The Brant Foundation's 6th Street outpost looks close to completion (at least on the outside)

The gut renovations started back in April 2016 at the former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio that Peter Brant is converting into an exhibition space.

The renovated circa-1920 building, which will reportedly serve as an extension of the Greenwich, Conn.-based Brant Foundation Art Study Center, is looking closer to being ready for art.

Here's a (pre-snow) look around the building's exterior, starting with the Sixth Street side here between Avenue A and First Avenue...









... and here's a rear view of the building from Seventh Street...





Peter Brant's daughter Allison Brant oversees her father's contemporary art collection. This feature on her in the April 2017 issue of Town & Country reported that the Brant Foundation's EV outpost will open this spring.

Per the article:

Allison will also run this second space, which is in the East Village and will primarily be used to showcase the foundation's permanent collection. "So many artists my father collects have a connection to that neighborhood," she says.

Brant bought the building for $27 million in August 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About that "giant-robot laboratory" on East Sixth Street

RIP Walter De Maria

What is your East Village dream home?

Walter De Maria's 'giant-robot laboratory' going for $25 million; inside is amazing as you'd expect

Here's what Peter Brant wants to do with his new exhibition space on East 6th Street

When the world's top collectors of Dom Pérignon rosé came to the East Village for dinner

Reader report: 421 E. 6th St. will house Peter M. Brant's personal art collection

Peter Brant's East 6th Street Outreach Tour 2015 continues

Peter Brant meets the neighbors

A few more details about the incoming Moxy East Village on 11th Street

[Photo from March 10]

We received a news release yesterday from the Lightstone Group about Moxy East Village, their 285-key hotel going up at 112-120 E. 11th St. in partnership with Marriott.

The news was primarily about "the close of $91 million in financing with Bank of the Ozarks for the company's third Moxy hotel in New York City."

There were other details about the hotel between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue that may (or may not!) be of interest.

To the release, via the EVG inbox:

Moxy East Village will be located south of Union Square in the East Village, across from Webster Hall. In a nod to Moxy's vibrant, ever-transforming neighborhood, the hotel's design concept is based on urban archeology that references the city's past, present and future. Conceived as a vertical timeline, each floor reveals a different layer in Lower Manhattan's history, creating a sense of discovery for guests.

The micro-room, macro-amenity hotel will feature smartly designed bedrooms, technology savvy amenities, community based social programming, rooftop fitness, co-working spaces, and six new eating and drinking establishments for guests and locals.

So, to recap: each floor will be designed after "a different layer in Lower Manhattan's history" and there will be "six new eating and drinking establishments for guests and locals."

Previously on EV Grieve:
An updated look at that Moxy hotel for 11th Street

The former Sunshine Cinema will be demolished in 2 months

[Photo from last month via @michaelkbusch]

The Commercial Observer has a Q&A with Gregory Kraut, a managing partner at K Property Group, the newish owners of 143 E. Houston St. — the former Sunshine Cinema.

Kraut offers a few details on why the property was of interest ... and when they plan on tearing down the structure built in 1898.

Here's part of the interview with a passage on the Sunshine:

Why did you want the Sunshine Cinema building?

Because we saw where retail is going. We saw what was happening on Orchard Street where they have Equinox, CVS and T.J. Maxx, and Whole Foods was on the other side so we’re right there. We’re like, Are you kidding? This is a great location. We’re putting up a spec 63,000-square-foot office building that’s going to be nine stories. Roger Ferris is our architect. He is awesome.

So no theater there.

No theater. Zero. We’re demolishing it in two months.

You don’t feel bad?

No, not at all. First of all they were trying for years to make money and they couldn’t. The area has changed, and quite frankly, the business model didn’t, and so we gave them options to renew. They had several opportunities to buy the building.

East End Capital and K Property Group bought the building for $31.5 million last spring. They filed demolition permits to take down the three-level structure here between Eldridge and Forsyth back in November.

The new building permits — a 9-story boutique office complex with a retail component — haven't been posted just yet at the DOB.

The five-screen Sunshine Cinema closed on Jan. 21 after a 17-year run.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema

The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space

A celebratory ad on the purchase of 139 E. Houston St., current home of the Sunshine Cinema

Wednesday's parting shot

One last Tompkins Square Park snow pic from today... via Derek Berg.

