Report: New owners of building that housed Lucky Cheng's looking to attract restaurant group

[Photo from last evening]

Plans are reportedly underway to convert the former Lucky Cheng's on First Avenue and its adjacent space on East Second Street.

Real Estate Weekly has the story:

Carmar Development, LLC, is in the throes of converting the former club and restaurant into which occupied two contiguous mixed-use properties totaling 14,000 s/f at 24 First Avenue and 99-101 East Second Street.

Uri Marrache, a principal at Carmar Development said, "As it stands, it seems like we’ll be dividing the East 2nd street property and the 1st Avenue property so I think ultimately we’ll see two retail tenants."

Noting that talks were "very, very far along," Marrache said, "The 1st avenue side is going to be a restaurant."

Marrache declined to name the tenant, noting only that it "will be the newest location of what is already an established restaurant group." He also said that the L-shaped property has 12,000 square feet of air rights.

Hayne Suthon, who owned and and operated Lucky Cheng's also lived in the building. She died of cancer at age 57 in June 2014.

She had been in a legal fight with the operators behind Pride and Joy BBQ, who were renting the space to open a 220-seat honky tonk featuring three bars and about 20 TV screen. (You can read more about this lawsuit here and here.)

The East Second Street space has been home to an array of short-lived concepts in recents years, including Bento Burger ... Marfa... and Waikiki Wally's...


[Photo from last evening]

Workers had gutted the space in late 2012-early 2013 to make way for BBQ chef Myron Mixon's restaurant/saloon. He later had a falling out with his partners, who decided to push forward with a BBQ restaurant here without Mixon. And the space was strangely gutted again.

Suthon had owned the property since 1986, paying $800,000, city documents show. According to public records, the address changed hands to Carmar Development in February 2015 for a little more than $9.6 million.

There are complaints on file with the DOB for work being done at 24 First Ave. and 99 E. Second St. without a permit. There is also an open violation from the city for work without a permit, per public records. The DOB doesn't currently list any active work permits for the properties.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Myron Mixon's Pride & Joy BBQ now in the works for the former Lucky Cheng's space

Fire reported at incoming Pride and Joy BBQ on East Second Street

Myron Mixon lawsuit puts opening of Pride and Joy BBQ in question at former Lucky Cheng's space

More alterations for the Pride and Joy space

Report: Pride and Joy BBQ partners suing landlord Hayne Suthon for $22 million

Pride and Joy's unpaid electric bill

Report: East Village to be home to a Tim Burton-themed bar

[Via Wikipedia Commons]

The Wall Street Journal (subscription needed) explores the apparent trend of bars opening that are "themed around famous, or semifamous, people." Like Le Boudoir in Brooklyn Heights, which was made to look like Marie Antoinette’s sitting room.

And then there is Stay Classy, the Will Ferrell-themed bar that opened last October on Rivington Street.

According to the article, there are plans to open Stay Classy locations in other cities.

Plus!

The personality-driven bar appears to be catching on. Stay Classy’s owners are planning on a similar spot themed around the filmmaker Tim Burton (“Beetlejuice,” “ Edward Scissorhands”), set to open in the East Village in May.

There isn't any mention of where this might be in the neighborhood. To be continued.

Until then. Here's more from the Journal about why bar owners are turning to gimmicks to open a new place.

Bar-industry experts say increasing competition is what is pushing bar owners to find their niche. A generation ago, it was enough for an establishment to simply market itself as a sports bar.

Now, even a craft-cocktail bar isn’t much of a distinction. “You’re going find one of those every two or three blocks in New York,” said Art Sutley, publisher of Bar Business Magazine, a trade journal.

[Updated] Support for Donald Trump at the Starbucks on 1st Avenue

To date, we've only seen more negative posters regarding Donald Trump's presidential campaign around the neighborhood... (like this one... or this one).

Now, a resident passes along these photos... showing Trump 2016 flyers in the windows of the Starbucks on First Avenue at East Third Street...



...it's not known who placed these in the windows — a Starbucks employee or a random Trump supporter/Starbucks patron...



Coincidentally or not, the building here is reportedly owned by Jared Kushner, who is married to Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka.

According to a recent feature in The Forward, Kushner has historically "given almost exclusively to Democrats, including Hillary Clinton."

Updated 6:20 p.m.

The signs have ben removed, DNAinfo reports. A spokesperson told DNAinfo that they were placed without permission.

At Moishe's Bake Shop

[Photo from October by Derek Berg]

The New York Times checks in with a feature on Moishe Perl and Moishe's Bake Shop on Second Avenue ... as part of the paper's "Neighborhood Joint" series.

To an excerpt!

What hasn’t changed at all is the bakery itself, with its stopped-in-time storefront that is almost entirely free of adornment — unless you count the shelves of challah and rye, trays of cookies, ruggeleh and babka, some hand-lettered signs (“Cash Only”) and a worn-looking certificate commemorating a “Best of the Borough” award of uncertain vintage for “Best Smell Ever.”

It does smell pretty good in there, and it probably always has. Mr. Perl swears he opened in autumn 1974, though the website says 1978. He won’t divulge his own age but if you had to guess, you might say around 70, and he hasn’t changed his menu or his recipes one iota in 42 years — everything kosher, no dairy except for the cheese Danish and strudel. His bread slicer, which was there when he bought the place, a former bakery that had been closed for a while, is 80 years old, Mr. Perl said. It rattles like a gas-powered lawn mower.

Moishe's is at 115 Second Ave. between East Sixth Street and East Seventh Street.

