The Subway (sandwich shop) closes on Avenue B

The owner of the Subway franchise on Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street has decided to close. A small store-for-rent sign is now in the front window. (Thanks to Gojira for the photo!)

This outpost opened in the summer of 2011.

This also marks the eighth Subway sandwich shop to close in the immediate area in the past six-plus years, joining the one on the Bowery … East 14th Street … First Avenue … Second Avenue… Third Avenue ... Fourth Avenue ... and First Avenue between Sixth and Seventh.

The location at 250 E. Houston St. is all that remains in the East Village... though there are several nearby, like the one in the Avalon Chrystie Place.

The Union Square Holiday Market opens Thursday (in Union Square)

[Photo by Pinch]

The Union Square Holiday Market kicks off the (holiday) season on Thursday morning.

Here's the official blurbage via the Urbanspace website:

Hailed as a must-visit destination for unique gifts created by local craftsmen and artists, millions of people browse the winding aisles each year enjoying this unique and eclectic holiday experience

Now with an upgraded look, exciting new sections like Little Brooklyn and Urbanspace Provisions, a Warming Station and Lounge Presented by Citi, a Kid’s Arts Studio by our partners at CMA and Citi, live music, and the best vendor selection in the Northeast, Union Square Holiday Market is the holiday destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike.

The hours are:

Nov. 21 – Dec. 24

Monday – Friday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Sunday: 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

This link has a map with a list of all the 2019 vendors.

Tompkins Square Park tree messages

EVG contributor Derek Berg spotted these banners — courtesy of two Parsons students — on a tree limb in the center of Tompkins Square Park this morning.

The messages include "I was here for the riot of 1988" ... "I remember the bandshell" ... "I was here when Patti met Robert" ... and "I was here for the riot of 1874" ...

Details on the guilty verdicts in the 2nd Avenue gas explosion case

[Image via the DA's office]

On Friday afternoon, a jury found landlord Maria Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic and unlicensed plumber Jerry Ioannidis guilty of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and related offenses for their role in the March 2015 Second Avenue gas explosion that killed two men.

In addition, they were also found guilty of assault charges for injuries to 13 people in the blast that destroyed the buildings at 119, 121 and 123 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Prosecutors said that an illegally installed gas line triggered the explosion.

The three will be sentenced on Jan. 10.

Here is the specific information on the defendants and their convictions via the DA's office:

MARIA HRYNENKO, D.O.B. 11/26/1959
Rockland, N.Y.
Convicted:

• Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 2 counts
• Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 9 counts
• Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 4 counts
• Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count

ATHANASIOS “JERRY” IOANNIDIS, D.O.B. 6/15/1956
Queens, N.Y.
Convicted:

• Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 2 counts
• Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 9 count
• Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 4 counts
• Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count
• Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 2 counts

DILBER KUKIC, D.O.B. 6/9/1975
Bronx, N.Y.
Convicted:

• Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a class C felony, 2 counts
• Assault in the Second Degree, a class D felony, 9 count
• Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 4 counts
• Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor, 1 count

Michael Hrynenko Jr. was charged for his role in the scheme, but he died in 2017 before the case went to trial. He was 31.

Hrynenko, Ioannidis and Kukic face up to 15 years in prison on the manslaughter counts, according to the Daily News.

The Times provided the best recap from the two-plus-month trial:

Ms. Hrynenko who had taken over her husband’s housing stock after his death in 2004, hired Dilber Kukic, a general contractor, to renovate apartments at 121 Second Avenue in 2013. By the summer of the following year, Ms. Hrynenko had leased the apartments to 16 people, but Con Edison had not yet approved a new gas line.

Prosecutors said Ms. Hrynenko risked losing tenants and $24,000 in rent per month if she could not provide gas. That is when, prosecutors said, she devised a plan to siphon gas from Sushi Park, a ground-floor restaurant in the building to provide gas to the apartments above.

And...

But, prosecutors said, the explosion in the East Village was the result of something else: a landlord’s greed.

“What was it that made these three defendants circumvent all the rules they were aware of?” the lead prosecutor, Rachana Pathak, said in her closing remarks this week. “Money, money, money.”

And...

