Spotted outside Alumni Hall, Third Avenue and East Ninth Street...
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
What we learned today about 51 Astor Place
The New York Times has an article today titled "A Sleek Office Building Rises Over Gritty Astor Place."
Here are a few soundbites and factoids about 51 Astor Place from the article:
• "Three storefronts will wrap around the ground floor, one of which will house a bank ... A school will occupy a second-floor space."
• "Ultimately, 51 Astor might have to settle for $80 a foot, said Greg Kraut, an Avison Young principal who is not involved with the project, in order to compete with its chief rival in the area, 770 Broadway, which has large floor plans like 51 Astor and where rents are around $75 a foot."
• “You’ve got life down here, so it’s safe at night when 25-year-olds leave work,” said [51 Astor Place developer] Edward Minskoff.
And how might 51 Astor Place and its 13 stories of office workers and students impact the shops-bars-restaurants on St. Marks Place between Third and Second Avenues?
Despite periodic attempts to change the mix of retail, the block seems proudly resistant to change, even while the rest of the East Village has become more upscale, says William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance, the business improvement district responsible for keeping the area clean. “I think the office workers will bring a new audience,” Mr. Kelley said. “But I don’t foresee any sweeping changes here for the next 100 years.”
Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower
East Village — the new Midtown?
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
How you can learn to use tools on the DOB website just like a blogger!
From the EV Grieve inbox...
Community Board 3 and Cooper Square Committee are co-hosting:
Department of Buildings Workshop: How to Use Tools on the DOB website
Thursday, March 28 at 6:30pm
Seward Park Extension, Community Center
56 Essex Street (between Grand & Broome Streets)
Learn from DOB how to navigate their website to find out what is happening at an address, what permits have been issued, and how to submit a challenge. DOB will also answer frequently asked questions.
The DOB website! A blogger's best friend! Learn how to see how many Stop Work Orders have been issued against your landlord! Find out if the work crew gut renovating the apartment next door actually has permits! Do those workers have permits to work on a Saturday?
And, despite the rumors, you DO NOT receive one of these for attending...
Instant umbrella collection available
If you're interested, per EVG regular William Klayer ... now on St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
Checking in on Louis 649's post-Sandy recovery on East 9th Street
[Katie Sokoler]
Louis 649 on East Ninth Street at Avenue C is one of the many East Village businesses along this corridor to feel the wrath of Hurricane Sandy. The low-key lounge, which offers free jazz, opened in 2000. Zachary Sharaga has been the owner since 2004. He answered a few questions about Louis 649 via email.
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How long was the bar closed after Sandy?
Louis 649 was closed for business a total of 11 days/nights. As soon as we were able to get back into the bar, three or four days after the hurricane, we deep cleaned for a few days. At that point a lot of people were opening by candlelight but we decided that for safety reasons, we'd better hold off until the power was restored to the streets at the very least.
Five days after Sandy, when most of the neighborhood had power, we were still down due to the building's power box being completely fried in the basement and being held hostage to the eponymous "waiting for Con Ed." We had a party scheduled for Nov. 8 to celebrate a book release, which featured Louis 649's mascot Hamsa that we were debating cancelling. However, we decided that it would be best for the neighborhood to have something festive, so we went ahead with the party with the intent of a intimate candlelit book signing and the power came on five minutes before opening.
What has been the biggest challenge for you since then?
Our biggest challenge has been recuperating financially from the lost goods and the need to replace them and our limited operating capacity since most of our equipment was knocked out from the saltwater damage. We had just received a full shipment of wet and dry goods the Thursday before the storm, so in addition to losing most of that, we had to replace it all. Not to mention having to pay ALL of our bills regardless of any unforeseen natural disaster.
As far as the equipment goes, we lost a lot of refrigeration, which directly affected our purchasing patterns, inventory control and food offerings, so adapting to the limitation was a challenge that we fought day after day. Catching up after such an economic blow to us, our neighbors, our longtime patrons, and the city has been a challenge worth fighting.
[Photo of Lola and Zachary by Farhad Parsa]
Are you seeing the bar return to a pre-Sandy number of patrons?
