Report: Raphael Toledano completes purchase of 16-building East Village portfolio

[233-235 E. 5th St.]

Raphael Toledano’s Brook Hill Properties has completed the purchase of 16 East Village buildings from the Tabak family, paying $97 million, according to The Real Deal.

The portfolio amounts to 301 apartments and 15 retail spaces. Here are the addresses (updated this list 9/12):

• 27 St. Marks Place – 20 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 66 East 7th Street – 22 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 95 East 7th Street – 20 residential units
• 223 East 5th Street – 18 residential units
• 228 East 6th Street – 20 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 229 East 5th Street – 10 residential units
• 231 East 5th Street – 8 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 233 East 5th Street – 10 residential units
• 235 East 5th Street – 10 residential units
• 253 East 10th Street – 20 residential units; 1 commercial unit
• 323-325 East 12th Street – 37 residential units
• 327 East 12th Street – 22 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 329 East 12th Street – 24 residential units
• 334 East 9th Street – 20 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 510 East 12th Street – 20 residential units; 2 commercial units
• 514 East 12th Street – 20 residential units

The deal moved forward despite the fact that Toledano’s uncle, power broker Aaron Jungreis, is suing him. According to the Daily News, the two allegedly agreed to form a joint venture to acquire the buildings, but Toledano reportedly went behind his uncle's back to buy them himself. Jungreis accuses his nephew of being "motivated solely by greed." (This suit was settled. See update below.)

In other East Village Toledano legal action... In May, rent-regulated tenants at 444 E. 13th St. filed a lawsuit against Toledano and his Goldmark Property Management for "deplorable conditions" as well as for alleged ongoing threats and harassment.

Then in August, state officials served subpoenas on Goldmark Property Managmenet, investigating whether the company threatened tenants with police raids, evictions and the shut off of essential service, as The Real Deal put it.

Updated 11:30 a.m.

Real Estate Weekly had more details on the sale...

Toledano, who at 25 is the youngest landlord in New York City with a portfolio of this size, and Brookhill Properties are focusing on this neighborhood because of its appeal to millennials (18-35 year-olds) and the significant potential for continued growth. Toledano is currently under contract to purchase an additional 11 buildings in the East Village, West Village and Murray Hill for $55 million.

“We are committed to being a force for good in the neighborhood and providing our tenants with high-quality apartments,” Toledano said. “Our company is not just a property owner, we are members of this East Village community and look forward to partnering with local groups to show our dedication.”

Updated 12:30 p.m.

The Real Deal reports that Jungreis and Toledano have settled...

“I am glad that we were able to amicably settle with Mr. Jungreis and continue focusing on what matters – serving our tenants and asserting ourselves as the largest landlord in the East Village while continuing to better the community,” Toledano told The Real Deal.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Reader report: Large portfolio of East Village buildings ready to change hands

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Report: Uncle suing nephew broker Raphael Toledano over $100 million East Village deal

26 Avenue B is alive again with the sounds of dump trucks (and digging)

The onetime Croxley Ales beer garden is now a full-on construction zone again. Work has resumed at 26 Avenue B between East Second Street and East Third Street, where there are plans for an 8-unit, 6-floor residential building.

EVG regular Salim shared these photos, showing the activity starting Wednesday at the site…



Work stopped in April 2013, after excavation here caused the evacuation of the residents (and Croxley Ales) next-door at No. 28. A resident at No. 28 started to notice cracks in her ceiling after construction began, DNAinfo reported. Debris also reportedly fell from the building.

The current rendering on the plywood still shows the building next door … with a completion date of — !!!!!! — January 2016.



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 6-story apartment building ready to rise from the former Croxley Ales beer garden

[Updated] Report: 28 Avenue B has been evacuated

Full-stop work order served at construction site adjacent to evacuated Avenue B building

Resident wants stuff back that workers took from not abandoned apartment

Is 26 Avenue B ready for its new building now?

Take a Load OUT tomorrow on East 3rd Street

[Image via Facebook]

The annual Load OUT! event is happening tomorrow (Sept. 12) from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Here are details via the EVG inbox…

FABNYC is hosting Load OUT!, a creative recycling and repurposing riot during which we bring together gently used materials from arts organizations throughout the East Village and LES. Take home costumes, props, and furniture for your next artistic endeavor!

In 2010, we noticed that local theaters were “loading out” sets and materials directly into dumpsters after productions ended their runs. Not only were the materials being disposed of inefficiently and unsustainably, but were often of great value to other artists.

As a creative response, FABnyc initiated “Load OUT!” inviting neighborhood arts and cultural groups, non-profits, and community members to donate sets, costumes, props and office equipment they no longer needed, to be made available to other artists.

Among the listed items up for grabs: 200 candles, costumes from La MaMa's production closet, 20 gallons of white paint, 70 cowboy hats, prop cigarettes, printers, a voodoo doll… (we saw something about tennis balls too)…

Load OUT! is happening at 11 E. Third St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. Visit the FABNYC website for more details. Admission is $5; free for artists (not sure how you prove this) and students.

Construction watch: 27 Avenue D

Checking in on the progress at 27 Avenue D, where the Educational Alliance is adding an extension to their existing building here between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

This location of the Educational Alliance, a co-ed outpatient facility for adults struggling with chemical dependencies, will use the new 6-story building for housing patients in their treatment programs.

The rendering shows the final product looking like…



As previously reported… after digging the foundation for the extension, the site sat dormant for several years, collecting water and reportedly breeding mosquitos.

In the summer of 2012, the Orchard Alley community garden on East Fourth Street had to close due to the mosquito infestation coming from the water-filled site at 27 Avenue D.

