Report: Jared Kushner paid $49 million for 7 more Ben Shaoul-owned properties in the East Village

[118, 120 E. 4th St. via Massey Knakal]

Jared Kushner's East Village shopping spree continues. Last week, the developer (and New York Observer publisher) closed on a portfolio of 17 walk-up apartment buildings in the East Village for some $130 million, as The Real Deal first reported.

This afternoon, The Real Deal is reporting that Kushner bought seven more walk-up rental buildings for $49 million from developer Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate and Meadow Partners.

The addresses: 118, 120-122, 195, 199, 201 and 203 East 4th Street.

Shaoul's renovations of 118 and 120 E. 4th Street prompted the start of the blog Occupy East 4th Street.

According to The Real Deal, Shaoul paid a combined total of $25.1 million for these seven properties in 2010 and 2011.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ben Shaoul and company put East Fourth Street buildings on the market for $25 million

4 East Fourth Street apartment buildings hit market for $32 million

Rumors: Is Ben Shaoul selling his East Village properties?

[Updated] A quick look at the long short-stack line on East 14th Street

It's National Pancake Day. (Thanks to everyone who sent me a card!) And IHOP is giving away short stacks (of pancakes) to anyone who wants to wait in line today. Per the news release: "Proceeds the restaurant chain hopes to raise $3 million as the first national fundraising campaign to kick off the 2013 fundraising year for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals."

Photo by Dave on 7th (who's now standing on 14th).

Oh, and a longer view...

Updated 6ish

The line is growing...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Outside EVG favorite A-1 Records on East Sixth Street]

Jurors reject insanity defense for man who terrorized Bar Veloce in 2002 (The New York Post)

A discussion on the "Radical History in the East Village" (Off the Grid)

Pop-up queer bookstore extending its stay on Orchard Street (The Lo-Down)

New kosher deli restaurant in the works for the Lower East Side (The Jewish Press)

NYU freshman no longer allowed to select their own roommates (NYU Local)

About fancy coffee (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Someone robbed Ludlow Guitars (BoweryBoogie)

Old timer Bridge Cafe at the Seaport launching a Sandy-related fundraising campaign (Eater)

Stone Street Properties LLC named in lawsuit for eviction of UES tenant with cancer (DNAinfo)

...and filming "Orange is the New Black" last night on Second Avenue and East Third Street...

Photo by Adrianna Grezak. Find more of her work here.

The hunt for new Red Room space

Last week, W.M. Akers at Astor Place Riot first reported that the Red Room, the 32-seat performance space on East Fourth Street, will close this spring.

He followed up yesterday with a Q-and-A with Heidi Grumelot, head of artistic development at Horse Trade Theater, which operates out of the Red Room and the Kraine and Under St. Marks theaters. The Red Room will close after March 31. The landlord has unspecified plans for the space.

On the possibility of moving the Red Room elsewhere:

We're looking. We're just looking. We've gone to see a few spaces already. Nothing's developed yet. We're definitely serious about where we can continue to afford to do this work. If anybody has space — and I know how silly it sounds to ask that in New York — we're on the hunt right now.

But will they stay in the East Village? "We've talked about different opportunities uptown or in Brooklyn, but when you think about it, this is where we've always been."

Meanwhile, the Red Room is closing out March with the Blaze of Glory festival... Find the March schedule of events at the Red Room here.

Is the under-renovation 205 Avenue A already too tall?

205 Avenue A is now all snug behind scaffolding and construction netting ... and work continues on adding a two-floor extension to the existing four-floor building via developer Terrence Lowenberg and architect Ramy Issac, aka "the controversial penthouse king of the East Village."

With all the construction gear, it is difficult to tell what is happening from out front on Avenue A. However, there's a clearer view from behind No. 205, where EVG regular Greg Masters notes that the back building is already at seven stories (the street-level story is hidden in the photo below).

And there's a palette of cinder blocks in the backyard, which portends the addition of another story. Still, as it stands now, the building is seven stories — one more than the DOB permitted. Certainly not the first time a renovated building has suddenly become taller without the OK from the city...