Yes and no.
The weekends have gotten back to normal but the weekdays could surely use some momentum. Our first Sunday and first live jazz gig of the season was this past Sunday. Thankfully we had a full house.
How have you seen the East Village evolve (or, de-volve) since you opened the bar?
I guess this question is all a matter of perspective. One on side of the coin, there's a food and beverage renaissance rapidly evolving in the East Village, which is bringing in a healthy amount of traffic to support all of the new businesses opening up. The expectations and standards are being raised every day with every "new" innovation.
At the same time, the commercial rents are becoming astronomical, which is leading to a rapid turnover rate in small businesses, which brings me to the other side of the coin. Too many of these businesses are gone before they're even broken in and we're left with an unstable economy of empty storefronts and a lot of unemployed people with no money to spend. Pair this with the high residential rents and we're effectively relying on people outside of our neighborhoods to inject revenue into the East Village.
[Inksy]
The bar's Tuesday Night Tastings return tonight. Find more information on that and more here.
Pangea presenting The East Village Film Series, starting this Thursday night
The folks at Pangea Restaurant & Bar, 178 Second Ave. near East 11th Street, passed along word about The East Village Film Series:
The Series was founded to showcase award-winning works from local and international filmmakers, and to celebrate the silver screen. Aiming to take cinema off the computer, and back on the big screen, the EVSF is dedicated to sharing important, entertaining, and challenging works of art with New York City.
The Film Series is a perfect opportunity for filmmakers to meet meet and mix, for old friends to get together and new friends to be made. Designed for everyone from cinephiles and to the cine-curious, the Series blends fine art and incredible stories, with a fantastic, comfortable environment, for a great evening of work by award-winning New York filmmakers. An event by a community, for a community.
NYC-based director Matt K. Firpo is the series founder.
The series kicks off Thursday night with A Night of Short Films... showcasing "Nomadique." Read more about that here.
The films start at 8 p.m. The filmmakers are expected to be around afterward to discuss their work and what not.
L.E.S. Dwellers make the case against Soho House expanding to Ludlow Street
As you likely heard, Soho House is planning an expansion to 139 Ludlow St. They've already made their pitch to neighbors. (Read BoweryBoogie's post on it here; and The Lo-Down here.)
During this past weekend, L.E.S. Dwellers sent around their campaign again Soho House. (You can read it here.) It's slightly outside my usual coverage zone. But I wanted to share with you what they have to say. (And, of course, there's a major spillover effect from all this to this neighborhood...)
An excerpt from the L.E.S. Dwellers campaign:
Rival gangs of frat boys, sororisluts, suburbanite wannabes, tramps with stamps, and bridge & tunnel douchebags converge on our streets, and a bloody turf war ensues between residents and the drug and alcohol-fueled gangs. If Soho House comes, new gangs arrive with them - Jimmy Choo stiletto girls, newly minted tech-set, B-list models, I-bankers disguised in Thomas Pink and Gucci loafers, trust fund wannabe hipsters, expense account ad men, label whores, and Eurotrash. Our streets will become bloodier and messier than it already is, with the residents further outmatched by the increasingly uncontrollable mobs.
And!
The L.E.S. will officially become the "Eastpacking", unless we as a community do something about it. We can choose to remain silent and compliant, marking our doors with black crosses in anticipation of the Soho House virus incubating at 139 Ludlow Street. Or we can rise up and fight back.
Soho House reps are expected to appear before the CB3/SLA committee next month to apply for a liquor license. Reps have said they wouldn't expect to open on Ludlow Street until the summer of 2014.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson explained why is he supporting the Soho House's expansion to Ludlow Street in a post published at The Lo-Down.
An excerpt:
If not them then who? Soho House is not going to build up. They are going to save the look and integrity of the façade architecture. The fact that they are private keeps the crowds down, will be more low key… and so on. Imagine this: it is a large double wide lot- has at the very least 6 stories worth of air right to build up. Imagine a brand new 12 story luxury hotel or apartment eating up the block.
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