Construction watch: 298 E. Houston St.

Yesterday, we looked at the incoming 14-story affordable housing complex at 302 E. Second St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

One building to the west is a very different type of new residence — the luxury Houston House, now fully revealed.

Here's a refresh on the 8-story condplex — "inspired by environmentally friendly passive house standards" — via the HH website:

Interiors were designed to maximize space and natural light, and many of the units have dramatic, unobstructed views of One WTC and Lower Manhattan. Amenities include breathtaking views, part-time doorman, a state-of-the-art Butterfly Mx virtual doorman system, bicycle storage, and a package room.

Each apartment boasts private outdoor space and an array of high-end fixtures and finishes. Specific features include private keyed elevator access, gorgeous wide plank hardwood floors, triple glazed floor-to-ceiling windows with northern and southern exposure, high ceilings, Energy Recovery Ventilator Systems, Miele washers/dryers with heat-pump technology, and stunning kitchens equipped with eat-in peninsulas, statuary quartz countertops, a matching backsplash, custom Italian cabinetry, pantry space by ALTA, and a suite of fully-integrated Miele appliances.

A new East Houston landmark, Houston House is just steps from numerous parks and public gardens and a continually evolving collection of restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops. It is close to the brand new Essex Crossing development, and is a short walk to the East River Promenade...

HH features several floor-through units with either two or three bedrooms. There are four available units, per the HH website, ranging in price from $2.8 to $3 million. There's also a unit for rent at $11,000 a month.

This property was previously the Houston Street Beer Distributors (see below!). The parcel fetched a little more than $7 million in the fall of 2015, per public records.

Previously on EV Grieve:
298 E. 2nd St. latest development site up for grabs

East Village now minus 2 beverage distributors

Something brewing (demolition) for former beer distributor on East 2nd Street


[Photo from August 2016]

Black Seed Bagels and chef Bobby Hellen launch Black Seed Pizza

The Black Seed Bagels team today launches a new venture — Black Seed Pizza, a collaboration with Bobby Hellen, who ran GG's on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B for three years until December 2017.

Hellen will be working from Black Seed's East Village location on First Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

The opening menu features five pizzas, including standards such as Cheese, Tomato and White as well as several specialties like Bob's Pizza (seen below), which features sopressata, mozzarella blend, grana padano, pecorino, tomato sauce, castelvetrano olive, banana pepper, oregano and homemade chimichurri ...

The pizzas are available in two sizes — square (12" x 12", feeds 2-3 people) and round (9" diameter, feeds 1 person). Find the menu here.

Some details via the opening announcement:

Black Seed Pizza's dough is fermented for 36 hours and made from certified organic, stone ground flour from Wild Hive Farm in the Hudson Valley, non-GMO all-purpose flour from King Arthur Flour in Vermont, and a 100-year old sourdough starter. 

The sauce is made using certified organic Bianco DiNapoli San Marzano-style tomatoes from California. All pies are baked in Sicilian-style pans, in a wood-fired oven. Gluten-free dough options are available for the square pizzas, and a plant-based cheese (Numu) is available to substitute for mozzarella

The pizza will be available for pickup at 176 First Ave. and delivery through Black Seed Pizza's own site and also via the usual third-party delivery platforms. 

Hours: Sunday to Thursday from 4-10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m.
 
The Black Seed founding partners (Noah Bernamoff, Matt Kliegman and Dianna Daoheung) have been friends with Hellen for years and say that this is more than a pop-up concept, but rather "a full-fledged, standalone business alongside the bagel operation, poised to grow and potentially operate out of more Black Seed locations with wood-fired ovens."

Storefront photo by Steven; pizza pic by Shay Harrington

How about some more bubble tea for St. Mark's Place

Gong Cha, which describes itself as "one of the most recognized bubble tea brands around the world," is opening an outpost at 27 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

This location is now on the Gong Cha website (H/T Upper West Sider!) ... marking the ninth outpost in Manhattan for the global franchise founded in 2006 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

This block of St. Mark's has seen a variety of bubble tea come and go through the recent years... some still in business (Kung Fu Tea right across the street).... and some not (Mi Tea). 

This storefront (the one on the left) has been vacant since Lab -320° closed in late 2016 after six months of selling ice cream. The previous longtime tenant here, The Sock Man, closed in January 2016 after a reported rent hike via (now former) landlord Raphael Toledano. Sock Man owner Marty Rosen later opened a new location at 99 1/2 St. Mark's Place ... where he remains today.