Jose Gomez, a cook at Sushi Park, said he had to crawl out from underneath a pile of debris. He said his eyes and ears are permanently damaged. A firefighter who had been injured while responding to the scene was forced to retire because of his injuries.

Randolph Clarke Jr., an assistant Manhattan district attorney, said the defendants “took a chance, they rolled the dice, and the cost was paid for by Mr. Figueroa and Mr. Locon and 13 others.”

In the days after the explosion, prosecutors said, Ms. Hrynenko did not tell investigators about the illegal gas line and she shredded nine garbage bags full of documents pertaining to her real estate business.

The landlord's greed — as the prosecution put it — was responsible for the deaths of these two men: Moises Locón, 27 ...



... and Nicholas Figueroa, 23 ...



Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. provided this statement:

As construction and development continues to boom, today’s guilty verdict puts property owners, contractors, and managers on notice: my Office will pursue criminal charges against those who place expediency and financial gain over life and limb. I thank the jury and the tireless prosecutors in our storied Rackets Bureau for holding these defendants accountable for the tragic and preventable losses of Moises Locon and Nicholas Figueroa.

I also want to thank the Figueroa and Locon families, who demonstrated remarkable strength and resilience through the duration of this trial. While today’s result will not bring these young New Yorkers back, I hope the Figueroa and Locon families take a measure of comfort in knowing that this case will change the way that landlords and contractors do business in New York.

Meanwhile, construction of the condoplex on two of the gas-explosion lots continues. Workers have been quickly erecting the Morris Adjmi-designed building at 119 Second Ave. — officially 45 E. Seventh St. — that will feature 21 condo units and ground-floor retail. The new building will include a commemorative plaque that honors Figueroa and Locón.

Here's a look from Saturday...



Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group paid $9.15 million for the empty lots at No. 119 and No. 121 that Hrynenko owned.

In a transaction from late 2016, Ezra Wibowo paid $6 million for the adjacent property at 123 Second Ave. that was owned by a different landlord who had no role in the explosion. There isn't any development planned there for now, according to previous reports.

There are still civil actions making their way through the courts. Hrynenko and her companies have reportedly been hit with nearly 30 lawsuits.

---

Below you'll find a selection of EVG headlines about the explosion from the past four-plus years...

Previously on EV Grieve:
• [Updating] Explosion on 2nd Avenue and East 7th Street

• How displaced residents are faring after the 2nd Avenue gas explosion

• Moving on — and feeling lucky — after the 2nd Avenue explosion

• Updated: 2nd Ave. explosion — landlord, 3 others charged with 2nd degree manslaughter; showed 'a blatant and callous disregard for human life'

• RIP Nicholas Figueroa

• RIP Moises Locón

• A family continues to feel the loss on 2nd Avenue

• Remembering Nicholas and Moises: the Figueroa family marks the 4-year anniversary of the 2nd Avenue gas explosion

• Exclusive: 2nd Avenue explosion sites have a new owner

• LPC OKs condoplex for gas explosion site on 2nd Avenue and 7th Street

• Dedicating Moises Locón Way and Nicholas Figueroa Way on 2nd Avenue at 7th Street

• Report: Probation for plumber indicted in deadly 2nd Avenue gas explosion

• Michael Hrynenko, Jr., awaiting trial for his role in the 2nd Avenue gas explosion, dies at 31

And read our interviews with two longtime residents who lost their homes in the explosion — Mildred Guy and Diane McLean.

Here are more details on East Village Homes, the affordable housing set for 2nd Street

[Pre-construction look at 302 E. 2nd St.]

As we first reported this past Friday, a 14-story affordable housing complex is in the works for the long-vacant, city-owned parcel on Second Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

On Friday morning, various officials kicked off the construction phase during a ground-breaking ceremony. Asian Americans for Equality is developing the long-empty lot after the Department of Housing Preservation and Development selected the organization in 2017.

Officials also released more information about the project — called East Village Homes — at 302 E. Second St., which will feature 45 affordable apartments and a ground-floor community facility.

From the news release:

Leroy Street Studio designed the building, which includes sustainable elements and meets Enterprise Green Communities Criteria. The project includes 13 studios, 19 one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and one apartment for an on-site super.

The building’s facade features a layered system of stucco panels that play off of an array of metal panels with custom-perforated designs. Integrated active design principles include bike storage, easily-accessible outdoor green space and visible stairs and circulation pathways.

