Astor Plate now open on Astor Place

The food-and-drink kiosk made its debut on Saturday. As previously reported, the kiosk offers a variety of salads, sandwiches, wraps, smoothies ... as well as Mud Coffee (to make up for the loss of the Mud Truck). You can find the menu here.

Will update with hours when that info is available.

Updated

Mud is giving away free coffee on Wednesday morning ...

We have astornomical news!! @astor_plate is OPEN!! That also means @mudcoffeenyc is back at Astor Place!! Celebrate this Wednesday morning when Astor Plate will be giving away free Mud Coffee between 8am and 10am!! #AstorPlace #AstorPlate #MudNYC #MudPeople

A post shared by Astor Place NYC (@astorplacenyc) on Jul 17, 2017 at 12:21pm PDT

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Mudtruck hits the road ahead of renovations at Astor Place

Retail space at 347 Bowery sells for $20 million

A transaction from last week to note... in which developer Urban Muse sold the 8,400-square-foot commercial space at the base of 347 Bowery for $20.3 million, according to The Real Deal.

This is the two-level, bank-branch looking storefront at Third Street...



No word on a tenant (or tenants!) for the space. And no mention of the rent at RKF.

The listing notes:

"With a mix of luxury contemporary fashion labels, high-end dining options and influential neighbors, the area is a perfectly curated mix of downtown cool and cultured sophistication."

The listing does not divulge that this retail opportunity is directly next door to a 7-Eleven.



The Annabelle Selldorf-designed 13-story luxury building features five stacked town homes.

Video: Documenting a hoarder's filthy apartment after the eviction

[Screengrab via YouTube]

Updated 7/18: Read more background on this story here.

This video is making the rounds this weekend.

Martin Fernandez, a contractor working at a building only ID'd as being on the Lower East Side, documented the clean-up of a roach-filled apartment after the tenant was evicted.

The Daily Mail first had the story:

"Whatever you've seen, you've never seen nothing like this," Fernandez says ...

"When I first started doing work, we gave him a new stove and he was a very clean guy," he recalls about the tenant.

The apartment is filled with rotting garbage, empty bottles and assorted junk.

Cockroaches swarm across the the walls, floor and furniture.

"The refrigerator caught on fire," Fernandez notes as he peers into the scorched interior of the appliance.

It gets more grim as the crew discovers what happened to the tenant's cat.

And it's all captured on a video that Fernandez made to document the mess. (If you're at all squeamish, then you should not watch this. Or even if you aren't...)



The address of the building is not disclosed. A few EVG readers wondered if it might be in the East Village. There's a shot of Fernandez taking a breather in his truck. What looks like the First Avenue-Ninth Street location of the Bean can be seen in the background...



If you have any guesses to where this might be, have at it... (Also, one reader suggested that this video was staged for the purposes of generating interest in some kind of upcoming series.)

For further reading, the Times recently had a piece titled "Helping Those Who Hoard," which included photos from several East Village apartments.

Updated:

Fernandez posted a follow-up video titled "Rage over Fake News because of my Cockroach Infested apartment video."

Week in Grieview

[Lonesome balloon via Derek Berg]

Work on new Avenue A entrances to the L train looks to be getting underway (Monday)

NYPD looking for help in identifying man found in the East River on July 4 (Wednesday)

City ready to attack rats in Tompkins Square Park (and elsewhere) (Friday)

Updated: 99 Miles to Philly is now The Joint on 3rd Avenue (Thursday)

Out and About with Grace Kang, owner of Pink Olive on 9th Street (Wednesday)

That penthouse with a cottage atop 1st Street and 1st Avenue is for sale (Thursday)

Report: Man sentenced to 40 years in 2011 shooting death of teen outside Campos Plaza (Tuesday)

Old Monk opens on Avenue B (Monday, updated)

The Bean is opening in the former St. Mark's Bookshop space at Cooper Union (Thursday)

Your chance for enjoying Summer Streets and Smellmapping Astor Place coming next month (Wednesday)

