Restaurant that never opened on Avenue B looking like a restaurant again

Back in June 2009, we noted that Caffe Buon Gusto was opening an outpost on Avenue B and East Fifth Street... CBG, as we never called it, was on the CB3/SLA docket a few times... but nothing ever happened with the space, which became, at times, a makeshift shelter and a canvas.

In fact, it is almost one year to the date since we last saw the gates open... Until this afternoon. A reader walked by a bit ago and was surprised to find the gates up and the lights on inside... Perhaps the space is back from the dead? Anyone with details on what's happening here?

More items from last night's CB3/SLA meeting: New eatery OK'd for Nice Guy Eddie's space

A few more items of interest from last night's CB3/SLA committee meeting... We mentioned that the committee OK'd the Joe's-to-Josie's change on East Sixth Street.

Meanwhile, according to Hannah Leighton at Eater, Team Andre Balazs withdrew plans to discuss a revamped Standard East Village until next month's meeting.

In addition, the committee approved the transfer of assets from Nice Guy Eddie's on Avenue A at Houston/East First Street to an entity called Downtown Dining LLC led by Darin Rubell of the Gallery Bar. Plans call for a restaurant serving "American comfort food." An EV Grieve tipster noted that Rubell was noncommittal about keeping the Kiss mural on the restaurant's south wall along East First Street.

Read the rest of Eater's coverage here. ... and The Lo-Down.

Still no sign of construction at the David Schwimmer estate

On the afternoon of April 3, the DOB issued a Stop Work Order at 331 E. Sixth St., the future six-floor home of David Schwimmer. (DNAinfo reported that a piece of debris "caromed off a scaffold" and struck a passerby, who EMTs took to Bellevue with a minor arm injury.)

And now, 10 work days later... there's still no sign of the full work crew as of this morning. According to the DOB website, the city lifted the Stop Work Order to allow workers to address the specific problems — "missing guardrails, openings at egress, housekeeping, and interior scaffold no permits."

In recent days, we've spotted two or three workers at the site to take care of these issues.

[Photo last week by Bobby Williams]

The DOB website notes that there are seven open violations/non-compliance issues at the address.

In any event, you can see that the construction site looks more secure.

On April 4. the morning after the city issued the Stop Work Order:

Today:

Not that residents miss the construction. Back in January, one neighbor called the work "insanely noisy."

Hellbound and down

This past Friday, Stacie Joy began a photo shoot with Samantha Clark (left) and Amanda Whip. The first stop was on the sidewalk on East 10th Street near Avenue A... which happens to be beside The St. Nicholas of Myra Church.

Quickly enough, a priest came out and, well, started yelling for them to leave. Despite being on a public sidewalk, Stacie and company packed it up "so as not to offend him further."

Anyway, probably no more randy than the scenes "Gossip Girl" filmed at the church back in October 2010...

A sidewalk shed for historic 106 Avenue C

Yesterday, workers arrived on Seventh Street and Avenue C to erect a sidewalk shed... usually not newsy, but this address is worth noting — 106 Avenue C.

[Photos by Matt LES_Miserable]

In September 2008, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated this address as a landmark, according to an article in The Villager. Some history from the article:

The two-story Public National Bank of New York was completed in 1923 ... It was designed by Eugene Schoen, who was the architect for other Public National Bank branches, which totaled 30 in 1928 and had $135 million in deposits.

Schoen, a New York City native, studied in Vienna with Josef Hoffmann, a founder in the late 1890s of the Viennese Secessionist school, which broke away from the prevailing academic and historic style of art and architecture.

The Public National Bank, later known as the Tompkins Square Bank, closed the Avenue C branch in 1954 and merged the following year with Bankers Trust.

Originally two stories, an intermediate floor was added between the first and second floors when the building was converted in 1954 to a nursing home. In the 1980s the Avenue C building was converted to apartments.

Anyway, given the landmark status, nothing too drastic can happen here (we think!) ... There isn't much information about the job on the DOB website — "INSTALLATION OF 106 LINEAR FEET OF HEAVY DUTY SIDEWALK SHED FOR BUILDING ALTERATION."

And later last night...