Building amenities include a shared roof terrace, a meeting space off of the main lobby and a laundry facility. The project features a resilient design with no basement, water-conserving plumbing fixtures and high-efficiency lighting fixtures.

[Via Leroy Street Studio]



Here's a detail via Patch that wasn't included in the press materials:

Eight apartments will be for formerly homeless people under Section 8 for incomes up to 20 percent of area median income, seven apartments at 47 percent of AMI, 14 apartments at 77 percent of AMI and 15 apartments at 120 percent of AMI — which ranges from annual incomes less than $15,000 to about $90,000 for a single person. It will also have a 1,000-square-foot community facility, roof terrace, and green space.

In addition, officials announced that there's a second phase of the East Village Homes project, which is creating 10 additional affordable rental apartments on a separate site at 276 E. Third St. just east of Avenue C...


[276 E. 3rd St.]

2nd Avenue about to get Sauced Up! (with wings)

The Sauced Up! signage has arrived at 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street...



Aside from various wing offerings, the quick-serve shop will sell a variety of French fries and tater tots and sandwiches (menu here) ...



The applicant was on their month's CB3 agenda for a beer-wine license. According to the questionnaire on file at the CB3 website, the applicant previously ran House of Hookah in Bayside. (The questionnaire notes one bust for a sale to a minor in the past three years.)

The previous restaurant here, Hot Box, "closed for renovations" this past summer after 14 months in business and never reopened.

Former Neapolitan Express space for rent on 2nd Avenue; or buy the whole the whole building

Officially closing the book on Neapolitan Express.

The pizzeria on Second Avenue between First Street and Second Street went dark back in the early summer... however, it looked as if the food-truck portion of the business was still using the space for something.

Now, though, a for rent sign arrived on the storefront last week.

Neapolitan Express opened here in February 2018. The company started its business life as a food truck. Per the Neapolitan website: "Originally launched in 2013 as the world’s first Eco Friendly Food Truck, Neapolitan Express was officially introduced by lead investors, energy innovators and business tycoons T. Boone Pickens of Clean Energy Fuels and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg L.P."

The food trucks are still in operation around the city ... as are two locations — one in Midtown and one in the Financial District.

Aside from the retail space being for rent, the building recently arrived on the sales market. The four-story, four-unit 29 Second Ave. has an ask of $8.5 million. Per the listing: "The building is by far the most flawlessly renovated walk-up building in the East Village."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Neapolitan Express comes to a halt for now on 2nd Avenue

Looking at the new-look 29 Second Ave.

As the Bean moves on Broadway

A brief Bean update.

The Bean on Broadway at 12th Street (above) closed after service on Nov. 9 ... as the coffee shop relocates to a larger location three blocks to the south at 771 Broadway and Ninth Street...



This outpost, a former Starbucks (and moment of silence for Silver Spurs), is expected to be open at the end of the month.

In total the Bean has five locations, four around here and one in Williamsburg.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] The Bean is taking over the former Starbucks space on 9th and Broadway

Rolling out the unwelcome wagon on Houston

Foundation work continues for the 9-story office building coming to East Houston between Forsyth and Eldridge at the site of the former Landmark Sunshine Theater.

And the rendering on the plywood continues to attract commentary...



Now someone has scrawled "Go away!" and "Unwelcome here" on the rendering...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The return of 'yuppie scum' at the former home of the Sunshine Cinema

Holiday pop-up bar season underway with arrival of Miracle on Ninth Street

Miracle on Ninth Street — the Christmas inspired pop-up bar — opens tonight for the season at 649 E. Ninth St. at Avenue C. (Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos.)



This is the sixth year for Miracle on Ninth Street, which "embraces the Christmas spirit with holiday inspired cocktails created by Nicolas de Soto. The winter wonderland experience is complete with an abundance of garlands, Christmas lights, ribbons, candles and tinsel and Christmas Carols galore," per Facebook.

Before the holidays, this space is the Cabinet Bar, the latest entry in the Cocktail Kingdom kingdom, which includes Mace and Boilermaker.

Mace moved from here to a larger space at 505 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B earlier this year. This former Double Wide space will gave its own holiday pop up starting next week.