Debate over commercial overlay for 255 E. Houston St. and surrounding blocks continues

On Tuesday morning, City Council’s Zoning and Franchises subcommittee heard from community members and elected officials about controversial landlord Samy Mahfar's request for a commercial overlay on East Houston Street and parts of the Lower East Side.

First, a quickie recap of what has transpired through the years at 255 E. Houston St. between Suffolk and Norfolk...

No. 255 previously housed the day-care center Action For Progress. They were displaced in the spring of 2010 when construction next door at 179 Suffolk St. destabilized the building.

Last summer, Mahfar, the property's new owner, filed plans for a 10-story residential complex with 53 residences and 4,600 square feet for community facilities.

However, as BoweryBoogie first reported in late February, Mahfar is seeking a commercial overlay for the parcel, with 7,240 square-feet for commercial use ... while the project grew to a 13-story building with 63 units that looks like...



In May, CB3 approved a resolution opposing the change. City Councilmember Rosie Mendez and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer have also opposed the commercial overlay. Still, the de Blasio-controlled City Planning Commission approved the application on July 13.

Now to Tuesday's City Council meeting. Both the Lo-Down and DNAinfo attended and covered what transpired.

Per the Lo-Down:

The developer argues that it makes little sense to restrict ground floor uses along a thoroughfare that already features many different kinds of shops and food/nightlife establishments. But Mendez said there’s no question the community wanted street-level spaces along this part of East Houston Street to be reserved for community facilities. “There is by no means,” said Mendez, “a shortage of places to eat and drink in my neighborhood. Yet facilities meant to provide services for people living in the area have become harder and harder to find.”

Mahfar's lawyer reportedly said repeated efforts to find a tenant failed. "There is no demand for a community facility on East Houston Street."

However, CB3 district manager Susan Stetzer disagreed. Per DNAinfo:

Stetzer ...provided written testimonies from the operators of several not-for-profit community groups —The Educational Alliance, Henry Street Settlement and University Settlement — stating the groups had never been contacted regarding the space and would be interested in renting it as a facility.

The subcommittee did not reach a decision on Tuesday. There's no word yet when that might occur.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Next for 255 E. Houston St.: Community facility/school/medical building?

10-story building now in the works for 255 E. Houston St.

Kotobuki back in action on 3rd Avenue

On Tuesday morning, we noted that Kotobuki was returning to 56 Third Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street. Signs said they were reopening in August.

Well, that was a short wait — the sushi restaurant actually started service on Tuesday night.



Kotobuki, which has several Long Island locations, closed in the fall of 2014 after after two-and-a-half years in the East Village. (It was replaced by the more upscale Saki, an offshoot of Sushi of Gari.)



You can find Kotobuki's menu here.

Box Kite Coffee now looks to be reopening on St. Mark's Place

On Monday, the above chalkboard sign appeared inside the now-closed Box Kite Coffee at 115 St. Mark's Place... a bit of a bridge-burning farewell...

"Time to quit drinking coffee, the sublime tastes of our myriad roasters cannot be made by Every Man or Woman or any 'Joe Coffee' on the block. Our 'More Stars Less Bucks' gift to NYC paid back in [hearts] many times over, but not in the old do-re-mi. Taste is the most important aspect of coffee and we were the only game in town."

However, an EVG commenter noted that the chalkboard sign has a new message... a help-wanted ad for an experienced manager "to reopen" ...

The VNYL will feature Long Island Iced Teas on tap, candied-bacon quinoa sushi

Sidewalk bridge signage for The VNYL arrived yesterday at 100 Third Ave., where a record store/bar/restaurant is opening here between 12th Street and 13th Street... Not much else to note at least from the exterior, other than that the neon sign for the former tenant, Nevada Smiths, has been removed...



Several nightlife vets, led by James Morrissey (The Late Late on East Houston), are behind this venture, which reportedly includes actor Adrian Grenier as a partner. (New York magazine notes that he is curating the record store.)

The four-level, 7,000-square-foot space with a 1970s theme will feature speciality cocktails and is "designed to attract patrons of music, fashion and art," a source at the restaurant told the Daily News last month.

