A mural grows on St. Mark's Place

And a new mural is going up on the formerly green wall here outside Foot Gear Plus on St. Mark's Place at First Avenue... it's an ad for Village Kids Footwear, which is around the corner closer to First Avenue...

...speaking of green, this addition has already been painted over...

Top photos by Bobby Williams.

EVG respost: St. Mark's and First Avenue, 1993

Speaking of St. Mark's Place and First Avenue... I posted this four years ago ... dug it out again... per the YouTube description: "a time lapse of that corner in NYC back in '93 or so from a 3rd floor window..."

Noted

And the band played on... At the Verizon wall early last evening on East 13th Street...

This afternoon in Tompkins Square Park

A man slumps over in the Park and hits his head. EMTs take him off...

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Noted

Via EV Grieve reader MP.

Bishops & Barons takes over the Hype Lounge space on East 14th Street

A few weeks ago, Page Six noted that people behind ventures such as Macao Trading Co., Employees Only and The Gates were taking over the former Hype Lounge on East 14th Street aka IHOP Way...

Yesterday...

And today...

According to a description on Yelp, Bishops & Barons is "a restaurant and cocktail lounge that celebrates the days of showgirls, movie star gangsters and supper clubs."

Renovations, penthouse in the works for 243 E. Second St.

Major changes are apparently in the works for 243-245 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C... We started watching the space in January 2011. Despite the lack of work permits, workers gutted and boarded up 245. In addition, workers painted over the "Milky Way Dragon" mural on the ground level.

Before!




After.

That month, the estate of Bertha Zawin sold 243 to Triost Properties for $1.4 million, according to city property records. Today, a listing for 243 appeared on Streeteasy with an asking price of $4.6 million.

The listing at Marcus & Millichap doesn't appear to be online just yet. The Streeteasy listing simply says:

Marcus & Millichap is pleased to offer 243 East 2nd Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. The property sits on a 25 foot by 66 foot lot and is built 25 feet by 54 feet deep. The property has an approximate gross square footage on 7,060 and is zoned R8A.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, the DOB signed off on plans to renovate the building. Per the DOB:

CONVERT EXISTING STORES ON FIRST FLOOR TO RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS, RENOVATE RESIDENTIAL APARTMENTS ON THE 2ND THRU 5TH FLOORS, ADD NEW PENTHOUSE FLOOR. OBTAIN A NEW C OF O.

The DOB also just approved plans to also "upgrade" the apartments at 245.

Have any more information about the situation here with current tenants? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

Previously on EV Grieve:
On Second Street, the 'Milky Way Dragon' disappear

The Bean sprouts artwork on First Avenue

Work continues at the incoming Bean location at 147 Ave. at East Ninth Street ... in the last few days, Walker Fee, who is part of artist Nicolina's team, has been creating the artwork here... adds a nice splash of color to a cellblocky-looking building...

Photos by William Klayer

Weekend recap: Downtown Auto & Tire has left the Bowery

From yesterday:

This probably isn't much of a shocker... we've been watching the doomed corner of the Bowery and Great Jones the past few years... waiting for the day that Downtown Auto & Tire packed up and left ... there's no place for a auto repair shop on the new luxurious Bowery

As for what's possibly coming next ... one commenter said, "Rumor has it the garage is going to be used as a private garage by a guy who is a car buff."

That's possible in the short-term ... there are also retail rumors, one friend of EV Grieve said that Eddie Bauer passed on the space, and that Quicksilver was now kicking the tires on the corner, so to speak...

Two years ago, 348 Bowery (Downtown Auto), 350 (former Gallery 151) and 352 were on the market... 352 is now home to the furniture brand Environment. At this point, we're not sure if the new tenant would take 348 and 350... or just the corner lot... We're working on tracking down more details...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Please meet the next corner of the Bowery primed for something luxurious

The last days of the Downtown Auto and Tire?

The Bowery to get a South Beach diet

Making Faces at the Downtown Tire & Auto Center

Demolition under way inside the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel

Work is under way inside 154 Second Ave., the former Sigmund Schwartz Gramercy Park Chapel between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street. Plans call for several new floors here for "luxury rental apartments" ... as well as nearly 4,600 square feet of ground-floor space "perfect for: retail store, restaurant," per the listing.

Here's a look at the interior demolition late last week via EV Grieve reader Terry Howell...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants