Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Noted
'Alien' nation: East Village duo the Acute release debut full-length record
Photos by Stacie Joy
For now, you can find the smashing record on Bandcamp ... as well as on streaming services, including Spotify and Apple. (A vinyl release is forthcoming.)
On this occasion, EVG contributor Stacie Joy tagged along with the two, who are also a couple outside the band, as they shopped for records in the East Village ...
Keep tabs on the band via Instagram. And catch the lo-fi noisemakers on June 25 at Heaven Can Wait on Avenue A.
You can read our band Q&A from December right here.
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Thanks to (in order of appearance): • A-1 Record Shop, 439 E. Sixth St.
• Jay's record table, sidewalk near 97-99 Avenue A
• Ergot Records, 32 E. Second St.
Wash day for Temperance Fountain in Tompkins Square Park
As EVG first reported at the time, the fountain arrived here in August 1891, when people were squandering their money on 5-cent cups of coffee.
Read about the history of the fountain here.
Desert Rose Café has apparently closed on 9th Street
Photos by Steven
Workers were spotted clearing out Desert Rose Café the other day at 350 E. Ninth St. just west of First Avenue.
Google lists the Café as "permanently closed" now... though there isn't any mention of a closure on its social media properties...
The Café, which offered a vareity of breakfast and lunch options, including crêpes, wraps and salads, just opened last July.
This space was last very briefly O Ramen Dim Sum M, which tried to open during the pandemic without success. And previously: beQu Juice was here until November 2019 after nearly six years in business.
Until 2012, a bakery had been in this storefront for 87 years.
Coming soon: Ando Patisserie on 10th Street; Unique Omakase on 1st Avenue
Photos by Steven
We're told this will be an Asian-inspired bakery that will also serve a variety of teas. There's an Instagram account here.
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Restaurant reps were scheduled to appear before CB3's SLA committee back on Monday for a liquor license.
According to the questionnaire, Unique Omakase will have an 11-seat sushi bar with daily hours of noon to 11 p.m. The sushi chef here previously worked at Shinn East on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
An outpost of the London-based Bubbleology Tea chain was the last tenant here, closing in late 2021 after nearly two years in service.
Previously, the building's landlord, convicted felon Steve Croman, didn't/wouldn't renew the lease of the International Bar ... which closed in November 2017 before merging with the Coal Yard down the block.
Openings: Fries Factory on 14th Street
The quick-serve joint serves a variety of fries, like the classic fries, garlic fries, and currywurst with fries...
... there are also a few varieties of poutine... including, if you dare, Tijuana Street Poutine...
The space was previously Mani in Pasta, which closed during the early months of the pandemic.
No word yet on the hours of operation. Or even a website.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Proposed plans now call for a 24-story residential building on 14th Street and Avenue C
Updated 6/15: L+M Development Partners is not a developer in this project. According to a spokesperson, L+M's only role was assisting NYCHA in selling air rights. The post has been modified to reflect this.
Tonight, CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee will hear a presentation from reps for New York City Housing Authority and Madison Realty Capital.
The corner property — 644 E. 14th St. — has been in a stalled-development mode for years. (This corner property last housed the single-level R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009.)
There are already approved plans here for a 15-floor mixed-use building, though there aren't any affordable units attached to this version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing.
This past spring, the NYCHA and Madison Realty Capital filed documents seeking a non-ULURP modification — known as an LSRD — to the development plan.
PincusCo first reported on this. Per their report:
The application seeks to modify the boundaries of the previously approved plans and zoning calculations by expanding the zoning lot to include 644 East 14th Street (Block 396, Lot 29). Through the zoning lot merger, the development rights from the existing LSRD comprised of Campos Plaza I and II, which are owned by a joint venture that includes NYCHA ... can be transferred to Block 396, Lot 29, a vacant property owned by Madison Realty Capital.
According to a presentation posted to the CB3 website, the benefits of this air-rights deal would:
• "Generate revenue
for NYCHA, which will fund repairs exclusively at
Campos Plaza II."