The address is particularly notable for its entrance. Here's how the LPC described it back in 2008 (PDF):

The entrance is surmounted by notable polychrome Viennese-inspired terra cotta ornament in the form of a decorative band above which is a cartouche with a wreath of fruit (which originally held a clock) above an eagle, flanked by curvilinear forms and decorative urns.

The corner entrance was filled in through the years ...

[Wikipedia Commons]

And here it is (sorry about the quality of the photo) in 1939...

...and 1983...

...and almost present day...

[Top three photos via the LPC]

Southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street is up for grabs

The retail space on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street — currently home to Brothers Deli and Dryden Gallery — is for lease...

...which might be why Brothers never fixed their sign...

Here's the listing at RKF ... looks as if they're pushing for retail...

The listing includes the currently vacant space behind the deli on 13th Street...

Meanwhile, the new Hyatt Union Square will be opening across the street one of these days...

CB3/SLA committee approves Joe's to Josie's change on East Sixth Street

[Photo via Melanie at East Village Corner]

Only one item to note from tonight's CB3/SLA committee meeting... we understand that the committee has approved a license for Josie's to open in the space that last housed longtime favorite Joe's Bar on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Richard Corton and his business partner Kirk Marcoe, who own Mona's and Sophie's, signed a lease and sales contract for the space last month. Proprietor Joe Vajda, who opened the bar at this address in 1973, died last November. (Joe's longtime partner Dottie requested that they not use his name for the bar.)

Corton has said that they aren't expecting to modify much about the space. Corton and Marcoe are eyeing a July opening.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Joe's Bar is joining the Sophie's-Mona's family

Photographer takes photos of photo shoot

In Tompkins Square Park today... photos by Bobby Williams.

FAKE LETTER suggests that NYU taking over 41 Cooper Square in 2015

Updated: Ha. We saw this item below on Gothamist and quickly linked to it. However, after we posted it, Gothamist had an update: Turns out the whole thing is a fake. So. With that in mind. Here is the original post ... keep in mind the whole thing is some kind of prank...

Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha announced today that the school is going to lease out its newish 41 Cooper Square to NYU's Polytechnic Institute, according to a post on Gothamist.

Gothamist is citing a letter from Bharucha that reads, in part:

Beginning in academic year 2015, The Cooper Union will lease its recently completed New Academic Building at 41 Cooper Square to NYU-Poly to ensure $20 million in new revenue annually by 2018, putting our institution on a sustainable path for the future while maintaining reverence for its past.

The 41 Cooper Square has been, for the community, a reminder of past ill-planning and fiduciary neglect. We have, and must continue, to live within the means provided to us in order to preserve Peter Cooper's innovative social mission. We shall not falter in this regard.

In the coming weeks, I will be appointing a Relocation Task Force comprised of engineering faculty, alumni, students, and industry leaders who will be charged with locating an ideal, alternative site for the Albert N. Nerken School of Engineering and the School of Art studios in one of New York's neighboring boroughs. This bold plan of relocation will not be without contention, so we are launching cooperrelocation.info as an information hub and receptacle for community opinion.

As an administrator, it is my understanding that generosity begets generosity, and so, as a first goodwill gesture to the community, I am also announcing a relocation of my own. The President's Residency at the landmark 21 Stuyvesant St. will be moving to the Cooper Union's academic housing at 29 3rd Avenue. Known as the Stuyvesant-Fish House, No. 21 was built by Petrus Stuyvesant, great-grandson of Peter-Stuyvesant, in 1803, and gifted to the Cooper Union. Per its intended use, No. 21 will be promptly leased to generate further revenue for the preservation of our institution.

Notes Gothamist: "Guess the stories about Cooper Union being broke were true."

Weekend recap: Lakeside Lounge is closing after April 30

On Saturday, we posted a report from New York Music Daily that the Lakeside Lounge on Avenue B at East 10th Street is closing at the end of the month.

Trixie, who owns the vintage photo booth in the bar (and ran Live Shop Die on East 13th and later Avenue A), left this comment on our post:

I own the photobooth at Lakeside Lounge and am saddened as any of you by the news of its closing. I'm going to try and find a place for it right here in the East Village though so that everyone can continue to enjoy it. I've lived on e 12th Street since 1978 and I'd really like to keep the booth in the neighborhood. In the meantime though, come on down, the bar is open until the end of the month and the photobooth is ready and waiting to take your picture!

Anyone?