The former Shoolbred's space is for rent on 2nd Avenue

[Photos from early July]

Shoolbred's, the upscale, Scottish-style pub, closed at 197 Second Ave. back in June after nine-plus years in business.

Robert Morgan, one of the bar's owners, blamed the closure on "egregious rents."

The storefront between 12th Street and 13th Street is now on the market.



Per the listing (PDF here):

Coldwell Banker Reliable Commercial Division is pleased to present approximately 1,600 SF of ground floor retail space plus basement space for lease i... Nearby tenants include a mix of medical tenants such as Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital and New York University Langone, national tenants such as IHOP and KFC and numerous neighborhood fixtures such as Momofuku, Milk Bar and Village East Cinema. Suitable uses include, but are not limited to food and bar, professional office and retail.

Asking rent: $18,500 (the lease term is 60 months).

This address was home until 2007 to Jade Mountain, home of the great Chow Mein sign.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Shoolbred's is signing off on Father's Day

The stately 153 Avenue B has a new owner

[EVG file photo]

153 Avenue B between Ninth Street and 10th Street, which had been on and off the market with different brokers the past 18 months, has reportedly been sold.

The five-floor building overlooking Tompkins Square Park, described in the listing as "a rarely available grand and stately townhouse," features five floor-through market rate apartments.

According to The New York Times yesterday, the new owner is "a private investor" going by 153 B L.L.C. (c/o Zwirner Gallery on West 19th Street) in the public listing.

The asking price had been $6.85 million. According to public records, the property sold for $6.625 million. (The building hit the market in May 2016 with a $6.95 million ask.)

The same family had owned it for the past 60 years. They shared some history of the building with the Post earlier this year:

Over the decades, past residents, according to the current owners, have included actress Marisa Tomei, music producer Hal Willner, and musician and composer Charles Mingus.

“On the night that Robert Kennedy was shot, for instance, Mingus rang our bell. I remember seeing this heavy-set man in tears, crying to my mother about how they shot Bobby, too. His longtime lover lived on the fifth floor of our building with her children — she must not have been home at the moment he stopped over."

It's unclear if the new owner plans to keep the market-rate apartments, or convert the property into a single-family home. There haven't been any new work permits filed with the DOB.

Previously on EV Grieve:
153 Avenue B returns to the market

Baron's Dim Sum gives way to Tasty Garden on 6th Street

[Photo from April]

After just a few months in business, Baron's Dim Sum has closed at 518 Sixth St. here between Avenue A and Avenue B. Paper arrived on the front windows a few weeks back... and a new name and concept has arrived in the form of Tasty Garden...



..which is also going to offer a variety of dumplings as well as spicy wontons, per the signage. (Not sure if Baron's just switched up names or if new operators took over. The phone numbers are different.)

No. 518 has been home to a number of quickly-closing businesses in recent years ...including a psychic... and an organic dry cleaner/cafe.

Former Avenue A dental center is 'great location for restaurant'

The Family Dental Center at 15 Avenue A moved down to a new location on Essex Street...



And the space here between First Street and Second Street is on the rental market.

Per the rather jumbled listing:

Fully Set Up Dental Office - Can be used as Office or Retail confirming use - busy Avenue A location surrounded by all retail - Great Location for Restaurant - Busy Block

East Village Prime Location - Avenue A - Long Established Dental Office - Can be also used as full Retail or Medical Office. Cut up as a full office with 12 Separate rooms and areas - Full Basement also full of equipment

Everything can be taken out for a clean open space with no partition walls.

Asking rent for the 1,600 square feet: $12,500.

What do you think of a restaurant for this space? Someplace that served small bites? With the right word-of-mouth it could work, as long as there was a plaque out front about the former dental office.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo on Second Avenue at Seventh Street by Derek Berg...

Today in warnings about bed bugs

Derek Berg spotted this on the curb along Seventh Street... a couch ensemble with the warning "Bed Bugs Do Not Touch" ... probably could have used larger paper or smaller letters so the touch isn't so squished...



Anyway, this was before today's noon-time downour, so maybe the bed bugs floated away or drowned.

Tompkins Square Park sinkhole no longer sinking

Workers have made the broken-pipe repairs here at the Eighth Street/Avenue B entrance to the Park, and are filling in the hole, as the above photo by EVG Sinkhole Correspondent Steven shows.

And from yesterday...



And a flashback to June 18, when it all began [sob]...

5 years of Out and About in the East Village

[2012]

On Aug. 1, 2012, we introduced a new weekly feature by East Village-based photographer James Maher called Out and About in The East Village. The ongoing feature takes a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.