At the 'Not Another Starbucks Rally' (Friday) ... Steve Cuozzo: 'A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live' (Monday)

Cup & Saucer Luncheonette closing tomorrow (Wednesday)

A few more details on the end of Webster Hall in its current format (Tuesday)

At the Weeping Willow Wake (Sunday)

An outpost of the Ainsworth vying for former Pourhouse space; E.Vil is not coming (Tuesday)

Construction watch: Thirteen East + West (Wednesday)

217 E. 3rd St. is for sale (plus air rights) (Friday)

Raphael Toledano-owned East 6th Street building returns to the market for a few million more (Tuesday)

Former Chao Chao space for rent on Avenue A (Friday)

Here's what's coming to 222 1st Ave. (Tuesday)

Looking at the new-look 29 Second Ave. (Wednesday)

Quickly reaching the top of 287 E. Houston St. (Monday)

Your chance to own part of an East Village bar (Monday)

... a high-profile tag arrived late last week on Seventh Street at Avenue A ... that has since been cleaned off...


[Photo by Mike House]

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Street fair! Street fair! Street fair!

[Photo by Vinny & O]

The Lower 2nd Avenue Spring Festival is underway, from 14th Street to 10th Street... bring your dollars...

Looking at the Big Belly 1.0 and 2.0 in and around Tompkins Square Park

[10th and B]

Last week, workers placed new solar-powered, Big Belly trash cans in and around Tompkins Square Park as part of the city's $32-million plan to combat vermin in rat-popular neighborhoods, like this one.

Per the city:

The City will purchase 336 solar compactors that restrict access to trash with a “mail-box” opening and that have resulted in 90% rat reductions when fully deployed in concentrated areas. The City will also replace all the remaining wire waste baskets in the zones with 1,676 steel cans — both in parks and on street corners — which should meaningfully reduce rats’ access to food sources compared to current wire baskets.

However effective, they're no match for someone who decides to dump contents from their apartment at their mail-box opening...



While there are more of the new Big Belly trash cans deployed inside the Park, it may be a good idea to put several of them at key entry points, such as Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, alongside the Big Belly 1.0, which can be overmatched ...



and Avenue A at Ninth Street...



Still, the squirrels seem to like them...

This weekend in attempts to buy that classic 1965 AMC Rambler Marlin on 9th Street

EVG correspondent Steven shared these photos from yesterday on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... someone left a note on that Dodge Rambler Marlin that's usually parked on the block...



"I want to buy your car!! Please call ... My grandma had one and it brings back great memories. XO"

Saturday's parting shot

OK, this is actually last Saturday... showing Fledgling #1, Christo and Dora's lone red-tailed offspring this year, atop St. Brigid's on Avenue B and Eighth Street... photo by Goggla, who has an update on Fledgling #1 here.

Feeling blue about the Cherry Tavern

[EVG photo from 2010]

The always (mostly!) reliable spot on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue is now...



Blue — very blue!

Thanks to Goggla for the new paint-job pic!

That sinkhole feeling

Back on Wednesday, workers started making repairs on the sinkhole at the Eighth Street/Avenue B entrance to Tompkins Square Park... there hasn't been any work on the hole since then.

It appears there is still a broken section of pipe, per these photos from today ...



No one is around to ask... so no word on what the delay might be. Waiting for a part?

Also, as you can see in the top photo, there were a lot of pigeons to the left of the hole... it appears that someone fed them...

Open Day tomorrow (Sunday!) at the local Marble Cemeteries

[Photo of the New York City Marble Cemetery on 2nd Street]

From Noon until 6 p.m. tomorrow at the New York City Marble Cemetery (above) on Second Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue ...



Meanwhile, The New York Marble Cemetery at 41 1/2 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street is also open tomorrow from noon to 4 p.m.

H/T EVG reader Spike!

Noted

Possible bed bugs, tapering off later today. The high is expected to be 86 degrees with a low of 70 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

First Avenue between Second Street and Third Street.