Kotobuki returning to 3rd Avenue

Back in the fall of 2014, Kotobuki closed up after two-and-a-half years of serving sushi at 56 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street.

It was replaced by Saki via sushi chef Masatoshi Gari Sugio.

Now, signs on the window here note the return this month of the reasonably priced Kotobuki (noted by Eater on Friday)...



Kotobuki also has three locations on Long Island.

The Christodora House in print now, and soon, on TV

You may have read about "Christodora: A Novel," which Grove Atlantic published last Tuesday.

First, here's the official summary of the book via Grove Atlantic:

In this vivid and compelling novel, Tim Murphy follows a diverse set of characters whose fates intertwine in an iconic building in Manhattan’s East Village, the Christodora. Moving kaleidoscopically from the Tompkins Square Riots and the attempts by activists to galvanize a true response to the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, to a future New York City of the 2020s where subzero winters are a thing of the past, Christodora recounts the heartbreak wrought by AIDS, illustrates the allure and destructive power of hard drugs, and brings to life the ever-changing city itself.

The author, Tim Murphy, has reported on HIV/AIDS for 20 years for publications including Poz, Out, Advocate and New York magazine. (He also writes for The New York Times and Condé Nast Traveler.)

Meanwhile, last week, Deadline reported that Paramount TV has already optioned the book for a short-run series. Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, who have the family drama "Little Men" playing now at the IFC Center, are adapting "Christodora."

The Christodora House at 143 Avenue B between Ninth Street and 10th Street was built in 1928. And here's more history via an article in the Times from 1988:

In the 1960's, according to a search of historical records conducted by the building's developer, the city rented Christadora House to a variety of community groups, including the Black Panthers. But it was eventually boarded up, and then sold at auction in 1978 to a private bidder for $63,000.

The building changed hands several times before it was purchased in 1984 by a group headed by Samuel Glasser, who oversaw its conversion into 85 modern condominium apartments, using a $6.5 million loan from Citibank and tax abatements and exemptions under the Government's J-51 tax program.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hanging out at the Christodora House in 1929

[Updating] 190 Bowery's roof is on fire

The FDNY alert went out just before 8 p.m.

190 Bowery is on fire
:(@evgrieve @boweryboogie pic.twitter.com/FBYJAfCwDc

— Patrick Cappiello (@patrickwine) August 9, 2016

Aby Rosen's RFR Realty owns the the historic Germania Bank Building at Spring Street, and his crews are renovating the space for new tenants, including a creative fashion entity called Great Bowery.

Rosen bought the landmarked building from photographer Jay Maisel for a reported $55 million in 2014.

We'll update when more information is known...

Updated 8:23 p.m.

Social media reports say that the fire is contained to the roof...

Live from the #bowery #fdny #nyc #190bowery never a dull moment

A video posted by joseph brentano (@brentanos) on Aug 8, 2016 at 5:09pm PDT

MAN ALL HANDS 190 BOWERY, VACANT COMMERCIAL FIRE ON THE ROOF, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) August 9, 2016

A muni-meter moment on Avenue A

EVG reader Melanie shared these photos from yesterday... the story begins when one of the juvenile red-tailed hawks, venturing further away from the confines of Tompkins Square Park, flew into the windows of New York Sports Club on Avenue A between Second Street and Third Street.

It then flew on top of a car and eventually landed on a muni-meter. Onlookers couldn't tell if the hawk was injured or just momentarily stunned... the hawk eventually flew off 10 minutes later...



Several residents also reported being stunned in 2014 the first time they saw the newly unveiled New York Sports Club building.

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

Plans to bring a 300-room hotel to East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue are progressing.

On Thursday, the Lighthouse Group filed permits with the city to demolish five buildings — 112 to 120 E. 11th St. — that will yield to the new property.

So basically everything from the Village Pourhouse building on Third Avenue to the building housing Amsterdam Billiards on the corner of Fourth Avenue will come down... if everything receives the proper approvals.



Back in May, The Real Deal reported that Lighthouse had plans for the new property, with Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels serving as the brand.

Per that article:

Moxy, the new Marriott brand which is targeting millennials with lower prices and a youthful vibe.