Anyway, here we are five years (and a day) later. The first subject worked for Mama's Food Shop on Third Street at Avenue B. (Before our interview was published, Mama's announced its closure. That seems like a lot longer than five years ago.) Other Year One alum included Derek Berg, today a valued EVG contributor.

Many thanks to James for continuing to provide us with these features. And thank you to everyone who has shared their stories. You can find them all at the links below...

Recaps by year:

• 2012 here

• 2013 here

• 2014 here

• 2015 here

• 2016 here

• 2017 here

The Great Jones Cafe will reopen starting tonight

The Great Jones Café will live on. The restaurant posted on its website and Facebook page last evening that they will reopen tonight at 5 after a one-week break.

Early last week, members of the waitstaff told diners that the 34-year-old Cajun favorite on Great Jones near the Bowery was closing for good. The story changed later on Wednesday, on what was said to be their last day. An employee told the Daily News that the Great Jones would close for a week of clean-up, and decide then whether or not to reopen. The employee said a permanent closure was a possibility, "but nothing has been decided yet." Another employee that night told DNAnfo that they could be closed for up to a year.

Perhaps the robust turnout last Wednesday evening helped the Cafe make a decision.

Updated noon:

Gothamist spoke to Great Jones owner Jim Moffett.

Some excerpts of the interview.

What happened is I got pretty badly hurt a week ago Saturday and went to the hospital. [Editor's note: Moffett said he was hospitalized for a "severe injury" but declined to elaborate.] In my absence we were forced to close for a short period of time but it was never my intention that the news should get out that we're closing period. It was a temporary closing until I got out of the hospital — which I did yesterday.

And...

We have some time left on the lease, not a lot of time. We've always been on a relatively short lease, I don't know why. This landlord, and the previous landlord, it's always been three to five year leases. I'd rather not get into the exact details, however, despite the fact that I owe the landlord some back rent—I'll be up front about that—he has told me that he wants us to stay as long as possible. There are no indications from him that he wants us out; quite to the contrary. We have a good relationship, he's a good guy. I don't foresee any trouble on that front.

Meanwhile, as Grub Street noted today, "Maybe it was the response [to the closing] that ensured the reopening."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Great Jones Café is now closed, permanently or not

Here's the sidewalk bridge-free corner of 9th Street and 1st Avenue — and the 122 Community Center

[Photos by Steven]

The northeast corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street is finally free of the sidewalk bridge. Workers finished removing it yesterday.







The gut renovation — including the addition of an elevator, new stairwells and full ADA compliance — started in February 2013 at the 122 Community Center.

The Department of Cultural Affairs owns the building, and Deborah Berke Partners designed the overhaul of the former public school to better house four arts groups and one community-service organization.

I'm not sure now when everyone, such as PS122, are expected to return to the building. PS122 has been presenting performances from other venues the past four years; its temporary offices are in Greenpoint. (PS122 opened in the space in 1980.)

Eventually, this is what the final product will look like...


[Deborah Berke Partners]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Come along on a tour of the under-renovation 122 Community Center on 1st Avenue

Sales underway for Rite Aid-adjacent condoplex on 1st Avenue

Sales began yesterday for 75 First Ave., the current foundation in the ground next to the Rite Aid at Fifth Street.

One day, it will be an 8-floor, 22-unit building like the rendering above.

Here's the official blurbage about the address:

Introducing 75 First Avenue, the brain-child of Italian design impresario and Peter Marino protégé Stefano Pasqualetti, and Starchitect Thomas O’Hara. The glass façade of this luxury condominium rises and cantilevers over the heart of the East Village. Amenities include a full-time doorman, a landscaped rooftop deck with panoramic city views, a fitness center, bicycle storage, and a private lounge with a yellow travertine fireplace, pool table, and wet bar for parties and events. 75 First Avenue is located only a few blocks from SoHo, the Lower East Side and the Bowery, and surrounded by an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, cafes, theaters, shops, and grocery stores. Nearby subway lines include the F and 6.

There are currently five units for sale via Nest Seekers International ... from $995,000 to $2.25 million.

Here are some renderings via Nest Seekers...







Plans here have evolved through the past 10 years here with various developers and architects.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

Report: Long-dormant 1st Avenue development site changes hands

Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

244-46 E. 7th St. has a new owner

Slate Property Group is reportedly the new owner of 244-46 E. Seventh St., a 24-unit building between Avenue C and Avenue D.

According to The Real Deal, Slate paid $11.9 million for the property, previously owned by East Noho Corp. It last changed hands in 1975 for an undisclosed price.

Per TRD: "Ten of the units ... are rent regulated, down from 14 in 2010."

Slate made headlines in 2015 for buying the Rivington House for condo conversion while the deed restriction was still in place.