Tuesday, December 7, 2010

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition



What you didn't know about A Repeat Performance on First Avenue (Neighborhoodr)

Lots of Red Square retail space available (BoweryBoogie)

Another Seventh Street tumor! (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A budget hotel with a Beaux-Arts exterior (Ephemeral NY)

A sad photo of a discarded teddy bear (Shawn Chittle)

For coverage of last night's CB3/SLA meeting, check out:
The Lo-Down

DNAinfo

Eater

Gothamist

And tonight...

Claim: 123 Third Avenue Reaches 'Sales Milestone' in 'East Union Square'



That's the word from the site Uniques Homes. According to the site:

After just two months on the market, 123 Third Avenue, the 47-unit condominium located on 14th Street and Third Avenue in New York City, is 55-percent sold. Following a sales launch in early September, 26 homes are in contract at the latest residential addition to East Union Square, reports exclusive sales and marketing agent Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.


And!

The team surpassed the 50-percent mark at remarkable speed, which “speaks volumes to the desire for homes of this caliber in East Union Square,” said Elaine Diratz, of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Set at the nexus of Union Square, Greenwich Village, the East Village and Gramercy Park, East Union Square contains some of the best dining, parks, entertainment and shopping. The famed Greenmarket, Momofuku, Pure Food & Wine, Kiehl’s, and ABC Carpet & Home all provide the quintessential shopping and dining experience. New York is a cornucopia of different neighborhoods, but none with more “best of’s” than in East Union Square.

What if a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park?

The piece in the Times on Sunday about Seventh Street included the following passage:

Near the eastern end of this stretch is Tompkins Square Park, that wonderful 10.5-acre patch that continues to lure the bohemian legions yet resists gentrification against all odds. Originally planned as a farmers’ market, it has been used as a public park since the 1800s and has weathered many seasons since. On any given day, there might be a band making noise, codgers playing chess, schoolchildren all in a line, and a Police Department van slowly cruising through. The echoes of demonstrators yelling “Die, Yuppie Scum” may be very faint these days, but there is no Shake Shack ... yet.


The mention of Shake Shack in the East Village prompted a sudden pain in my groin. In the comments, Jeremiah Moss noted: "the writer is practically begging for a Shake Shack in Tompkins Square Park."

Does the author know something that we don't? Or is this just wishful thinking?

So... what if a big, mooing cash cow of a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park ... just like the one in Madison Square Park?



As Jeremiah recently wrote: "We know what happens when popular, higher end businesses are introduced into a neighborhood. Like the mongoose and gypsy moth, they have a powerful and irreversible effect on the ecosystem."

What would the release of a Shake Shack mean to the Tompkins Square Park and East Village ecosystem? [The poll actually works now! Vote early and often!]


Shack attack!
What would you think about a Shake Shake opening in Tompkins Square Park?
The end is near
Are there Shake Shacks in Greenland?
I will fight like hell to make sure it never opens
Who cares, we lost the war a long time ago
I actually like Shake Shake and would welcome it
Do these granny jeans make me look fat?







There are 6 LES apartments on the market for more than $7,500 a month


You know last week we had that post on the $30,000-a-month apartment on East First Street, which we figured was the highest-ever rental in the neighborhoood... The B@C (Blumstein at Corcoran) real estate blog had more on the topic... and Team B@C confirmed this:

"I’ve looked in Corcoran’s system, and despite one apartment that was briefly listed as a $2,150,000/month 1 BR (likely off by a factor of 1,000) it would indeed by the highest rent commanded in the area.

"No matter where you are in the city, rents like these mean you are getting something unique and/or huge. While there is only one other apartment over $20,000 currently (or ever) on the market, 6 tip the scales at $7,500 or more per month. For an area as big as the EV/LES this is a reasonable number of high end apartments. With a relatively low apartment density and as most buildings are 100 years old and chopped into studios, 1 and 2 bedrooms, rentals like this are rare to come by. Comparatively, the Upper East Side currently has 83 units over $7,500/mo, and the Upper West Side has 70. Of course, both these neighborhoods are relatively large, have many more mid-high rises and with locations (of some) right on Central Park they command high premiums."


Here is a listing of the six $7,500-plus apartments in the Lower East Side available now.

East Side Gourmet Deli closes on Avenue B

The East Side Gourmet Deli, formerly known as Cibao's, has closed on Avenue B at Fourth Street... Papi and company cleaned out the store on Saturday...




We don't know why the market closed ... perhaps the competition from the new salad tossers at East Village Finest Deli across the street... Anyway, some longtime residents on Avenue B recall the 1980s when there were other items for sale and what not in the back room here...

Healthy choice?

Last week, Urban Roots, the natural foods store on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street, shuttered without much notice...

Over the weekend, a sign for a competing health food store — Healthfully Organic Market on East Fourth Street — suddenly appeared...



Unless the two stores are owned by the same people, this move seems rather tacky...

Holiday wishes



Avenue A near 12th Street.

More holiday wishes



Alphabets on Avenue A.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Noted



On St. Mark's Place late this afternoon via @JimGaffigan

The Ross Global Academy Charter School placed on closure list

The Ross Global Academy Charter School on East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue was one of 12 "failing" schools that NYC officials said should be phased out. According to reports, the school has had six principals in five years.

The Wall Street Journal has more on Ross here.

Virage closed for renovations this week

EV Grieve reader ~evilsugar25 reports that Virage is closed on Seventh Street and Second Avenue...



The sign offers an explanation...

4:47 p.m., Orchard Street, Dec. 6



Photo courtesy of Shawn Chittle.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition



Dining at Polonia: "This place is not going to attract any douchebag crowds anytime soon, so don't fret" (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

Motorino team planning eatery under the Sunshine Hotel (The Lo-Down)

A comprehensive history of Dry Dock and St. Brigid's (EV Transitions)

NYC in photos from different eras (Flaming Pablum)

5 things disappearing from New York (Blah Blog Blah)

The "ice pick bandit" has been apprehended (Runnin' Scared)

"Castle" on Canal Street (BoweryBoogie)

Taking a stand against NYU expansion (Gothamist)

Looking at Time Square's transition (Curbed)

Melanie has a shot of an @EVLambo competitor from earlier this year (East Village Corner)

Judging the Mr. Lower East Side pageant (Slum Goddess)

And the Times apparently didn't accept BaHa's online comment on the Seventh Street feature. We have accepted it:

"Ageist, youth-worshipping twaddle, standard issue for NYT reporting whenever it ventures downtown."

Tonight: Umbrella House Convenes