Report: Homicide on Avenue C

Over the weekend, several credible, non-law-enforcement sources confirmed that someone was killed late Thursday night/early Friday morning in an apartment on Avenue C between Eighth Street and Ninth Street. One source close to to the scene noted: "None of the major news outlets have reported it, but it certainly happened. I saw the [medical examiner] outside for a few hours on Friday morning and have heard that it happened in an apartment and was sex related."

The Post reports on the homicide in today's NYPD Daily Blotter:

A New Jersey man strangled his gay lover with a rope in the victim's Alphabet City apartment, police sources said yesterday.

Davawn Robinson, 22, of Paterson, NJ, allegedly wrapped the rope around the neck and wrist of Edgard Mercado, 39, in Mercado's apartment on Avenue C near East Eighth Street at 4 a.m. Friday.

Authorities found Mercado's body face up on the floor of his bedroom. Robinson had fled, police said, but was arrested the next day on murder charges.

New bar/restaurant for lower Avenue B?

The for rent signs are down at 16 Avenue B at Second Street...



...and I was told by a worker on the scene that the wall between the two vacant storefronts at 14 Avenue B and 16 Avenue B will be torn down... and the spaces will be combined...but for what?



14 Avenue B was on the docket for last week's CB3 liquor licensing meeting, but they were scratched from the agenda...

23. Corp to be Formed (currently Butterfly, Butterfly), 14 Ave B (trans/op)

The current liquor license for 14 Avenue B is inactive.

Previously on EV Grieve:
There are more than 20 empty storefronts along Avenue B

Chico's Avenue A mural neutered

Over the weekend, Chico's "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 11th Street...



...got painted over...






One of the painters said they were putting up an ad for an NBA video game...

Previously on EV Grieve:
What's going on with the playground at Mary Help of Christians?

Does the new Cooper Union building have a renter? (Plus, food cart!)

The "store for rent" signs are gone from in front of the new Cooper Union buidling...and the windows along Cooper Square have been papered over...so, has a retail client been secured for this spot? What could it be?



The first "for rent" ads stipulated "non cooking food." Which leaves open the possibility of FroYo. You don't cook that, right? Just pour it out of a bag?

Speaking of food!

For some reason I know that "House" premieres tonight

Noted

At Seventh Street and First Avenue.

Noted

The Giants are playing the Cowboys now on NBC... the game is on in the background. The new Cowboys Stadium cost $1.2 billion. NBC compared it to the Roman Coliseum. NBC also captured Cowboys owner Jerry Jones....

Car plows into ConEd gates on Avenue D

Just after 5 this evening, a car crashed into the ConEd fence at the dead end of Avenue D at 12th Street.




There were several accounts of what happened. One tipster noted that the car had been driving north on Avenue D with its hazards on before crashing into the fence. On the scene, one witness thought the car had clipped a van before coming to a halt at the fence. Yet someone else thought the driver simply made a mistake and kept going straight at the dead end.



In any event, nothing really sinister afoot here. The woman driving the car was in a great deal of discomfort. She was simply visiting her mother who lives nearby.

Lunch with a bunch of liars

Liars Picnic. Part of Conflux 2009.

Noted

At Superdive. Missing out on some NFL action.

Flashback:

There was a 100 percent chance of rain in the northeast section of Tompkins Square Park yesterday. Otherwise, sunny

Thanks to the EV Grieve reader who passed along these photos... from a photo (or film) shoot yesterday afternoon in Tompkins Square Park involving fake rain and the real Paul Rudd. Anyone know what this was...?





Too bad the organizers couldn't have planned this for back in June. On one of the 39 days that it rained that month.

Noted

From the Post:

A Manhattan condo is flush with amenities -- as in royal flush.

The city's newest legal underground card den is in a renovated condominium at 254 Park Ave. South, where a 1,400- square-foot poker room and lounge is being constructed in the basement of the 13-floor tower.

The developers of the condo, where the 123 units list for up to $3.28 million, are betting the poker room will attract a full house in a slow real-estate market.

"This isn't a gimmick amenity. The poker room is an extension of people's living space," said Daniel Rosen, a principal at Rosen Partners, one of the developers.

"We thought it was a good idea and then realized that no one else had done it before in Manhattan."

The poker den, pimped out with an eight-seat, green-felt poker table, a pool table and a posh bar, is already attracting residents lured by the idea of hosting their own weekly card games in style.

"The poker room and the high ceilings -- that did it for me. I knew it was the right fit," said David Stern, 30, who's moving into his two-bedroom unit in the next few weeks.