New York magazine had a few more details on the venture this week. For instance:

Drink: Long Island Iced Teas ($15) on tap; table service where a private “mixologist” crafts a range of cocktails based on your bottle choice (from $300).

Eat: Large, medium, and small plates of candied-bacon quinoa sushi ($14) and salmon poke bowls with cucumber-seaweed salad ($22) imitate the three sizes of vinyl records.

The signage points to a summer 2016 opening. There's a teaser website where you can inquire about more information...they also have an Instagram account, populated for some reason with photos of models ranging from Kate Moss to Lauren Hutton...

Moss Monday's @thevnyl #Kate #katemoss #love #icon #nyc #ny #comingsoon #model #tbt #vogue #cocktails #summer #drinks #monday #vintage

A photo posted by The VNYL (@thevnyl) on Aug 8, 2016 at 1:31pm PDT

By the way, The VINYL is not to be confused with VYNL, the rock-n-roll-themed bar-restaurant in Hell's Kitchen.

[RESCHEDULED] Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'Romeo + Juliet'

Tonight's free film in Tompkins Square Park is the 1996 version of "Romeo + Juliet" with Claire Danes and Leonard DiCaprio.



Tonight's free film is also the last one of the six-week summer series. (And not one rain out, though there is a chance of thundershowers tonight.)

The Grand Finale this evening includes a food fair starting at 5 with vendors from the Eastville Restaurant Collective, which, according to the posters, includes GG's, Boulton & Watt and Huerta's.

There's also pre-movie music via the reggae-influenced rock of Faith.

Check the Films in Tompkins Facebook page for any updates on tonight's screening.

Updated 11:30 a.m.

Given the threat of rain tonight, the screening has been postponed until next Thursday, Aug. 18. The food fare will run between 5-9 p.m.

[Updated] Workers are putting in the foundation for the return of the Alamo

We spotted workers digging a foundation on Astor Place this morning.

Is this for the base of the Alamo, the sculpture that is expected to return this month?

Yes!

William Kelley, executive director of the Village Alliance, confirmed the nature of the work to us via email.

And when will the cube be back?

"The City has not given a firm date yet for its return," Kelly said. "Soon though we hope!"

Workers removed the Alamo for safekeeping for the duration of the $16 million capital improvement project on Nov. 25, 2014.

Updated 8/11

And a look at the Alamo space this morning...



Previously on EV Grieve:
The Alamo returns to Astor Place this Halloween

This is what it might be like living inside the Alamo on Astor Place

RIP Tony Rosenthal, the sculptor who created the Astor Place cube

The first of Jim Power's restored mosaic light poles has returned to Astor Place

4 years of Out and About in the East Village

On Aug. 1, 2012, we debuted a feature here titled Out and About in the East Village. Our first interview was with Mike Stupin, who worked making deliveries for (the now-closed) Mama’s Food Shop on East Third Street.

Delivering to pantsless people is very common. It’s not just guys; it’s everyone, all the time. People of every shape and size answer their door pantsless. Every once in awhile they get embarrassed and apologize and I’m like, ‘don’t worry about it.’ It’s kind of what I do, I put on pants so you don’t have to. Strangers love that joke. I’ve got one customer that I’ve never, ever seen wearing clothes. She’s always in a towel or a bathrobe. It doesn’t matter the time of day.

And here we are some 150 people later.

So many thanks to East Village-based photographer James Maher for his ongoing work on this series. (And thank you to Stacie Joy for filling in several times through the years.) And thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share his or her story.

You can revisit every interview here by year...

• 2012

• 2013

• 2014

• 2015

• the first quarter of 2016

And we were very sorry to hear about musician Bill Gerstel, who we featured in April 2014. He is facing a terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. We wish Bill and his family all the best.

UPDATED The Quad Cinema reopening pushed back to the fall

[Image via Cinema Treasures]

In August 2014, news broke that the Quad Cinema, family-owned and operated since 1972, was under new ownership.