In early 2015, the company said it expected to spend $1 billion to develop four Moxy hotels in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, and one in Los Angeles. Lightstone will spend another $1 billion on other Moxy projects around the country.

Two other Moxy projects in Manhattan are a proposed 36-story, 343-key hotel at 105 West 28th Street in Chelsea, and a 16-story, 618-key hotel at 485 Seventh Avenue, south of Times Square.

The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street property is expected in late 2018...


[Click to go big]

To date, there aren't any plans on file for the hotel. So there isn't any word how large this development will be.

The Lightstone Group paid Pan Am Equities $127 million for the portfolio, which includes 85 E. 10th St. That building isn't expected to be part of the new development.

Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

On 10th Street, Prime & Beyond has closed; popular Japanese steakhouse coming next

Back January 2013, the Post reported that Prime & Beyond, the steakhouse at 90 E. 10th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue, was leaving the East Village to be closer to the Lincoln Tunnel and its New Jersey location.

However, the steakhouse, which opened in July 2011, hung in there. Until now.

Prime has closed, and a new suitor is already in line for the address. Documents (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website ahead of this month's SLA committee meeting show that The Ikinari Steak is taking the space. The Tokyo-based chain has 50 locations worldwide; this is the first for the United States. (This item will not be heard at the SLA meeting, however.)

The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to midnight daily... the CB3 questionnaire shows 15 tables with 50 seats. As Eater reported on Friday, Ikinari Steak is "wildly popular" in Tokyo, and is "known for its lack of chairs and fast turnover." And! "The concept is to feed people steak as quickly as possible."

The diagram with the CB3 materials shows a standing area... (and, not shown below, an area for "low tables")...


[Click to go big]

Here's more on Ikinari Steak and its owner, restaurateur Kunio Ichinose, via The Financial Times:

Customers stand at 1m-high tables and order the precise number of grammes desired. The cost — Y5/gramme for rib-eye to more than Y10/g for sirloin — gives customers what Mr Ichinose claims is a vital sense of control.

Everything is calculated for speed of throughput and optimal use of limited ground floor spaces in key city locations. The height of the tables, Mr. Ichinose demonstrates by jumping up and miming, has been calibrated so that diners are unlikely to put their knives and forks down between mouthfuls. He pulls out a smartphone, which funnels him real-time CCTV footage of all the restaurants, to show this happening.

So it looks as if this location would have both the super-fast standing option... as well as dining room seating. Given the proximity to many office workers at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star as well as 770 Broadway (HuffPost, aol, Facebook, Billboard, etc.) ... this could potentially be a hit ... on an otherwise pretty quiet street.

Also, the retail space above prime, formerly a Miron real-estate office, is for rent...via Winick Real Estate...

Cafe-office space in the works for Cooper Square dorm retail space

It looks as if preliminary work is underway in one of the two storefronts at 200 E. Sixth St., home of the Marymount Manhattan College dormitory on Cooper Square.

In June, CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license for applicants opening a cafe called BRUD. (Or maybe Brud. We've seen spelling for it both ways.)



The CB3 application shows daily hours of 7 a.m. to midnight... with menu items including breakfast wraps, deli sandwiches and salads... as well as tea and coffee. (There's a sample menu on file with the questionnaire at the CB3 website.)



The approved DOB permit for the retail space shows that Emporium Design, whose East Village credits include Boulton & Watt and the Blind Barber, is working on the interior.

The Emporium Design website states that BRUD is a "Shared Office Space and Café Concept."

Here's one of the renderings...


[Emporium Design]

The 13-story dorm opened for Marymount Manhattan College students last August. The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building that dated to 1825.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Former Barbone space for rent on Avenue B

Barbone, the low-key Italian restaurant on Avenue B, closed after 10 years in June — a victim of Cromanization.

Landlord Steve Croman reportedly would not renew Barbone's lease. So owner Alberto Ibrahimi decided to get evicted instead.

Ibrahimi told Bedford and Bowery back in June: "We could not get a new lease. Knowing I wouldn’t get my security deposit back I decided not to pay the rent until eviction."