Previously on EV Grieve:
205 Avenue A primed for 2 new floors

Actress Jennifer Esposito's Jennifer's Way Bakery opening soon on East 10th Street

Workers are putting the finishing touches on Jennifer's Way Bakery on East 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. (It's right next door to Quintessence.)

This will be the first store for Jennifer Esposito, the Brooklyn-born actress who was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2009. (Her acting credits include "Summer of Sam" and "Crash.")

She has said that she was booted from CBS' "Blue Bloods" because of a misunderstanding of her limitations due to her celiac disease diagnosis. She has been selling her gluten-free products online.

Here's more about the store in a blog post from Jan. 21:

I’m happy to say Jennifer’s Way Bakery is ALMOST here. A gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, soy free, peanut free, allergy friendly, organic bakery that will be a SAFE ZONE and the CELIAC STANDARD for gluten free baked goods. I’m going to also make it a center for information about this disease, and a place to find understanding and support. To say its been a TON of work would be an understatement.

Besides hand-picking every last detail, even sanding the refurbished wood in the store myself, I have spent days upon days researching the SAFEST, cleanest, purest, organic, non GMO, local ingredients I could find. I WILL NOT bake with anything less. DO you want to know why? Because as a celiac, a severe allergy ridden one, I have learned that whole, clean, HEALTHY foods is what my body needs to function. So I’ve used my own savings to make this dream spot happen not only for me but for so many like me.

[Via Jennifer's Way]

Noted

Per a commenter last night on More about last week's 17-building deal:

So much for the new management. Residents of 167 and 165 Avenue A came home from work tonight only to find the electronic key system not working so they were locked out of their buildings. Tenants were standing in front in the freezing cold. No one answers the phone at the management office and calls to the super yielded "there is nothing I can do - I will call the management office to send someone tomorrow." Residents took matters into their own hands and someone was able to get inside the building [through] the roof and let other residents in.

Look at Subway's big new sign on First Avenue

[Via an EVG reader]

An EVG reader notes the recent arrival of a large banner hanging above the Subway on First Avenue near East Sixth Street... "there's a new sign, in addition to the perpetual 'Grand Opening' sign ... they are now 'Open Late' for all the drunks coming out of bars I guess," per the reader. (And this location hasn't always packed 'em in ... as seen here ... and here ... and here...)

We noticed the banner ourselves for the first time this past weekend. Hard to miss...

This Subway opened last Feb. 8. And what are the term limits for a Grand Opening anyway?

After a 9-year eviction battle, marshal seizes the Village Scandal on East 7th Street

Village Scandal, the vintage hat shop, is in its 18th year at 19 E. Seventh St. However, for the last nine years, owner Wendy Barrett has been embroiled in an ongoing eviction battle with her landlord. It's a long, complicated story. We covered it here.

Yesterday afternoon, a tipster noted that a marshal seized the store. More details as they become available.

Storefront renovation for 117 Second Ave.; last call for Song 7.2?

We've noted the renovations going on at 117 Second Ave. at East Seventh Street. (Right here, if you'd like). But we've never noted the status of the ground-floor tenant, Song 7.2, the Korean joint. (And why did we never mention Song 7.2? Well, in part ... to be honest, we've never met another living soul who has been inside this place.)

Anyway! As you can see, they closed just after the New Year, with a return date of Jan. 19...

As of yesterday, Song 7.2 was still closed...

...and the interior looked mostly demolished...

So. No idea when or if Song 7.2 will return. (The phone number is still temporarily disconnected.) Song 7.2 opened in the spring of 2008, just five days after the unintentionally hilarious American Grill/Go-Go Curry closed... all in the space that once housed Kiev.

As for the rest of 117, the address is on next Thursday's CB3 Landmarks Subcommittee. (117 Second Ave. is part of the new East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.) Per that docket:

• Cert of Appropriateness: 117 2nd Ave, new storefront
• Cert of Appropriateness: 117 2nd Ave, 2nd floor façade renovation (Here's a PDF of all the plans.)

Workers are replacing the floor-to-ceiling aluminum/windows combo so that the second floor looks like the top-two floors...

[2007, via Curbed]