Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Full reveal at Thirteen East (of Thirteen East + West fame)



Workers recently removed the construction netting and scaffolding at 436 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue, as the above photo via EVG regular Pinch shows.

This is one of the twin 6-floor condos — dubbed dubbed Thirteen East + West — rising on this block. No. 442 is still slightly hidden...



And the rendering of the final products...



Here's the official blurbage about the condos via the last news release on the development:

THIRTEEN EAST + WEST will offer 12 sun-drenched, full-floor two-bedroom homes, with floor-to-ceiling windows, private storage, balconies, and roof decks. The 1,706 square foot residence offers top-of-the-line internationally-inspired finishes, with Lualdi Italian doors, Alta Cucine kitchens, Miele appliance package and Rossetto Italia wardrobes. Each building will feature one state-of-the-art penthouse with private roof deck and a private, single car parking garage.

The prices range between $2.350 million and $3.7 million. It doesn't appear that sales are underway just yet here. None of the units are listed for now via Ryan Serhant and his Nest Seekers crew.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street

Temporary art and future condos on East 13th Street

Demo time for East 13th Street garages that will yield to luxury condos

A look at the residences coming to Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

A 'no parking' annoyance



Crews for the new Netflix series "Russian Doll" have been spotted around the neighborhood.

While film shoots are, of course, a fairly regular occurrence around here, some residents have found this crew — particularly the parking production assistants — to be more aggressive than others in terms of blocking off space for their trucks and film equipment. On Eighth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, crews started putting down the cones on the block yesterday — 48 hours before the announced filming times.

The posted signs say that "parking can be held a maximum of 24 hours in advance of the date and times indicated ..." Filming on Eighth Street, as an annoyed EVG reader pointed out, is tomorrow from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. ...



The cones also arrived late Saturday on Avenue A between Seventh Street and 10th Street for yesterday's shoot.

7-story residential building planned for former Blue Man Group facilities on 3rd Street



Permits have been filed for a 7-floor residential building at 238 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C.

Here's more from New York Yimby, who first reported on the development:

The new structure will be designed by Vikatos Architect, and will comprise a total of 20,928 square feet of living area with a total built-up area of 27,657 square feet.

The building will rise seven floors above ground to 75 feet, with additional cellar living area and a basement. 20 rental units are planned, in total, putting the average unit at about 1,046 square feet.

The building, which the Blue Man Group owned at one point for use as a practice facility, hit the market last September with a $12 million ask.

The listing noted at the time: "This is an excellent opportunity for a developer to acquire a 50’ wide development site in the East Village. In addition, considering how unique the building is, the offering presents an incredibly rare opportunity in which the current building and configuration could be maintained for a user."

Given the new-building specs, it appears that the current structure will come down, though demo permits haven't been filed yet.

In a previous life, the building served as a movie theater. Public records from July 2017 list two of the founders of the Blue Man Group — Chris Wink and Philip Stanton — as the previous owners, who received $18.6 million for this and another LES property.

Per NYY, Vinbaytel Property Development is the new owner of No. 238. Vinbaytel has developed several East Village condos in recent years, including at 227 E. Seventh St., 67 Avenue C and 26 Avenue B.

The 'Night Mayor's' challenge close to home


Over at the Voice, Allegra Hobbs explores the challenges that Ariel Palitz, newly appointed senior executive director of the Office of Nightlife (aka Night Mayor), faces in her own neighborhood.

Palitz, an East Village resident, owned Sutra Lounge on First Avenue from 2004 to 2014. She also served on CB3's State Liquor Authority subcommittee from 2007 to 2014.

Hobbs speaks with residents and Block Association leaders who believe Palitz's appointment was a mistake.

Members of the Dwellers, North Avenue A, and the Orchard Street Block Associations all say that during her time on the community board, Palitz voted overwhelmingly in favor of new liquor license applications and brushed aside residents’ concerns in public meetings. (Community Board 3 declined to comment for this article and was unable to provide Palitz’s voting record.)

“They really couldn’t have made a worse choice, in my opinion,” says Pamela Yeh of the Orchard Street Block Association, which covers a swath of blocks below Delancey Street and between Allen and Clinton streets. “She voted in favor of just about passing every [liquor license] application that came through the SLA committee.”

Meanwhile, some of her former CB3 colleagues are more positive about the work that Palitz will do for the city.

“I am extremely happy that she got appointed — I think she is the perfect person for this job,” enthuses former board chair Anne Johnson, who says Palitz’s experience as a bar owner should allow her to effectively tackle the issues facing the Lower East Side and East Village. “I always found her to be reasonable and willing to listen to all sides and not just blanketly support one side or the other.”

Former community board member Chad Marlow, who has been a staunch supporter of limiting liquor licenses in the community, recalls Palitz as a voice of reason, attempting to bring “uniformity and clarity” to the process of supporting or denying liquor license applicants on the subcommittee. “I think [for] Ariel, her challenge is going to be to try and find a way to promote the interests of the industry while at the same time protecting the interests of the community, and I have no doubt she’s going to labor very hard to strike that balance,” he says.

Palitz declined requests for an interview with the Voice.

