Wednesday, September 21, 2016

The last sunset of the summer was a good one



Thank you _____. See you in the fall!

Photo this evening by Bobby Williams

A moment with Imperator Furiosa on 2nd Avenue today



On Second Avenue at Seventh Street, Derek Berg got a shot of the War Rig going on another supply run to Gas Town.

[Updating] Report of a fire at the Caracas Arepa Bar on 7th Street


[Photo by EVG reader Joaquin]

The FDNY is on the scene of a reported fire at 93 E. Seventh St. just off First Avenue... coming from Caracas Arepa Bar...




[Photo via the LES Dwellers]

Developing...

Updated 8:10 a.m.

Some video via Joaquin...



Updated 8:25

Two photos via Allen Semanco, who noted the quick response from area fire companies got the fire under control... residents were seen evacuated the corner building...







Updated 8:31

An all-clear via the FDNY...



Updated 11:30 a.m.

No word yet on damage to Caracas... Luke's Lobster next door announced a delay in opening ...


Updated 4:30 p.m.

The Caracas to go space is open next door... here are the signs that greet customers...





Co-owner Maribel Araujo provided an update to Grub Street:

While the street-facing front of Caracas was spared, half of the restaurant — including the kitchen, bathroom, refrigeration, part of the office, and the back half of the basement — essentially “burned down,” Araujo says. Walls are ruined, the basement was flooded with a foot and a half of water, and there is currently no electricity or gas. No one was hurt, Araujo says, and the fire was contained to the restaurant.

There isn't a timetable for the return... and it could be serious enough that they need to relocate.

There will be several eating-drinking choices at the incoming Moxy hotel on 11th Street



As we first reported last week, the Lightstone Group has filed new building permits for the Marriott International’s Moxy Hotels brand at 112-120 E. 11th St.

The 13-story hotel between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue is set to be 78,361 square feet. (About 250 square feet per room, per New York Yimby.)

Taking a deeper dive into the new building permit ... the Schedule A shows a lounge in the hotel's basement along with an "eating and drinking establishment with accessory terrace." The application also shows a lounge and another eating and drinking establishment on the first floor/lobby (not sure if these are connected) ... as well as a "grab n go" food and drink space. There's also another bar-restaurant planned for the top floor.



The number of eating-drinking choices in the hotel seems to fit the social Moxy brand. Per their website:

Moxy is a boutique hotel with the social heart of a hostel. A free-spirited place where you can do all that crazy fun stuff you’d never think of doing at home, together with likeminded spirits you’d otherwise never have met.

Yes, the WiFi is speedy and the cushy beds are freshly made, but more importantly, the bar is always open and the crew is always on. Whether you’re staying for the night or just a nightcap, you’ll see why it’s no place like home.


Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

Protest reminder about 112-120 E. 11th St.; plus concerns over asbestos removal

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

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall

East Village IHOP closed for 'makeover'



An EVG reader passed along word that the IHOP on East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue closed on Sunday for a "makeover," per the signage ... which promises "A whole new IHOP is coming."

According to the work permit (in the ALL-CAP STYLE OF THE DOB and the NYPD TWEET TOWER):

RENOVATION TO EXISTING EATING AND DRINKING ESTABLISHMENT. SCOPE OF WORK TO INCLUDE MINOR PARTITION WORK, NEW INTERIOR FINISHES, PLUMBING FIXTURES AND MECHANICAL EXHAUST FAN IN PROPOSED TOILET. NO CHANGE OF USE, EGRESS OR OCCUPANCY UNDER.

Looking forward to seeing/hearing the mechanical exhaust fan in proposed toilet.

There isn't any reopening date posted. However, to avoid pancake panic, the sign suggests you visit the next-closest IHOP — on Broadway in Washington Heights.



The East Village IHOP opened for business just about five years ago to the date.

[Updated] Where will the Lenin statue's next reign be?


[The post-Lenin Red Square]

Now that workers have removed the 18-foot statue of Vladimir Lenin from the roof of Red Square on East Houston, there's a lot of speculation about where the former Communist leader might end up.

On Monday night, workers at the scene at 250 Houston between Avenue A and Avenue B told EVG contributor Stacie Joy that Lenin, who arrived at Red Square in 1994, was headed to Queens for cleaning and storage.

Meanwhile, a tipster told us that the rental building's original developer, Michael Rosen, has purchased the statue. The building is rumored to be in contract for $100 million.

The Village Voice had an entertaining phone call with someone who answered the phone at Red Square.

“It’s in the same place as Dick Cheney — an undisclosed location,” the man said, adding “I don’t even know how you got this number. I haven’t answered the phone in 14 years.”

The man confirmed that the statue was initially removed to Queens, but has already been returned to Manhattan. It needs to be cleaned and touched up a bit — Lenin’s got some tears, he said — but it will be brought back within a few months.

