th Street... which also happens to be where the Blum-owned Demolition Depot is located.

While there's some financial paperwork (and cross-collateralization!) happening, to date, there aren't any new work permits on file with the city for the address.

Back in 2007, Blum proposed a 10-story hotel for the property. The idea didn't really go over well at a CB3 committee meeting in the summer of 2007. Per The Villager:

While presenting the preview of the hotel proposal to C.B. 3’s Land Use Committee, Blum’s attorney was met by passionate testimony from tenants of the neighboring Cube Building urging committee members to block it based on Blum’s previous record.

“Given the history of Mr. Evan Blum, it’s very hard to have a positive take on any proposal coming from him,” said Valerio Orselli, executive director of Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association, which manages the Cube Building. “He has a very cavalier attitude when it comes to laws and regulations in the city of New York.”

Blum later expounded on the project to The Villager:

“We intend to do something really nice and interesting and beautiful that the neighborhood could be proud of, as opposed to the crap that is being built around the neighborhood,” he said.

Blum described the project as “more philanthropic in nature, rather than a self-serving commercial interest,” and said it would be “geared toward the arts.”

The hotel would also venture into new gastronomic territory.

“We will be attempting to build the finest vegan restaurant in the city,” Blum said. “It’s something I’ve practiced for many years and it’s finally gaining more stature in society. I think it’s important that one evokes these principles.”

We're looking forward (mostly!) hearing about what might be next for the lot.

Demolition permits filed for former Mobil station on Avenue C; plus new renderings of what's replacing it

The Mobil station on Avenue C and East Houston closed on Sept. 2, 2014 ... and now some 18 months later, the demolition permits for the structure have finally been filed. (Workers removed the underground tanks at the end of 2014.)

There are plans, as you know, in the works for a 10-story retail-residential building here. However, the project is awaiting the city's blessing. Nothing recent has happened with the application, which the DOB disapproved in April 2014 for incomplete drawings, per city records.

Yesterday, in our recap of the new residential developments popping up along the East Houston corridor (horridor, per Giovanni!)... we had an older rendering for what's in store for this lot, aka 11 Avenue C/350 E. Houston St.

Here are some updated renderings via the architect of record, Rotwein + Blake:





And here's the description of the property, per the Rotwein + Blake site:

Located on the prominent junction of Houston, 2nd Street and Avenue C in the East Village. The narrow triangular site, presented numerous challenges from its odd shape to zoning constraints, Rotwein+Blake crafted a well thought-out solution to maximize potential development opportunity for the client. At ten stories, the building will have 4,600 SF of ground level retail, 46 residential apartments and a landscaped roof terrace.

The buildings retail component engages the more lively Houston Street side on a pedestrian level, with an abundance of storefront glass, awnings and stone details, while the residential entrance on 2nd Street, creates a more private and embracing gesture. The brick and zinc façade blend a modern twist to a historic warehouse style, reminiscent of the now, chic residential adaptive reuse projects of Soho and Tribeca.

Well, sure sounds like a more private and embracing gesture.

But will the new building have a Styrofoam® park...



... or outdoor cafe ...



... fishing hole...



... or hanging severed legs at xmas time like the abandoned Mobil?



Previously on EV Grieve:
You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C

State seizes Mobil station on Avenue C and Houston for nonpayment of taxes

New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units

A look inside the last East Village gas station

Verizon Wireless closes for good on 2nd Avenue

The Verizon Wireless on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed up shop, EVG correspondent Steven notes.

The storefront looks to be in the process of being cleaned out...



This Verizon outlet opened in September 2013, taking over the space from Cohen's Optical. This building seems to have a tough time holding on to retail tenants, such as DF Mavens and 7-Eleven. However, the owner of 99 Favor Taste is bringing Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot to two of the empty storefronts on the St. Mark's side.

As for the Verizon, the space once housed in part the St Mark's Cinema... as seen here in "Moscow on the Hudson" with Robin Williams from 1984...



The cinema closed in 1985.