229 E. Second St. is sold out, and look at the roof deck!

Lordy it has been 13 months since we last looked at 229 E. Second St. between Avenue B and Avenue C...

You remember that it went from this...



to this...



At last look, the building's prices had been reduced anywhere from 10 to 20 percent. Well, that worked. According to Streeteasy, all the units have been sold. But! Don't despair... there is one unit available as a rental: A two-bedroom, floor-through loft with a soaking tub and "and floor-to-ceiling closets that will hold the largest of wardrobes!" Priced to rent at $6,800.

Meanwhile, the roof deck was one of the things about 229 that intrigued us. We just saw glimpses of it from the street.



But we found a few photos at various sites...

Complete with priceless renderings...

Hot tubbing!

Finally, according to the DOB, the ground floor will be used for a community facility. Will they have hot tub access?

Previously on EV Grieve:
Million dollar condos hit the market on East Second Street

229 E. Second St. sprouts a roof deck

Cutting condo prices by 20 percent on East Second Street

Back at the Marble Cemetery

Our Bobby Williams happened by the New York City Marble Cemetery again yesterday on East Second Street ... This time, a lone worker was shoveling the lawn... Bobby says he yelled twice to the worker, but the man did not look up... We're just a little curious to learn more what was happening here.

Gothamist got the scoop yesterday. (By calling? Who knew they had a phone at the cemetery...) Cemetery officials say there will soon be a burial there, and crews are preparing the lawn for the ceremony.

I'm fascinated by the history here at this rather crumbling green oasis. (Read more about it here.) You may also search interments listed by vault here.

The future and past of 264 Bowery

Back in July, I sat through a CB2 meeting ... where 264 Bowery was on the agenda that night... a group of slicksters were hoping to turn the vacant space into a club tapas bar that would serve food until 3:30 a.m. The working name: Bowery Row.

The committee rejected that one. (Read more on it here.)

I was reminded of this yesterday while reading Eater's coverage of Tuesday's CB2 meeting. Another proposal was on the docket for 264 Bowery: Two fellows hoping to open English Road, a bourbon bar with southern food. They stated upfront that "we are not a club, just a bar" without any TVs. They'd be open until 4 a.m., have DJs ... and the lawyer mentioned how good the soundproofing was. As Eater noted, the info packet for English Road mentioned their security plan was "Chuck Norris approved."

The neighbors loved this! And CB2 denied the English Road request.

(BoweryBoogie has more on the history of 264 Bowery.)

Now I drift off again into lala land ... I wonder if 264 Bowery would/could ever be turned back into what it was in the 1930s.... a barber shop that didn't serve drinks or double as a clothing store...

Tri-boro Barber School photographed on Oct. 24, 1935. [Via the NYPL]

The Bowery is the fourth most dangerous street in Manhattan

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign released a report on "the most dangerous roads for pedestrians" in the area yesterday. According to the report (via the Times), 109 pedestrians were killed on Manhattan streets from 2007-2009. In total, there were seven fatalities on the Bowery — putting it at fourth place in the city...

The report includes a map showing each roadway death... here's a shot of the LES...

You can find the whole report here.

Haters call Shep Fairey a 'buttmunch' on the Bowery

Make that a "commie buttmunch." The worst kind of buttmunch?

At Fourth Street.

At the star-studded secret Strokes show?

Twitter is alive with reports of the new Strokes single. This isn't it. Something about the clothes and hair though... I think the Strokes owe it all to Leif Garrett.

Ham radio operator irking neighbors with 30-foot antenna on East 11th Street

We've heard people complain about everything from bar noise to messy willow trees... so here's a first: Some neighbors on East 11th Street are upset over a resident's giant rooftop antenna. As Patrick Hedlund reports at DNAinfo, a group of residents are hoping the city will force the ham radio operator to have the antenna removed.

To an upset neighbor!

"Whenever we have guests over, they take one look at it and say, 'Oh my God, what is that?'" said Greg Ramsey, who's lived at 235 East 11th St. since 1988 and whose outdoor terraces sits about 12 feet away from the antenna. "It's like a military installation or something. It just seems extremely selfish to have this huge tower for one man to be running his ham radio from. It's obtrusive and inappropriate."

The tenant, who grew up in the building between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, told Hedlund that the antenna allows him to communicate with radio operators worldwide. "It was put up professionally and it's been approved," he said. "I didn't do anything in a precarious manner."

Read the whole article here.