[EVG photo from July 2012]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Work on Educational Alliance extension, the former 'mosquito hazard,' resumes on Avenue D

In case you missed the double rainbow this morning

A photo posted by Seán Ó Grállaigh (@johngreally) on Sep 10, 2015 at 6:30am PDT

Photo from the Bowery by John Greally… Gothamist has more double rainbow action here.

Thoughts on NYC nostalgia of the late 1970s

[Photo by Michael Sean Edwards]

The Times has posted content from the fall issue of T Magazine, which includes an essay by novelist Edmund White titled Why Can’t We Stop Talking About New York in the Late 1970s?

Specifically he's talking about 1977-1982… an excerpt:

Those were years when rents were low, when would-be writers, singers, dancers could afford to live in Manhattan’s (East, if not, West) Village, before everyone marginal was further marginalized by being squeezed out to Bushwick or Hoboken. Face-to-face encounters are essential to a city’s vitality, even among people who aren’t sure of each other’s names, for the exchange of ideas and to generate a sense of electricity. In the ’70s, creative people of all sorts could meet without plans, could give each other tips or discuss burgeoning theories or markets or movements.

You can read the whole piece here … there's also an accompanying slideshow that provides a sneak preview of "The Downtown Decade: NYC 1975 – 1985," on display now through Oct. 10 at Rare/Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 17 W. 54th St.

First Flight Music closing at the end of the month

[Undated photo via the Voice]

First Flight Music, billed as the most complete music store in downtown Manhattan, is closing shop at the end of the month.

Owner Daniel Wollock confirmed the closure in an email to us yesterday.

"After 20 years we have to vacate this store by the end of September," he said. "We thought we had secured a new, albeit smaller location nearby, but it has not worked out."

The 1,500 square-feet of space one level up at 174 First Ave. includes soundproofed practice rooms for shoppers to test out the instruments as well an area for music lessons.

Wollock did not disclose the reason for the closure.

The building here between East 10th Street and East 11th Street was previously owned by the DeRobertis family, who sold it and closed their bakery-cafe last December after 110 years in business.

According to public records, an LLC that shares an address with Jonis Realty paid just under $10 million for the building. (It originally hit the market asking $12 million.)

As previously reported, Black Seed bagels is close to opening in the former DeRobertis space.

First Flight is the second music shop to close along the stretch of the East Village of late. A-1 Music shuttered at 186 First Ave. in early 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] 174-176 First Ave. is in contract

Sitting empty on St. Mark's Place

While there has been a taker for the former Luca Bar, the spaces that housed its neighbors on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue remain empty.

Back in April, the State of New York seized sister bars the Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill. The Ton-Up space at No. 127 has been empty since May 2014.

We looked inside the other day and noticed that someone removed the wall that separated the Ton-Up space...



... and the Belgian Room... to perhaps make for a larger bar-restaurant concept some day...



We haven't spotted any for rent signs on either the Belgian Room or Hop Devil Grill. And there aren't any work permits on file with the DOB to suggest any incoming new business.

And some equal time to the ex-Hop Devil Grill ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Belgian Room and Hop Devil Grill closed for nonpayment of taxes

Selling off the former Hop Devil Grill

[Updated] Graffiti legend Futura next up on the Houston/Bowery Mural Wall

As we noted on Tuesday, workers prepped the Houston/Bowery Wall for its next mural ... and the first sign of what's to come arrived yesterday...

BoweryBoogie hears that FUTURA (aka Lenny McGurr), the iconic graffiti artist from the 1970s, is next to work on the canvas here.

Per a profile in the Times from 2001: "In the early 1980's, he was one of the most sophisticated of the graffiti writers who moved aerosol art from the New York subway system to the embrace of the gallery world."

Also of note: In 1981, he toured with The Clash, painting live on stage as they performed throughout Europe. He also appears in the video for "This Is Radio Clash" and had other collaborations with the band.

Here's a documentary short on McGurr from 2013...



Updated 1:30 p.m.

Landlord Goldman Properties sent out a news release confirming Futura as the next wall artist. He will start tomorrow.

A partially opened gate at the Stage on 2nd Avenue

[Photo today by Steven]

There hasn't been much information about the status of the Stage at 128 Second Ave. The 35-year-old diner has been closed since March 30 here between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place during an ongoing legal tussle with landlord Icon Reality.

Today, though, several EVG readers noted that the gate was partially open, and a group of workers (one observer said they were wearing T-shirts for a plumbing company) were milling about out front. Another reader noted that the interior looked mostly cleared out, though the napkin holders and salt-and-pepper shakers remained on the counter.

Despite the possibly encouraging sight of an open gate, EVG correspondent Steven spotted owner Roman Diakun, who shook his head and said that there weren't any updates on the Stage's status.

In the aftermath of the deadly explosion across Second Avenue on March 26, Icon Realty accused the Stage of illegally siphoning gas, which was the basis for an eviction notice in April. Diakun has strongly denied the accusations, and sued the landlord to stop the eviction process... al the while, the diner has been shuttered.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The possibility that the Stage won't reopen on 2nd Avenue

City serves stop work order on Icon Realty-owned building for installing gas pipe without permit across from deadly 2nd Avenue blast zone (48 comments)

Petition to help reopen the Stage

Tenants at 128 2nd Ave. file suit against Icon Realty in housing court

Troubling talk about 128 Second Ave, and the long-term future of the Stage

[Updated] Report: Icon Realty serves the Stage an eviction notice

Stage owner Roman Diakun responds to allegations of illegally siphoning gas

Petition to help reopen the Stage

[Updated] The Stage is giving away its bulk food and supplies to charity

Report: The Stage is suing landlord Icon Realty to halt eviction process

The Stage is now crowdfunding to help in its legal fight with Icon Realty