Photo by Steven

Mi Salsa Kitchen, serving Cuban cuisine, announces itself on Houston and Allen

A worker yesterday unveiled signage for the new restaurant coming to the southwest corner of Houston at Allen... welcome Mi Salsa Kitchen...

The restaurant, which will serve Cuban cuisine, looks to have a modestly priced menu... with meat and chicken dishes, served with two sides and a salad, starting at $11. 

This venture takes the place of the 8-year-old Mezetto, which never reopened after the PAUSE last March, per BoweryBoogie, who also first reported on Mi Salsa Kitchen's pending arrival.

New photos of suspects wanted for brazen attack last month on 3rd Street and 1st Avenue

WANTED for ROBBERY On 1/13/21 @ 12:42 AM, in the vicinity of 1st Ave. & E.3rd St., in the confines of the @NYPD9Pct subjects approached victim and punched him multiple times and forcibly removed property. Any info call us @ 800-577-TIPS or DM NYPDTips Reward up to $2500 pic.twitter.com/ADEeEY1Sb3

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) February 10, 2021

Police have released new photos of the suspects who brazenly attacked a man at 12:40 p.m. on Jan. 13 on Third Street just west of First Avenue. 

According to published reports, the 29-year-old victim, who suffered a broken jaw, was a delivery man. 

Per CBS2: "Police sources [said] he was riding his bike when he stopped to take a picture of a car that apparently hit him. That’s when several men got out, started punching him and stole his phone." 

Aside from distributing new photos of the suspects, the NYPD upped the reward money to $2,500...

The victim's wife set up a GoFundMe campaign to cover medical expenses. There isn't any word where he works making deliveries. 

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are strictly confidential.

The remains of Milon

If you're looking for a souvenir from the now-closed Milon, then you're in luck! 

Someone emptied contents from the Indian-Bangladeshi restaurant a little south of the space on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Fifth Street...

Goggla, who alerted us to this stash, nabbed a Milon menu...

As first reported, Milon, which opened here in 1982, quietly went out of business during the pandemic. Upstairs neighbor Panna II is expected to take over the space at 93 First Ave. in the months ahead.

Gallery Watch: 'Friend Zone' at Half Gallery

 Text and photos by Clare Gemima 

Friend Zone

Half Gallery, 235 E. Fourth St. at Avenue B

Friend Zone, curated by Vaughn Spann, consists mostly of contemplative figurative paintings. Some carry a sense of unease and vagueness through their figure’s expressions and body language (Elliot by Sarah Ball), others celebrate passion more directly (Lovers by Taylor Simmons) and some are just downright quirky (One liner — Lambullghini...produce/reuse by Jan Gatewood). 

The age-old conventions of friend-zoning suggest that one person is in love and willing to engage with someone who does not reciprocate these feelings at all. Upon extrapolating the push and pull of this awkward and somewhat painful notion, the 44 artworks in the show appear to embrace reminiscent ideas like uncertainty, longing, and in some cases, torment. 

Seeing works through this lens serves as an enjoyable experience immediately, allowing for creative narratives to form around visualized characters and situations. 

My favorite work in the show was Brianna Rose Brook’s oil and airbrush on canvas called God bless this kitchen. Two figures play against a crazed kitchen scene where items have been chopped up and strewn across a table, a stovetop has been left on and maybe hair is being dyed at home? Is the dynamic between the two strained or suggestive? Sexy or struggling? 

The uncertainty of the relationship is such a seductive tool in this work, something that is consistent throughout the young artists practice. For more of her incredible paintings, you can visit her website.

All American Girl, aka: Cowboy of Ohio was another work I could not stop thinking about from Friend Zone and I am grateful, as it has lead me to discover more of Oscar yi Hou’s works, which is honestly just to die for. If I could use swear words to exaggerate, trust me there would be a long list of them here.

The artist’s seemingly deliberate and frisky exuberance can be seen through multiple layering and building of form through strong strokes of oil paint. 

Themes of diaspora and the slippage between Western and Eastern culture seen in this painting could be evocative of America’s friend-zoning of everything that is other or sadly not white, but for the artist’s intention, I cannot of course be certain. 

Their exemplary use of contrasting and complementary colors creates a character that is sexy and charismatic, a palette that has been adopted throughout an extremely impressive body of work that you can find here.