[Photo by Patrick Hedlund/DNAinfo]

EV Grieve Etc: Mourning Edition

Former staffers at a Mars Bar farewell party Monday night (Nadie Se Conoce ... See also: Vivienne Gucwa's MB photo essay)

Case sheds light into Bloomy's last re-election campaign. Which doesn't make the Mayor too happy (City Room)

How the city makes money off your frozen cars (Runnin' Scared)

From Tribeca to the East Village in 2:11 minutes (NYC Taxi Photo — now with video!)

More on the LCD Soundsystem line — with video! (BoweryBoogie)

More on Friday Night Throwdown in the LES (The Lo-Down)

Looking at 'The Penguin Pool Murder' (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

CB2 weighs in on some bars sort of near you (Eater)

Doughnut Plant opening in the Chelsea Hotel (Diner's Journal)

The return of East River Pipe (Village Voice)

About all those people bundled up in line now on Houston and Ludlow

The phone lines are going batty with calls about that long line stretching from in front of the Mercury Lounge around the corner and down Ludlow.

Well!

These folks are waiting in line for the last LCD Soundsystem show ever ... on April 2 at Madison Square Garden. The Mercury Lounge box office opens at 10 for general admission tickets.

And The Village Voice's @VoiceStreet is among those brave, yet frozen souls in line. Despite numb, frozen fingers, they are doing their best at live tweeting. And they sent these photos...

And EV Grieve reader Michael sent along this photo..

Reminds me of the time I waited in line to see Frampton at the Garden in '79.

Well, not really...

Anyway, it's getting ugly...

About the hole in ground at the Marble Cemetery

Here we are at the Marble Cemetery on East Second Street...EV Grieve contributor Bobby Williams took these shots yesterday ... he noted the activity, though no one was around to ask things like What in God's name is going on here!

Regardless, please don't let your overactive, sensationalist minds think this is something about, say, grave robbing or zombies or explosives ... We're certain there's a logical explanation for this... Like!

a) Routine cemetery maintenance
b) A new theme bar called Lucky Stiffs
c) Hyperlocal blogger misunderstands the expression "digging for a story"
d) Death + Company is moving
e) Longtime tenants forced out by rent hike
f) Shake Shack

Or maybe you have a better idea...

[Updated: Thanks to Gothamist for the link... and some answers!]

East Fourth Street's new luxury row

We've been focusing our attention of late on the preservation efforts at 35 Cooper Square... Meanwhile, we haven't checked in at the scene of another battle — 326-328 E. Fourth St. — in several weeks.

Despite a lot of outreach and awareness by a variety of local politicians and preservations groups, the historic townhouses here between Avenue C and Avenue D continue their journey toward the luxury condo apartment afterlife with the addition of two new floors.

Since we last looked, workers erected the sidewalk sheds...

And you can see right through now... not much is left inside. Workers have removed the guts.

However, the work on this block isn't limited to 326-328. There's also a sidewalk shed in front of 322.

According to a newly renewed work permit:

Interior renovation of existing apartments, including addition of one floor and penthouse; including structural, plumbing and mechanical work.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

City doesn't give a shit about these historic East Village townhouses

Looking at the sidewalk shed and dumpster at 35 Cooper Square

Speaking of sidewalk sheds... Jeremiah first reported last Friday that work was starting at 35 Cooper Square...

So I took a few photos for my files...

Roland Li at Real Estate Weekly got a quote from a spokesperson for the building's developer: "They are removing asbestos in the roof...and they took down the awning."

The DOB permits point to "minor facade work."

Which may or may not explain the presence of an empty dumpster sitting in the sinkhole adjacent to 35 Cooper Square last evening ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Doom and doomer: More of Cooper Square primed for development

Cooper 35 Asian Pub part of development deal on Cooper Square

Going southbound

Looking south on Second Avenue toward Seventh Street... with the Fillmore East in the background. April 1972.

[Sal Traina/Corbis]

A record-setting sale at 221 First Avenue

Massey Knakal sent out a news release yesterday about the sale of 221 First Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street for $4.4 million. The buyer and seller weren't named.

According to the release:

The four-story property is approximately 3,954 square feet and sits on a 22’ x 56’ lot. There are three fully renovated three-bedroom apartments that are free market. The 1,050 square foot retail unit on the ground floor is currently leased to Señor Pollo, a Latin American chicken and sandwich bistro. The 3 floor-through apartments which rent on average for $4,900 per month benefit from fireplaces, exposed brick, and either a private roof deck or large terrace. The property also benefits from its close proximity to transportation, shopping, dinning and parks. The sale price equates to $1,112.80 per square foot.

“This sale represents the highest price per square foot ever paid for a mixed-use investment property in the East Village,” said Massey Knakal Vice Chairman John F. Ciraulo ...