Week in Grieview — Citi Bikes edition

[Friday via EVG reader John]

Early verdict on Citi Bikes — kids love 'em (Friday, 26 comments)

And now, more complaints about Citi Bikes docking stations (Friday, 20 comments)

Trading places: Citi Bikes docking station making the move on East 11th Street (Thursday, 51 comments)

Report: 9th Precinct traffic safety sergeant worries about an increase in accidents with Citi Bikes (Thursday, 17 comments)

Countdown to Citi Bikes bike share in the East Village (Wednesday, 18 comments)

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... and a few people have said that the docking stations are positioned in a potentially dangerous manner; that people will have to pull the bikes from the docks out into the street ... Here's a shot from yesterday on St. Mark's Place ...


[Stephen Popkin]

...looks like enough room, yes?

Second Avenue, before the 'giant fraternity party'

Christopher Gray at The New York Times has a piece on the history of Second Avenue in today's paper ...

Second Avenue opened after the adoption of the grid plan in 1811, and wealthy families put up comfortable brick Greek Revival houses, like the Isaac Hopper house at 110 Second Avenue (above), nearly intact from the 1830s.

[Early 2012]

And you may not notice the beauty of No. 149 ... with the distraction of the kegs and stench of chicken wings from the 13th Step...


[Yesterday]

But, at one time...

Another town house from the 1840s is 149 Second Avenue; it still has its stoop and is comparatively little altered, although there’s a big skylight on the roof that must give some apartment plenty of sun. The 1870 census records the occupants as Edward Jaffray, a socially prominent dry goods importer, his family of five and nine servants.

And what about today's Second Avenue?

There is still some of the old egg-cream-ethnic left on Second Avenue, but now the chief cultural group is 20-something singles, who spill onto the sidewalks like a giant fraternity party, more ebullient than disorderly, even with plenty of beer.

Read the whole article here.

Reminders: The Loisaida Festival is today

The 26th annual on Avenue C, from East Sixth Street to East 12th Street ... The official Festival site is here.

And this morning, everyone is setting up for the day... from the shetland ponies ...



... to the corn ...

Notable events this morning (and last night)

The sun! The sun! Tompkins Square Park. vine.co/v/bVjj7K7nwHB
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) May 26, 2013

And, to provide equal time, the moon from last night...



Photo by Bobby Williams.

Going back in time today on East Ninth Street

A few photos via EVG reader Riad today....



Per Riad: "Still no word on where in time they were headed, but the flux capacitor appeared to be functional."



Indeed.

Go Big blue

Seventh and A today ... via Bobby Williams...

Planting new trees in Tompkins Square Park

Just noting that some of those new trees we spotted in Tompkins Square Park have been planted...

Photo by Bobby Williams. Arrows by EV Arrow.

Rough night at the Alamo?

Spotted this morning on Astor Place via our friends at MoRUS ...







As for the Cube... I recall Scouting New York referring to it this way a few years ago: "(aka The Big Black Cube That Has Never Actually Been Called The Alamo By Anyone Ever Other Than The Artist’s Wife Who Named It)."

Here's Bloom 62, the luxury apartments replacing the Cabrini Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation

[Photo via @zmack]

So, if you were to turn a former nursing home into a luxury apartment building... how would you market that new space? A lot of people have been asking that question since developer Ben Shaoul purchased the building that housed the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street and Avenue B.

Now we know.

Please meet Bloom 62 — "The right place to plant your roots."

A banner ad went up yesterday on the East Fifth Street side of the building. And there's now a website with a few details and renderings about the rentals.



And here we are:

It sounds impossible: a fully-appointed luxury building has sprouted in the beating heart of the East Village. A 24-hour doorman greets you before work in the morning, after returning from a cafe in the evening and when heading out to Tompkins Square Park on the weekends. You'll have every modern convenience, from a gym to a roof deck to in-unit laundry, on the same streets where names like The Ramones, Warhol and Hendrix and [sic] paved the history of this neighborhood for years to come.

Not sure why this sounds impossible. After all, Ben himself created a fully-appointed luxury building not too long ago with the A-Building on East 13th Street. (Maybe Hendrix didn't pave 13th Street with history?)

Anyway! The listed amenities include 24-hour doorman, gym and exercise facility with weight room, secured landscaped courtyard entrance, deck with showers, Weber grills and teak sun-deck, and yoga room with music system.

There's no pricing for the apartments just yet.

The nonprofit, 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees. The facility closed last June.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare

Straphangers feeling the effects of the MTA reducing sign and tape budgets

Oh, and no L train service between Lorimer and Eighth Avenue until Tuesday morning at 5. Really.