Save the date: Learn how NYU will expand by 6 million square feet

Save the Lower East Side! has the date for when NYU will present its
2031 Expansion Plan...April 14. As STLES noted, the NYU campus will expand 6 million gross square feet within the next two decades. Hope you like the color violet. (Curbed has more on NYU's plans here, including the school's desire for taking over Governors Island.)

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

For lease signs have gone up on the southeast corner of Houston and Elizabeth above the cozy Cafe Colonial, which opened here in 1994.



Based on the listing, it appears the future of this corner is destined to become high-end retail ... the rendering of the rebranded corner -- 73 East Houston Street -- shows lots of shopping bags and some thighs and calves...



The listing mentions all the new and fancy things that the New Era of the Bowery has to offer:

NEIGHBORS: Whole Foods, DBGB, John Varvatos, Vince, Tory Burch, Calypso, Blue & Cream and the New Museum

COMMENTS:
• On the same block as the new Keith McNally’s - Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria Restaurant
• One block from Whole Foods
• Dense residential, seven day a week market
• Fantastic corner exposure

Is Cafe Colonial then the first victim in the McNallification of the neighborhood? It wasn't that long ago where Leonardo DiCaprio could be spotted here for brunch...

Playing tag with 290 Mulberry

Continuing west on Houston... I've been keeping tabs on 290 Mulberry via in-the-know sources such as BoweryBoogie and Curbed... You've seen this wavy thing on the southeastern corner...




Here's the listing:

290 mulberry delivers award winning full floor loft residences and one spectacular penthouse by SHoP Architects. Amenities include: 24-hour doorman, private elevators, north, west and south exposures, and outdoor spaces with views from Broadway to Brooklyn. All homes feature wide-plank radiant-heat walnut flooring, central A/C, and in-unit W/D. Custom-designed interiors offer gloss white kitchens by Schiffiini with stone countertops, Miele gas cook top with fully vented hood, Sub-Zero refrigerator, Bosch dishwasher, Bosch oven, and Bosch wine cooler. Master bath has custom vanity by SHoP Architects, Vola faucets and rain showerhead, teak wood paneling, Siberian marble floors, frosted glass tile walls, and a clerestory window bringing in southern light. Expected occupancy, summer 2009.

StreetEasy has seven active listings, from $2.5 million to the $7.5 million penthouse. None of the units have been sold... and none of them are in contract...

So is this project in limbo? I don't know, but the sign out front seems telling... Does this look like a condo ready to sell some units?

Memorial today for Bar on A owner Bob Scarrano

A reader passed along the news that Bar on A (or BOA or Barona) owner Bob Scarrano recently passed away... the bar opened nearly 15 years ago ... and it remains open...



People who knew Bob are encouraged to come to Gannon Funeral Home (152 E. 28th St. near Lexington) anytime today between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to share a memory with his wife Ann...

Do you have rats ready for their closeup?

From the EV Grieve inbox...and this is legit -- I exchanged e-mails with one of the assistant producers...

Wanted: if you have a rat problem, a new tv series will help for free (Manhattan, Queens, Bk, Bx, SI)
A new documentary science show on rats in the 5 boroughs is currently in production. We'll set you up with an accredited local pest control company that will tackle your rat problem FOR FREE, and follow the process of making your home or business rat-free. All correspondence will be kept strictly confidential AND we won’t even need to mention or show the name or location of your business or home/apt.

E-mail: sciencetvshow@gmail.com to find out more.

[Willard image via]

Backseat drivers will now be forced to sit outside Rhong Tiam/Kurve

On Fifth Street and Second Avenue.

Life Cafe closed, though just for one night

A little earlier this evening, we walked by Life Cafe on 10th Street and Avenue B... and were surprised to find it closed... we always get a little nervous when we see the gates down and spot a note on places such as this... to be honest, we expect the worst...



However, according to the note, the closure is just for maintainance... and Life will be back tomorrow night...

More on that coal mountain mud pile at Chase

More details are coming in regarding that pile that WAS NOT manure (as some folks had been reporting) at the Chase branch on Second Avenue and 10th Street. We're embarrassed that we didn't realize this was the work of Rev. Billy & the Church of Life After Shopping... Per Rev. Billy's site:

On March 21st we built a mountain in the lobby of a Chase branch on 2nd Avenue & 10th Street in Manhattan made from the murdered mud of Coal Mountain in West Virginia. Perched on top we left a letter for the CEO of Chase Jamie Dimon. His bank currently finances 80% of the Mountain-top Removal mining that is killing Appalachia.

Why yes, that is a pile of manure in the Chase branch lobby

[UPDATE: This was the work of Rev. Billy.]

This instant-classic photo has been making the rounds on the blog-and-tumblrsphere... Yesterday, protestors placed a pile of manure dirt in the entrance of the Chase branch on Second Avenue at 10th Street (home of the former Second Avenue Deli...) (Via Marklow)

Per I ought to be Working...

This happened across the street from my apartment. The protest happened yesterday. Chase is one of the biggest investors in mountain top removal mining. The protesters said they would leave a mountaintop in every Chase. They did.

I think it was pretty baller. Also didn’t hurt that the bulk of the protesters were part of a church choir that was singing lovely inspiration tunes.

A violent clash on Seventh Street early Sunday morning

Be sure to read Bob Arihood's account of a brutal brawl that broke out early Sunday morning on Seventh Street and Avenue A that involved nearly 50 people. "This event that we witnessed was violent . People were not just beaten , some were stomped and kicked too," Bob reported. And one police car with two officers was available to respond to all this. (Neither More Nor Less)

Le Souk now a supply closet

Given the long, tumultuous history surrounding Le Souk, it's understandable that some Avenue B residents remain uneasy about the now-shuttered hotspot... it doesn't help that Le Souk still looks like a functioning restaurant at a quick glance.



Though the menu is from the summer 2008... Still, there was that private party on New Year's Eve.



However, take a look inside...




Or maybe this is the latest in nightlife trends: Party as if you're in a supply closet!

Disarmed and dangerous on Avenue B: Pizza statue maimed

Meanwhile, across Avenue B, we recently noticed that the Finest Pizza and Deli guy at the corner of Fourth Street was missing a few things, such as his sign and right thumb...



And Saturday night, an EV Grieve reader passed by only to discover that his right arm was torn off by some vandals...



...and discarded a short distance away...