Remembering the Stone



The Stone ended its 13-year residency on Avenue C and Second Street in late February. John Zorn relocated his experimental performance space to the Glass Box Theatre at the New School.

It was time for a change, he has said.

Sasha Frere-Jones talked with Zorn about the Stone for a piece published at Artforum yesterday.

An excerpt:

You know, thirteen years, we had a lot of complaints from artists about the space, about this, about that.

You would think they wouldn't complain.

But there's a variety of things to complain about! You know, I mean, not the best equipment in the world, there was a long time when it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. We didn't really have a good air conditioner.

Right.

The radiator's clanking, the woman upstairs walks around, sometimes she waters her plants, overwaters it and the water comes dripping down. Someone left their barbecue chicken in the basement for a week and the stupid guy who's volunteering didn't clear it out, and it stinks, or a rat got to it, or someone saw a rat in the basement. Now that we've closed it, of course, it's a very nostalgic place now, now they're not remembering all of that.

It’s people talking about the East Village. “Oh, you should've been here.”

That’s bullshit. You want to relive your days of beatnik glory? Sorry man, it's now, it's today, this is what's happening. Dig it or get the fuck out. I don't live in the past. I'm very happy with the present.

Bubbleology Tea seeking full liquor license for the former International space on 1st Avenue

There was a rumor a few weeks ago that a bubble tea shop was moving into the former International Bar space at 120 1/2 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Looks like that might actually be happening. Applicants for Bubbleology Tea (a London-based chain) are applying for a full liquor license for the address, according to the questionnaire (PDF here) on file ahead of this month's CB3-SLA committee meeting on April 16

The proposed hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (9 p.m. for the rear yard) Sunday through Thursday; until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The specs call for seven tables serving 30 people, per the paperwork.

Aside from a variety of (boozy) bubble teas, Bubbleology Tea will have a menu featuring a "variety of authentic Sweet & Savoury Toasted English crumpets, as well as assorted snacks."

Principal Ben (Haiying) Li has has been a partner in a Gong Cha bubble tea franchise out on Long Island since 2016, according to the SLA application.

The CB3-SLA meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on April 16 in the Public Hotel, 17th Floor, Sophia Room, 215 Chrystie St. between Houston and Stanton.

The latest iteration of the International Bar closed this past Thanksgiving. (Non-renewal of lease, via landlord Steve Croman.) The bar merged with its sister saloon, the Coal Yard, one block to the south between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

Coney Island Baby opens on April 26 with Murphy's Law



As noted back on March 8, Coney Island Baby is the name of the bar-music venue taking over the former HiFi space on Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street.

Since then, Coney Island Baby's Instagram account has shared more details on upcoming acts, including its opening night — April 26 with Murphy's Law...


Other upcoming shows for the 200-capacity space include Alejandro Escovedo on May 2 (sold out) and Bash & Pop with Johnny & The Bootlegs and the Liza Colby Sound on May 10, per the Coney Island website.

Brooklyn Vegan says the "the venue is from the folks who run Bowery Electric, Niagara and Velvet Elk Records."

HiFi, which also hosted the occasional book readings, comedy shows and acoustic bands, closed last October after 15 years at the address. The space was previously Brownies, the live music venue, from 1989-2002.

Monday, April 2, 2018

Monday's parting shot



At the former Subway (sandwich shop) on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... previously.

HAWK FIGHT

There was plenty of red-tailed hawk drama in Tompkins Square Park today.

Here's a brief narrative, pieced together from several eyewitness accounts. (The first batch of photos are by Steven.)

Hawk watchers spotted who they presumed to be Christo in the nest that he has been fortifying for Dora. However, it turned out to be an intruder, another red-tailed hawk who was unfamiliar to the Park regulars. (The other hawk wasn't Barucha/Nora/Not-Dora.)

That's when the fight started. One eyewitness said that the intruding hawk was the aggressor...





By all accounts, Dora, on top in the above photos, kicked the intruder's ass (paraphrasing). The intruder fled. Red-tailed hawks are very territorial, and the sight of an intruder in her nest, where there may be eggs, likely angered Dora.

After the skirmish, Dora struggled to take off ... Ranger Rob (aka Rob Mastrianni, a Manhattan Ranger supervisor and East Village resident) was eventually summoned to the Park. He thought that Dora would be fine, especially as she started to fly.



She eventually made it into a tree, where Christo brought her a rat...



... and later in the day, Dora appeared to be doing OK...



And a few other photos of Dora today ... via Ryan John Lee...





... and from Garrett Rosso...



H/T Emma Haddad!

'Heeere's Kubrick' at the City Cinemas Village East



On Wednesday evenings in April, City Cinemas Village East is celebrating the work of director Stanley Kubrick starting this week with "Dr. Strangelove."



The theater is on Second Avenue at 12th Street. Find more details here. The films start at 7:30 p.m.

And upcoming...

False alarm of the day


[Random fake rubber finger photo]

Patch has the report:

Officers responded to a report of a bag of human remains near East 23rd Street and Avenue C at about 12:40 p.m. on Monday, an NYPD spokesman said. The bag turned out to contain fake rubber fingers, and not actual human remains, he said.

What you are missing if you went away on Spring Break this week



Suckers!

Tompkins Square Park this morning.