Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from 7th Street at 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg) ...

• Longtime East Village sewing shop Gizmo will be relocating in early 2024 (Wednesday) 

• 2024 marks the 50th year in business for Ray's Candy Store (Monday) 

 • The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed (Friday)

• 2 NYPD officers sustain minor injuries after line cutters cause skirmish at reticketing outpost for asylum seekers on 7th Street (Saturday) 

• 2024 development watch: 33-37 1st Ave. (Tuesday) ... 42-46 2nd Ave. (Wednesday) ... 50-64 3rd Ave. (Thursday)... 280 E. Houston St. (Friday) ... 

• Jen the bookseller closes the book on her Avenue A vending days (Thursday) 

• Le Dive owners looking to take over the Boiler Room space on 4th Street (Thursday)

• About those New Year's Eve fireworks (Monday) 

• Glizzy's has left St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Closings: Milk Burger on Houston (Tuesday) 

• Patis Bakery bringing the bread to Broadway (Tuesday) 

• Yuca Bar closed for renovations on 7th and A (Thursday) 

... and an EVG reader shared this photo from the dog run in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... titled Dogs Frolicking In 1st Snowfall of 2024...

Follow EVG on Instagram or X for more frequent updates and pics.

Photos from new transformer day at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Yesterday saw the arrival of a new transformer at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A at Fifth Street... the second new one for the facility in the past year. 

The crews from Con Ed and Bay Crane worked quickly (and efficiently, TBH) to install the 180,000-pound transformer ahead of Winter Storm Ember, which ultimately brought snow flurries and season-appropriate Instagram posts.

The operation included the placement of the new transformer's radiator and cooling tank...

... and here's everything in place and waiting for the hookup...

And based on the street signage on Fifth Street and Avenue B, we look to be in for some more crane work next weekend... (and do they mean Jan. 12 and 13?)...

Saturday's parting shot

A moment late early this evening on Second Avenue and Fifth Street during the snow shower. 

Per the National Weather Service: "Rain and snow, becoming all rain after 10 pm. Low around 34. Wind chill values between 25 and 30. Breezy, with an east wind 16 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible."

2 NYPD officers sustain minor injuries after line cutters cause skirmish at reticketing outpost for asylum seekers on 7th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Two police officers sustained minor injuries this morning after two asylum seekers tried to cut in line at the reticketing center on Seventh Street and Avenue B. 

According to police sources, two officers were stationed at the former St. Brigid School as usual. Trouble started when two men tried to cut in line... causing a fight among the others who had been waiting in the cold for hours. (Sources also said this isn't the first time people tried to cut in line.) 

Two officers in the immediate area from the 9th Precinct responded to the scene. Both officers were injured in the fight, one suffering a bloody nose and the other a hyperextended arm. Both were checked out at the station house on Fifth Street before returning to patrol. There wasn't any word of injuries to asylum seekers involved in the skirmish. 

Several residents noted a large NYPD presence at the site as more officers arrived following reports of injured officers.

Meanwhile, police officials also cautioned well-intended residents from leaving items near the property for asylum seekers, which has caused some pushing and shoving as they fight over several pieces of clothing or food.

Officials said plans are in place for a more extensive distribution to meet the needs of more asylum seekers. 

According to media reports and local elected officials, the line here has grown from a few hundred to several thousand each day "as the city is out of space to house migrants," per CBS 2. 

Adult asylum seekers come to the school for placement in city shelters after their 30-day limit expires. Many asylum seekers, carrying all their belongings, start lining up as early as 4 a.m. 

Read our previous coverage here.

Bay Crane watch 2024 underway at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Con Ed and Bay Crane (and likely others — Five Boroughs Flagging Corp.?) are teaming up today to deliver a new transformer (see photo below) at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street...

(And no — EVG's Stacie Joy is NOT inside the transformer for photos!) 

Con Ed has been prepping (oh, have they ever) for months for this moment. 

Traffic will likely be stopped along the Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street for part of the transformer liftoff and placement ...

Well-placed sources tell us that the majority of the Bay Craning will take place on the Fifth Street side of the substation...

You can relive last year's transformer delivery right here.

On the clock for MulchFest 2024

Photos yesterday by Steven 

As a reminder, MulchFest 2024 happens today and tomorrow (Jan. 6-7) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Tompkins Square Park is also a chipping site... which means! "We'll chip your tree and give you your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree."

Friday's parting shot

Which tree discarded at Village View is not from this past Christmas????????

Ringing in the New Year

 

Lower East Side-based band Rebounder started 2024 by releasing this cover version of "In the New Year" by The Walkmen ... it's gonna be a good year.

The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed

Photo by Steven 

This morning, workers finished removing the rest of the sidewalk bridge from the SE corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue, marking the end of the demolition on the Middle Collegiate Church property.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us this was expected to be a two-to-three-month job. It turned out to be about a month and a half, as work started on Nov. 20.

Lewis also explained that it would be a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers sifted through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property. (We will post some of the in-progress photos next week.)

As previously reported, church leaders said they had to remove what remained on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property. 

The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." 

By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

2024 development watch: 280 E. Houston St.

The corridor along the westbound lane of Houston Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is a full-on construction zone as work continues to pick up at the 12-story residential in the foundation stages. 

Here's some of the background about the all-new 280 E. Houston St.:

In the fall of 2021, workers demolished the one-level strip of storefronts here (Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins, Subway, China Town restaurant, etc.) adjacent to the 13-floor residential building formerly known as Red Square. 

In October 2022, as The Real Deal first reported, landlord Samy Mahfar and investors picked up the property from members of the Hirsch family for $36.8 million. Per TRD's report, "the Hirsch family obtained demolition permits and did enough foundation work to qualify the site for the 421a property tax abatement before it expired in June [2022]."

The site was originally going to yield a 6-story building. 

The new development will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The commercial section will feature 12,000 square feet while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.

We've heard from a few unhappy residents whose apartments on Second Street face the pit with the echo-y surround-sound noise.

The photo below is from July...

Stacie Joy took the below photo last October from 6 Avenue B...

The rendering lists a December 2024 completion date.