Friend Zone is packed to the brim with works that force us to examine the importance of human bonds and relationships we have with each other. The consternation that shadows over relationships that can’t be defined or in some cases do not want to be has exacerbated over the course of our global crisis. Is the world in fact friend-zoning us? Instead of thinking about this too hard, go and see the show instead. 

Friend Zone at Half Gallery will be up until Feb. 24. 

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ 

Clare Gemima is a visual artist from New Zealand. New-ish to the East Village, she spends her time as an artist assistant and gallery go-er, hungry to explore what's happening in her local art world. You can find her work here: claregemima.com 

Construction watch: 302 E. 2nd St.

The 14-story affordable housing complex recently topped off at 302 E. Second St. between Avenue C and Avenue D.

As previously reported, the project — called East Village Homes — will feature 45 affordable apartments and a ground-floor community facility on this long-vacant, city-owned parcel.

Some particulars via a Patch report from the fall of 2019:

Eight apartments will be for formerly homeless people under Section 8 for incomes up to 20 percent of area median income, seven apartments at 47 percent of AMI, 14 apartments at 77 percent of AMI and 15 apartments at 120 percent of AMI — which ranges from annual incomes less than $15,000 to about $90,000 for a single person.

A second phase of the East Village Homes project is expected to create 10 additional affordable rental apartments on a separate site at 276 E. Third St. Construction has yet to commence there between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Here are more details on East Village Homes, the affordable housing set for 2nd Street 

A labor of love: 3rd and B'zaar's latest seasonal pop up open through February on 3rd Street

ICYMI: Sex, Love & Vintage, featuring the work of 30 local vendors and artists, is open through the end of the month at 191 E. Third St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

This is the latest seasonal pop-up shop at the 3rd and B'zaar space, which debuted this past November with a holiday market.  

Local art aside, the space is also hosting special events this month, such as a burlesque workshop with Pandora, "NYC's Greek goddess of burlesque." She was onsite this past Saturday when EVG contributor Stacie Joy stopped by for a moment...

She returns this Friday evening (very limited reservations are available — details via Instagram here).

B'zaar co-founder Maegan Hayward and company have the space through April, though they would like to extend the lease to host a spring market in May. They also hope to host more art shows, such as the one the weekend of Jan. 22.

"The plan for the 3rd & B’zaar, in general, is to have more art shows and events in between markets," she said. "And the hope is that we can keep the space and keep with that method of markets every few months that are specialized and small events in-between. But even if we don't stay in that space we hope to be able to travel and do the same thing in other spaces as a pop up."

Sex, Love & Vintage is open Wednesday-Sunday from 1-6 p.m. You can follow the 3rd and B'zaar Instagram account or Facebook page for details on vendors and updated hours. 

A new tenant for the former JAM Paper & Envelope space on 3rd Avenue

After staying vacant for three years, a new tenant is in the works for 135 Third Ave. between 14th Street and 15th Street.

According to the @TradedNY account, a business called Third Avenue Discount signed a lease for the large space. No word on the moment what kind of discounted items that the shop will sell. Stay tuned. (H/T Upper West Sider!)

Longtime tenant JAM Paper & Envelope closed here in January 2018 after 25 years in business. The company closed its storefronts in a shift to e-commerce.

Meanwhile, next door at 133 Third Ave., the carcass of an in-progress 16-story residential building remains ... way back in December 2012, a construction mishap "sent wet concrete oozing through a wall and into an NYU dorm next door," as DNAinfo reported at the time. The owner of the building that NYU leases the dorm from subsequently sued to halt the project.

And here it sits...

Superiority Burger reopens on March 12

More restaurants are working on reopening plans after a winter break.

Last evening, Superiority Burger on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue announced that it will reopen for to-go service again on March 12. 

The popular quick-serve vegetarian restaurant went on hiatus after service on Jan. 9.

Superiority Burger has plans for some time later this year to put the former Westville Bakery space to use across the street.  

Doctor's orders: 'New Amsterdam' film notices arrive along Avenue A

Here's advance notice of a TV shoot happening in and around the Key Food region on Avenue at Fourth Street... cast and crew for the NBC medical drama "New Amserdam" will be filming around here next Wednesday, Feb. 17. 

This is the second production to set up here in recent months... crews for the Disney+ series "Hawkeye" — via Marvel Studios — were filming on Fourth Street at Avenue A in early December.