Hanging out, doing stuff

Photos in Tompkins Square Park today by Derek Berg....





It was a tough day for snowmen heads.

Noted

@evgrieve little kid just stole all the heads from the snowmen. pic.twitter.com/Zj8v6WfxDp

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) March 21, 2018

And where was the @NYPDTWEETTOWER during all this?????

In like a lion, out like a lion

Photo outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery by Lola Sāenz.

Up in arms over this loss of limbs

When Goggla arrived in Tompkins Square Park today, this under-construction snow person/creature/thing had arms but not a face...



... an hour later, it had lost its arms but gained a face...



To be continued?

And no sign of any of these yet. But it's early.

March 21

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

A few photos from today's — pick your hashtag! — #WinterStormToby #SnowDay #4Easter #Noreaster4 etc. ...


[Photo by Peter Brownscombe]


[Photo by PB]


[Reader-submitted photo of the New York Marble Cemetery]


[Reader-submitted photo of 7th and A]


[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

The Marshal takes possession of the Subway (sandwich shop) on 1st Avenue

[Subway photos by Steven]

The Subway (sandwich shop) on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street remains closed... this after the Marshal came calling late last week, putting the storefront in the legal possession of the landlord...



If this shutter remains permanent, then this marks the seventh Subway sandwich shop to close in the immediate area in the past five-plus years, joining the one on the Bowery … East 14th Street … First Avenue … Second Avenue… Third Avenue ... and Fourth Avenue.

Subway fans still have the locations at 250 E. Houston St. and 223 Avenue B to choose from, among several others close by.

The Subway at 108 First Ave. opened in February 2012, taking over the space that previously housed Intervideo Electronics, that kinda weird and cool computer repair shop-plasma TV installers-DVD rental place...


[Photo from 2011]

Previously on EV Grieve:
The 75-cent coffee at Subway

13 months later, Grand Opening officially ends at the First Avenue Subway

Eighth Subway sandwich shop opens in the East Village

Kinda weird and cool computer repair shop-plasma TV installers-DVD rental place closing on First Avenue

Bookstore coming to the former St. Mark's Bookshop on 3rd Street

Work continues at 136 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... an EVG reader who lives nearby reports that workers removed the paper covering the front windows on Monday... revealing the makings of a bookstore...



A worker at the scene confirmed this. So the next item of business will be to find out who the new tenant is, and what kind of books the shop will carry.

After 38 years at four locations, St. Mark's Bookshop closed here on Third Street in February 2016. Among other things, the long-struggling store reportedly owned some $70,000 in back rent to the NYCHA.

This incoming shop will be the second bookstore to open in the neighborhood since the New Year, joining Codex on the Bowery and Bleecker.

Updated 7 a.m.

The first commenter included a link to a DOB document ... showing that the tenant is Karma, the gallery-bookseller that currently has space on Second Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. This space will likely be for their art book/publishing arm.

H/T Katie Mac!

EV Grieve Etc.

A few items to note from recent days/weeks...


Photo Thursday by Steven

The Quick Repair and Electronics shop — specializing in cracked smartphone screens — is now open (as of March 16) at 151 Avenue A between Ninth Street and 10th Street... in the former TakeMeHome Rotisserie Chicken space.

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The former Community 54 space on Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street is for rent. The listing at Steve Croman's 9300 Realty isn't online just yet.

Not sure exactly when the boutique closed. (It looked shuttered a few times late last summer, then the place was back open.) Community 54 opened in July 2014.

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The incoming Hunan Slurp Shop on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street is hiring...



The restaurant's menu is now online here.

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Bring it Back has opened its first shop (this happened in late February) ... on Avenue C near 10th Street...



You can read more about the brand here.

The address was briefly Michelle Alteration & Boutique, which just opened late last summer.

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[Photo last Thursday by Steven]

Still House, which sells jewelry and home goods, is now open in their new storefront at 307 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue ... they relocated from 117 Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

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An EVG reader said that Resobox, a gallery, workshop (with a variety of classes) that celebrates Japanese culture, also has a cafe in the space here on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. They serve a variety of coffee and teas.

This spot was previously the Edge, the bar that closed in September 2016 after 29 years in business.