• "Enhance the pedestrian experience for both
Campos Plaza and the surrounding community with
new ground floor retail, ground floor community
facility, lighting and new street trees."
• "Provide additional affordable housing units
pursuant to the Affordable New York Program
Option B."
• "MRC will commit to a resident hiring plan."
The presentation includes a rendering of the proposed building, a "massing evolution" and a slide on the "appropriateness of height" ...
As previously reported, Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 for $23 million.
Concerns over new plans
Meanwhile, there are concerns about the plan for the larger-scale development.
One group of locals started a Facebook group to help notify residents of the ongoing plans at No. 644.
"While we are all for the development of that corner ... and the affordable housing element of the plans, we are not happy with the sheer size of the footprint and the excessive height that goes along with the proposal," one of the organizers told EVG. "We believe it will have countless negative effects on the local community and is out of place in this neighborhood. One major, immediate concern is that they have done little outreach and have kept plans for the project very quiet, which seems to be an obvious strategy to avoid any scrutiny from the local public."
Before a presentation last month prior to CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee, Tenants Taking Control, a group of 100-plus long-term tenants in 15 East Village buildings owned by Madison Realty Capital, spoke out against the plans.
In a "warning letter" to CB3 members and other local elected officials, the group, which has had Madison Realty Capital as a landlord since 2017, alleged: "We believe from first-hand experience that they disregard East Village tenant and community needs for their own financial benefit."
Tonight's committee meeting starts at 6:30. You can find the Zoom link here.
Essex Card Shop getting closer to reopening on Avenue A
Photos by Stacie Joy
The build-out continues inside Essex Card Shop, the business gutted by a fire in early January at 47 Avenue A.
Owner Muhammad Aslam (above) provided EVG contributor Stacie Joy with an interior update the other day. As you can see, the new floor, walls and ceiling are all in place... with workers starting on the shelving phase ... 
Aslam is hopeful that the longtime family-owned business can be up and running again in three to four weeks.
You can check out our previous posts on Essex Card Shop, located in the retail space of the Ageloff Towers between Third Street and Fourth Street, for more background on what has transpired to date.
Monday, June 13, 2022
Remembering Jose Fernandez
Photos by Stacie Joy
In recent months, Hernandez was among the handful of unhoused residents living in tents along Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, a stretch of sidewalk that has been a frequent target of the Mayor's encampment sweeps. (This was at least the eighth time in recent months where the city conducted a sweep here.)
Hernandez, pictured above, told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy in April:
I've been here for four months now. I am looking for a one-bedroom apartment for my wife and me. I'm retired now. I was a superintendent and building manager for buildings on the Lower East Side. When I was younger, I worked for the Board of Education on Eldridge Street and Forsyth. A friend of mine was sleeping here on Ninth Street, and he was leaving his tent, so I took it. I get a pension and Social Security. Being homeless is not easy, including with the police department. They are very rude. They want us out of here. My wife is Amalia Jordan; we're common law. She’s staying at Masaryk Towers.
During the vigil today, the NYPD and other city agencies returned to this sidewalk space and tossed the belongings of the individuals here.
Here's more from 1010 WINS, in a bad-look story for the city administration, "Cops sweep East Village homeless encampment during vigil for dead resident."
Mourners, including residents, neighbors, activists and a reverend from the church across the street, were outraged that police had chosen to carry out the sweep during the vigil.
And...
After police and sanitation workers had finished destroying the camp, the vigil continued as planned, though maybe tinged with more anger and bitterness than it otherwise would have been.
As 1010 WINS noted, "After getting robbed twice in city shelters, Hernandez decided he preferred to live on the streets — where he spent his final years as his health failed."
He lost all his clothes and stockpile of food during a sweep in March.
"The sanitation truck stands there, and they start throwing everything in the truck," he said. "I was living there… They throw all the stuff out, clothing. They were begging but they didn't care."
Hernandez's "loved ones remember him as a kind, gentle and loving person, who, despite having very little, took immense joy in giving."
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