“It’s going to be cool. That’s all I can say."

DNAInfo reported that the statue was spotted yesterday morning in a truck bed outside the Angel Orensanz Center at 172 Norfolk St. (Was this thing just driving the city all night?) The truck driver said that the statue was going up in/on a nearby building.

And finally, one EVG regular speculated that the statue would end up atop the Christodora House, where Rosen lives on Avenue B. Sure, why not. [Updated 8:10 a.m. — Rosen writes in to say that he has been living in Hanoi these recent years, and they have a Lenin in one of their parks already.]

One other item from Monday night. Apparently several people called 911 to report that someone was stealing the statue. One of the officers on the scene from the 9th Precinct said that he was responding to a call about a "landmark statue being stolen from the building by men with cranes."


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

That would be quite a heist.


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Updated 6 a.m.

A BoweryBoogie reader spotted a crane crew hoisting Lenin up to the roof of 178 Norfolk St. yesterday ... presumably the new home for the statue. Rosen and Michael Shaoul, co-owners/developers of the original Red Square, are the owners of this 6-story walk-up adjacent to the Angel Orensanz Center.

Updated 6/9

Lenin has returned. Photos here.

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

Report: Red Square has been sold for $100 million

The fall of Lenin: Iconic statue removed from Red Square on East Houston Street

Desi Galli, now with beer and wine on Avenue B

People seem to really like Desi Galli, 172 Avenue B between 10th Street and 11th Street. The restaurant, which offers quick-serve Indian food such as kathi rolls and chaats, opened back in April.

They were previously OK'd for a beer-wine license here in the former Mercadito Cantina space.

And Desi Galli let us know their beer-wine offerings have arrived as of yesterday...

A photo posted by Desi Galli (@desigalli) on

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Tuesday's parting shot



Sunset shots via Vinny & O ...


[Click to go bigger]

Croman case adjourned until November

As we noted yesterday, landlord Steve Croman was due back in court this morning.

Just a quick update from a Croman tenant in attendance: Not much happened. The criminal case was adjourned until Nov. 29 ... while the civil case begins on Nov. 1.

Several media outlets were in attendance ... as were some of Croman's tenants. (He owns 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village.)

We'll update the post with links to the coverage when it is online.

To recap, Croman is under criminal indictment for mortgage fraud in a probe launched by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

In addition, a civil suit alleges that Croman harasses rent-stabilized tenants to get them out of their homes.

A cab collision on Union Square



EVG reader Mitchell Schneider shared these photos from about 4:40 this afternoon... the aftermath of a collision between a cab and U-Haul on East 15th Street...



Not a lot of details at the moment here between Irving Place and Union Square East... one witness said that the cab was speeding and rammed the U-Haul ... and EMTs were bringing one person (the cab driver?) to an ambulance... we'll update if we receive more information...



Bomb scare closes part of Avenue A this morning; cops find golf balls, shards of glass




The NYPD shut down Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street because of a box (marked from Amazon) was placed on the curb in front of Gabay's Outlet.

The bomb squad checked it out.

And inside?

Per EVG special correspondent Christine Champagne, who shared these photos...



The box was filled with shards of glass and golf balls.

The fall of Lenin: Iconic statue removed from Red Square on East Houston Street



Back in August, the Post reported that Red Square, the 13-floor building, was in contract to be sold to Dermot Co. for roughly $100 million.

There's nothing yet in public records to reflect the sale of the building on East Houston Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Meanwhile, a tipster told us that the 18-foot statue of Vladimir Lenin, which has stood atop the building since 1994 (Red Square was built five years earlier), was coming down last night... EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by for the Lenin removal, which took more then two-plus hours...



















And a view from the roof ...


[Photo via @ElizabethQBrown]

One now-former Red Square resident said that the building's management isn't renewing leases past April. Another tipster claimed that Michael Rosen, the building's original developer, had purchased the statue, which was being transported to Queens.

The building was completed in 1989. And the statue?

Per Ephemeral New York:

“The 18-foot Lenin statue was originally a state-commissioned work by Yuri Gerasimov, but the Soviet Union’s implosion prevented the statue from going on public display. It was found by an associate of [a building co-owner] in the backyard of a dacha outside Moscow.”


[Photo by Lower East Side Lenin Fan]


[Photo by Lower East Side Lenin Fan]

In 1997, Michael Shaoul, a co-owner of the building, told the Times that the statue of Lenin, with his right arm raised victoriously, "faces Wall Street, capitalism's emblem, and the Lower East Side, 'the home of the socialist movement.'"

Updated 9/21

Looks as if Lenin will live on nearby ... on Norfolk Street, per BoweryBoogie.

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

Report: Red Square has been sold for $100 million