On Friday, the rent signs arrived at the space between 11th Street and 12th Street. Will be curious to see what the asking rent is for the restaurant, which includes a rear garden.

Aug. 7

An EVG reader shared this photo from today on Seventh Street... the reader said that he woke up to "what sounds like someone struggling to pull a bag of trash down the stairs" in the apartment building. Turns out someone simply decided that it was time to discard the holiday tree...though falling short of the tree-tossing record by several weeks.

Week in Grieview

[Photo on East 3rd Street by David Fasano]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Exclusive: New owners of John's of 12th Street look to carry on the restaurant's tradition (Wednesday)

Lanza's remains closed (Wednesday)

September opening expected for the Second Avenue location of Tompkins Square Bagels (Tuesday)

Scott Stringer's audit blasts City Hall for inaction in Rivington House deed lift (Monday)

Target will pay $2.5 million annually in rent on 14th Street and Avenue A (Friday)

Report: Village View residents considering going private (Thursday, 56 comments)

Gotham Pizza opens on Third Avenue (Tuesday)

Espresso bar-barber shop in the works for 137 Avenue A (Tuesday)

Box Kite Coffee has closed on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday)

The Edge is closing this month on East Third Street after 29 years (Friday)

Workers remove American Elm in Tompkins Square Park (Thursday)

Esperanto Fonda opens on First Street (Friday)

With new building OK'd, corner of Fourth Avenue and 10th Street finally ready for razing (Monday)

Full reveal at 100 Avenue A (Wednesday)

The new Astor Place rolls out the tables, chairs and umbrellas (Thursday, 51 comments)

Mono + Mono coming soon — again! (Monday)

Drunken Dumpling coming soon to First Avenue (Monday)

Police searching for perpetrator who took this flower pot from St. Mark' s Place (Tuesday)

Secchu Yokota serving now omakase tempura on East Third Street (Thursday)

NY Grill & Deli coming to Avenue A and 12th Street (Monday)

Signage arrives for Greek restaurant opening in the former St. Mark's Ale House (Wednesday)

... and a look at the mural for August at Mikey Likes It ice cream, 199 Avenue A near East 12th Street, by Andre Trenier ... the Flavor of the Month is dedicated to Andre the Giant: "The 8th Wonder" with cinnamon toast crunch ice cream ...

Paving the way for smoother streets on 3rd Avenue

Crews started paving the roadway on Third Avenue/Cooper Square on Thursday... here's a look at the smoothness from Ninth Street to St. Mark's Place...break out the roller blades! Or roller skates! Or skateboards! Or illegal hoverboards!





There's still rough roadway south of Seventh Street ... this work is part of the ongoing Astor Place/Cooper Square Reconstruction Project.



The paving is expected to be complete in 2019.

Here's more on what's happening via the Reconstruction Newsletter (PDF!):

Anticipated Work Schedule:
July –September 2016
•Alamo Plaza: Re-install the “Alamo Cube” Sculpture.
Installing trees, shrubs, perennials and Furnishings.
•Subway Plaza: Planting/granite stone installation
•Lafayette, from Astor Pl. to E. 9th: Roadway reconstruction.
•Peter Cooper Park: Installing perennials/trash receptacles.
•Village Plaza: Installing additional skateboard deterrents,
new plants/perennials.
•Third Avenue, from E. 4th to E. 9th Streets: Roadway
reconstruction.
•Mosaic Poles: Installing decorative light poles along Astor
Place. (not powered)
•E. 4th from Bowery to Second Ave: Installing bump-outs.
•Milling and Paving operations throughout project.

East Village Vintage Collective turns 1 today

[Photo from last August by Stacie Joy]

East Village Vintage Collective at 545 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B celebrates its 1st brithday today... they'll be having some special deals throughout the day ... leading up to a tiki-themed party tonight from 7-10. (The store opens today at 11 a.m.)

Party People! Come by this weekend for our 1 year anniversary party!! Woot! #vintage #1yearanniversary #eastvillageparty #eastvillagevintagecollective

A photo posted by EV Vintage Collective (@evvintagecollective) on Aug 2, 2016 at 10:20am PDT

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the East Village Vintage Collective