EV Grieve

Monday, June 13, 2022

East Village Loves NYC issues a fundraising appeal to help continue feeding New Yorkers in need

East Village Loves NYC — the local volunteer group formed in the spring of 2020 to feed people in need during the pandemic — is on the brink of shutting down.

The group put out a last-ditch fundraising appeal on Friday — they need $36,000 to keep going from their HQ at the Sixth Street Community Center.

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A post shared by EV ❤️ NYC (@evlovesnyc)

Some positive news: Since sounding the alarm this past Friday, EV Loves NYC has raised more than half its fundraising goal of $36,000.

From an Instagram post on Saturday:

"The support we've received from our community over the past day has been absolutely incredible. Hundreds of calls, texts, voicemails, to let us know that you refuse to see us go.

We don't want to go. We want to keep helping the city we love, while building lasting memories with you and our community. We want to continue spreading love and helping those who need it most."

You can find the GoFundMe link here.

In the spring of 2020, a handful of friends got together to prepare meals for neighbors. Early on, Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street near Avenue B, donated his kitchen on Mondays for the group to cook its meals. By June 2020, they had outgrown the space and started assembling deliveries at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Eventually, the group became known as East Village Loves NYC with 1,400-plus volunteers. In year one alone, the group cooked more than 100,000 meals for New Yorkers ... not to mention donated 325,000-plus pounds of groceries and 7,000-plus pantry bags.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis

• East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need

• East Village Loves Queens expands: Meet East Village Loves NYC

• Volunteers at East Village Loves NYC prepare meals for Ramadan; celebrate 1st anniversary

Image via @evlovesnyc

Report: Office building for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place moving forward after developer secures $70-million loan

The 9-floor office building for the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place has new life after the developer received a $70-million loan.

As The Real Deal first reported, Parkview Financial is providing the loan for the refinancing and construction to developer Real Estate Equities Corp. (REEC) for the 61,000-square-foot building at 1 St. Marks Place.

Per TRD, REEC plans on 53,000 square feet of office space and some 7,700 square feet for retail.

Parkview CEO Paul Rahimian said in a statement that 1 St. Mark's Place could be in "high demand from the growing number of tech companies in the area."

Here's more from TRD on the project, slated for a summer 2024 completion, and the office-market outlook:

As of 2019, REEC was shooting for top-dollar rents at the boutique office building, planning to ask for around $150 per square foot. It's not clear what the developer will be seeking when the project finally comes to fruition. The office market has been decimated in the wake of the pandemic. A recent analysis predicted that by 2029, the city's office stock will drop in value by 28 percent, or roughly $49 billion, due to lease revenue falling and remote work rising further.

Last August, TRD reported that Madison Realty Capital was moving to foreclose on REEC's leasehold interest:

Madison has owned the $48 million loan package backed by REEC's East Village property since 2019. The real-estate private equity firm acquired the debt from South Korean financial services firm Hana Financial group, which provided REEC $79.1 million of debt and sold the $48 million portion to Madison Realty Capital.

Madison filed a complaint with the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that REEC defaulted on the $48 million mortgage, which combines an acquisition loan and construction loans.

In any event, expect work to ramp up again after months of inactivity. Last October, workers removed the barriers around the work site... allowing pedestrians to use the sidewalks again — for the first time since the barricades arrived in June 2020.

A smaller building, and stacks of wheatpaste ads

As you may recall, a 10-story office building had been in the works here. In October 2020, the City Council's Zoning Subcommittee voted down REEC's application to transfer air rights from the landmarked 4 St. Marks Place to the new building across the street.

With the air-rights transfer, REEC would have been allowed to build 8,386 square feet larger than the current zoning allows.

REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the corner properties for nearly $150 million in November 2017. The previous assemblage, which included retail tenants such as Korilla BBQ, the Continental and McDonald's, was demolished in 2019.

For the past year-plus, this gateway to the East Village — with the "RIP St. Marks" greeting on the west-facing wall at No. 5 — has served as prime wheatpaste ad space...

... and beware of falling wheatpaste ads! (photo by Steven)...

Updated: Raclette will reopen on July 29

Photos by Stacie Joy

Updated 6/26: Signage at the restaurant states they will now reopen on July 29.

Raclette has closed at 511 E. 12th St.

Multiple readers told us about the "closed" sign on the door here between Avenue A and Avenue B. Owner Edgar Villongco also confirmed the news to Eater. There isn't any mention of the closure yet on the restaurant's social media properties.

The restaurant, which served French and Swiss Raclette, Croques and Tartine, opened in a 14-seat space on Avenue A in February 2015... before moving to these larger confines in September 2016...

No. 511 was previously home to Northern Spy (2010-2016).

The all-new 360 Bowery is in the piledriving and jackhammering phase

Foundation work is underway on the 21-floor office building coming to 360 Bowery at Fourth Street.

This means, in recent days, that workers are jackhammering away at the base of the previous tenant, B Bar & Grill... there's some piledriving happening too...

The B Bar (b 1994) never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020. Our previous posts have more background on this Midtown-friendly development via Bowery Hotel owner Eric Goode.

New signage era for Temakase on 2nd Avenue

Saturday saw the arrival of new signage at Temakase, the Japanese restaurant specializing in handrolls at 157 Second Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street. (Thanks to Steven for the photos!)

Gone is the more minimalist storefront... and in — a colorful red and yellow crab...

Temakase opened in the summer of 2020. Haven't heard any reader reports on this place since then.

Team behind Ichibantei eyeing 100 3rd Ave.

CB3's SLA committee meets tonight at 6:30. (Find the Zoom link here.)

There are just a handful of applicants this month, including MayRee on First Street and Gen Korean BBQ House on 14th Street and Third Avenue.

Here's another item of interest. The team behind the 12-year-old Ichibantei on 13th Street is looking to open a bar-restaurant serving Japanese cuisine at 100 Third Ave.

The questionnaire on file at the CB3 website shows the still-unnamed concept would feature room for 24 tables/98 seats spread over two floors... with proposed hours of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. during the week; a 4 a.m. close Thursday through Saturday. (The 69-page questionnaire also includes a sample menu.)

No. 100 between 12th Street and 13th Street last housed the vowel-deficient club VNYL, which shut down at some point during the pandemic. Until September 2015, the renovated building featured the second iteration of Nevada Smiths.

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Flashback to 2 years ago today: June 12, 2020

This video clip via the EVG Twitter account is from early Friday evening on June 12, 2020... on St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue...

Friday night (6/12), St. Mark’s Place pic.twitter.com/hujW2ZFFrY
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) June 13, 2020

People viewed the clip more than 5 million times... with news outlets in the U.K., France and Japan asking permission to post the video.

And among the retweets...

Don't make me come down there... https://t.co/OeVGMW7LEO
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 13, 2020

Earlier this week in June 2020, NYC reopened for the first time with workers in construction, manufacturing and retail being allowed to return — this after a nearly three-month lockdown, giving reason for some hope.

Many Twitter users condemned the actions of the partygoers on the street, many of whom were not wearing masks... and at a time when some residents were still wiping down canned goods purchased at the grocery.

In June 2020, bars and restaurants were still barred from allowing patrons inside but were OK'd to dispense to-go drinks. Eight days later, on June 20, NYC launched its Open Restaurants program, allowing restaurants to expand to sidewalks, curbside spaces and backyards.