Is the wrecking ball in store for the Cooper Union Engineering Building?

In this week's issue of The Villager (not yet online), Scoopy addresses the hot neighborhood rumor: Will the Cooper Union Engineering Building on Astor Place be demolished, like, really soon? The Starbucks there is gone, of course. Continental owner Trigger told Scoopy that he heard the building was coming down next month. (By the way, Trigger said that he favors a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's coming to the space...Not sure if he was serious.) Edward J. Minskoff Equities has the long-term lease on the building. Minskoff CFO Ben McGrath told Scoopy: "We are not commencing demolition next month -- that's a certainty. Cooper Union is still in the building. ... Obviously, the economy has an impact on the decision, but we're still wrestling what to do and when to do it."

Scoopy also mentions that the school will have moved into Cooper Union's new academic building at 41 Cooper Square by the summer. The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new building is Sept. 15."

Important news: New York City is the sixth-best place in the country for "good hair days" (Yeah, suck it L.A.!)

Interpret this survey as you please. And how did we finish behind Anchorage? Don't they have to wear hats year-round?

Peek-a-boo I see 2 (Cooper Square)

I swear I walked by the behind-schedule 15-story rental-retail combo at 2 Cooper Union just two days ago and saw nothing (the hole in the ground)... and now? Someone's working OT....

93rd Duane Reade in Lower Manhattan nearly complete

We're almost ready for more Duane Reade action ... at the former Staples store on Fulton and Water Streets in the Financial District.

"Sesame Street" characters seen doing whippets in Tompkins Square Park after filming yesterday

KIDDING! I took the above photos the other weekend. Some young adults were just making whipped cream for dessert, that's all.

Oh, but I did find a box of rotting bananas on Ninth Street and Avenue B right near where "Sesame Street" was filming.

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Bob Arihood has the latest on the Avenue A groper (Neither More Nor Less)

Hmmm, Peter Pan Donut Shop (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Bea Arthur tag painted over on Third Street (Flaming Pablum)

The Record and Tape Center is closing in Park Slope (Lost City)

NYC's first gourmet cupcake truck (Grub Street)

Broadway ready for pedestrians (Curbed)

Is the pee phone doomed? (Slum Goddess)

First look at Washington Square Park (Washington Square Park)

A hellhole no more: Orchard Street pothole paved over (BoweryBoogie)

Iggy and the Stooges to play "Raw Power" — first time in 36 years (Stupefaction)

Wish you were here: Old postcards to home from NYC (This Ain't the Summer of Love)

About Iggy's career as an insurance spokesperson (Hunter-Gatherer)

Laura Kennedy of the Bush Tetras has a birthday today. Wish her the best (Laura Kennedy Liver Fund)

First photos from the "Sesame Street" shoot today at Tompkins Square Park: How soon before the paparazzi and groupies (and drugs, natch) arrive?

On Avenue B. I'm going to heckle Fozzie Bear. (Uh, is he still on the show...?)

Magazine that I already thought folded folds

RIP Trump magazine. Another nail in the coffin of wretched excess?

Busy week for filming on Avenue B: Tompkins Square Park safe for "Sesame Street"

First, today, prepare yourself for the mindless bloodletting of "Hyperactive" shooting on Avenue B along Tompkins Square Park....




"Hyperactive." Certainly sounds like some drug-addled splatterfest, right? "It's 'Sesame Street.' It's for the kids," a crew member told me. Oh.

But Thursday! "Step Up 3-D," the long-awaited sequel to "Step Up 2: The Street," which -- duh! -- followed "Step Up," the winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2006.



Be ready to "Step Up," people.

Wyndham Garden Hotel starting to sprout on the Bowery

When we last looked at the coming-soon high-rise at the corner of Hester and the Bowery last October...there wasn't much progress to report...



...and the 108-room Wyndham Garden Hotel, expected to open in 2010 (according to a Wyndham press release), didn't seem popular with everyone...



In any event, the site is showing signs of life...





For further reading:
LES hotel saturation: A map (BoweryBoogie)

Coming to Union Square: Chipotle Mexican Grill

Lois Weiss reports today that Chipotle Mexican Grill will open in the Zeckendorf Towers on the northwest corner of Irving Place and 14th Street. It's at the former site of Rhyme & Reason, the card shop, which closed last September. As I noted then: "What's to come? I have no idea! But it's a prime spot in NYUville. Also! There's a Duane Reade a block away on 14th and Third...and a Walgreens across the street. So this seems like a good spot for a drug store. Rite Aid?"

Anyway! Jeffrey Roseman of Newmark Knight Frank represented Chipotle. He told the Post: "Union Square is still buzzing and is a hot market." It will open at the end of the summer.

Band looking for someone to experience cliches with

Hmm... the photo is a little blurry... It reads: "3 cowboys blasting full speed into the black hole of BIG, ORCHESTRAL ROCK need both a new DRUMMER and a KEYBOARDIST/ORGANIST/SYNTH WIZARD OF THE COSMOS for kamikaze commitment...cause once we go in, we 'ain't coming back."

Spotted on Avenue A. Over a Wilco live poster.