The theater's new owner, real-estate developer and film buff Charles S. Cohen, announced plans to renovate the cinema on 13th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. As Variety first reported:

Cohen plans to transform the facility into a repertory house, featuring films from the Cohen Film Collection. It’s a library that boasts 700 works by the likes of D.W. Griffith, Buster Keaton, Jean-Luc Godard, W.C. Fields and Alfred Hitchcock, and the exhibitions will include talks and lectures pegged to the movies being shown.

In addition to film classics, the theater will also play foreign and indie titles.

The Quad closed for the upgrade in May 2015 ... with an announced reopening of the fall 2015...



...then it became the summer of 2016.

Anyway, I walked by the other day looking for the marquee. I thought I was on the wrong block for a second.



I checked in on the Quad website... which now notes that the theater will reopen in the fall of 2017...



According to Cinema Treasures, the Quad was Manhattan's first four-screen theater when it opened in 1972.

UPDATED 10 a.m.

A Quad rep reached out to us... there was a typo on the Quad website. The theater will reopen THIS fall.

Much better!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Now playing at the Quad Cinema: Closed for Renovations

Reader report: M2M to move; Wagamama on the way

Back in June, the Commercial Observer reported that Wagamama, the London-based chain of Japanese restaurants, signed a lease for a retail space at 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor building that recently went through a luxurious upgrade.

No 55, which is between 10th Street and 11th Street, is currently home to two retail tenants: M2M, the Asian grocery that opened in 2002, and The Smith. Reps for both businesses said that they were not closing, as Gothamist reported at the time. (The Observer article didn't mention which business would be departing.)

In 2014, these commercial spaces hit the market for $25.5 million. The listing at the time noted that M2M's lease was up in 2017. (The Smith's lease is through 2027.)

Now, an EVG reader says that an M2M worker divulged that the grocery would be moving when the lease is up. "The employee was very talkative about it. Said it was going to be within five blocks of the original store and probably going to be bigger. Still trying to figure out their likely spot because of limited spaces that size in the area."

Hmm. First, it's nice to hear that M2M will be sticking around the area. So what are some possible landing spots?

Here are two: 1) The former Met Foods on Third Avenue between 16th Street and 17th Street and 2) The former Capital One® branch on the southeast corner of Third Avenue and 14th Street.

Your guesses?

Meanwhile, Wagamama was on CB3's SLA docket for a beer-wine license this month. However, Wagamama has withdrawn from the proceedings this time around.

Report: Red Square has been sold for $100 million

[EVG file photo]

Early last summer we heard rumors that Red Square, the residential complex at 250 E. Houston St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, had been sold.

And we didn't hear much more about that...

Now Lois Weiss at the Post is reporting that the 12-floor building (with the statue of Lenin on the roof) is in contract to be sold to Dermot Co. for roughly $100 million, according to anonymous sources.

Red Square, which features 130 rental units, also has 23,000 square feet of retail space. According to the Post, the retail space was not part of the deal. There are four vacancies in this strip of shops, which include a Dunkin' Donuts, Subway (sandwich shop), Sleepy's (for the rest of your life), China Town Chinese restaurant and a FedEx Office Print & Ship Center.

According to Streeteasy, there aren't any current rentals available. A look at recent rentals show a studio going for $2,350, and a two-bedroom unit fetching $5,200.

The building, the creation of Michael Rosen, opened in June 1989.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Red Square has been sold

The new Ess-A-Bagel location: 'Almost there'

It appears that the wait may finally be over for fans of Ess-A-Bagel ... the owners have been building out a new home at 324-326 First Ave. at East 19th Street in Stuy Town. There have been a few delays.

In any event, Ess-A-Bagel took to Facebook last night for an update...

Previously on EV Grieve:
New 1st Avenue Ess-A-Bagel will have a TOASTER

Noted

An EVG reader found this paper discarded on Avenue A — a rental list for Jared Kushner's Westminster City Living properties in the East Village...

"I'm sure this info isn't secret, but it's interesting to see it all here on one piece of paper," the reader noted.

The least-expensive rental on the sheet is $2,450 for a studio on East 11th Street... topping out at $5,999 for a four-bedroom residence on East 12th Street.