Previously

Get your stamp on this St. Patrick's Day

[Image via Facebook]

Proprietor John Casey is hosting his annual St. Patrick's Day Party tomorrow night starting at 8...



... over at the one and only Casey Rubber Stamps, 322 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Important advice for motorists during Cooper Square reconstruction

Workers yesterday started replacing the roadway on Cooper Square starting at East Fourth Street (part of the ongoing Astor Place-Cooper Square reconstruction) ... cutting down the traffic to two lanes through Seventh Street...





And keep an eye out of this helpful sign for motorists...



Work is expected to be completed by Friday.

Ha. Kidding!

Have tree - will travel (next stop, Christmas Town?)

EVG reader Andréa Stella spotted this strapped atop a Chinook RV here along East 14th Street near Avenue A...technically not a discarded holiday tree given that it's still atop a Chinook RV (hey, I didn't create the rules — just interpreting them)...

If this helps...

For rent sign arrives at the Stage

We first reported last Wednesday that the 35-year-old diner at 128 Second Ave. was for rent.

EVG correspondent Steven noted that the actual for rent sign has just arrived on the space between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The asking rent for the space is $15,000. The listing at Icon Realty notes that the space is "perfect for a restaurant, cafe, or all general retail uses."

Previously on EV Grieve:
The possibility that the Stage won't reopen on 2nd Avenue

[Updated] Report: Icon Realty serves the Stage an eviction notice

Stage owner Roman Diakun responds to allegations of illegally siphoning gas

Petition to help reopen the Stage

[Updated] The Stage is giving away its bulk food and supplies to charity

Report: The Stage is suing landlord Icon Realty to halt eviction process

The Stage is now crowdfunding to help in its legal fight with Icon Realty

The Stage Restaurant will not be reopening

'Gentrification in Progress' tape arrives at former Trash & Vaudeville and Stage Restaurant spaces

Asking rent for the former Stage Restaurant — $15,000 a month

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.


[Photo via Kathryn Cooper]

By James Maher

Name: Shari Albert
Occupation: Actor, Writer, Producer
Location: The Immigrant, East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue
Time: 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 8

I'm from Philly. I moved here to go to NYU. I was a kid actor. Nothing big, some local Philadelphia television and a lot of commercials, and then I came to the city and went to NYU and got some training.

I moved to this block my sophomore year, and I've been here ever since. I remember… it might have been my first day in New York. Everybody was like, 'Don't go to Avenue A. Don't go to Alphabet City.' I'm like, 'First thing I'm gonna do is go check it out!' So I remember walking down here, going more toward Tompkins Square Park, and I saw a drag queen. I was like, 'Ooh a drag queen, that's exciting!' Then I saw another drag queen and I'm like, 'This is amazing.' Then I saw more and more drag queens. I was like, ‘These are my people. I love this place. This is fantastic!’ I didn't realize that it was Wigstock, back in the day when they had it in Tompkins Square Park. I just knew I was home at that point. It was absolutely magical.

I did a movie in 1995 that won the Sundance Film Festival called "The Brothers McMullen." I was Susan, the youngest brother's fiancé. That kind of start the whole… well, I had the bug before, but now the bug was actually being fed. That started the whole professional career.

I do mostly movies and television. I also love theatre, I just haven't been able to do a lot of New York theatre because right after college I got "Brothers McMullen" and so my career went by the way of film and television, but I did a lot of musical theatre growing up. I had to drop out of NYU for a semester to go to Paris to do a musical, but after that my agents and I went more toward the film and television side of things. I mean, I'd love to do a play. There's nothing like doing a play in New York City — it's kind of the best thing in the world, but it's been awhile since that happened.

I play a lot of women from Long Island and Brooklyn for some weird reason. I'm not really sure why, because I don't have an accent in real life. Turning on the accent now is like turning on a water faucet. I play lots of best friends, lots of sisters, lots of neighbors.

It's pilot season now. It happens right after Sundance, late January through the end of March. That's when the new television shows are auditioning for the following season. You get it the night before, they say, ‘Oh here's 15 pages that you need to memorize and work on for tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.’ You're like, 'Oh, OK, I guess I have to cancel everything tonight.' That's kind of how you have to roll. Look, there's nothing better when it's good. It's the best thing in the world to be able to be paid to be creative and to create characters, whether you're acting them or writing them.

I'm also a writer. I'm a freelance writer by trade, and I have written a bunch of television sitcom spec scripts, so I'm trying to get into TV writing, which is how I want to transition. I'll always be an actor, but I want to get into the creating aspect of things. I did a Web series that I shot in New York called "Good Medicine." It's about a medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, but we shot it here. We raised $20k through Kickstarter and shot five episodes.

I love my neighborhood. I've been on the block for a long time and I've seen a lot of changes, and some of them are great and some of them... Like everything, I have a love-hate relationship with it. I might be biased, but I personally think that East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue is the most beautiful block in the East Village. I love it because there are beautiful little boutiques and shops, and it's just really nice to come home and greet everybody.

My favorite thing about Ninth Street and the neighborhood was when my dog Sid and I would walk around. We met so many lovely people. Everybody knew Sidney, everybody. She had one eye. She was an achievement. She would go into different places and run around, into Fabulous Fanny’s or when this was Change of Seasons. I had her for 16 years and she just passed away last April.

I made so many really good friends through her. When she passed, the outpouring of love from the block was overwhelming, and I got beautiful condolence cards. It was very touching because people that I would see on a daily basis, we would stand on the corner and we would cry together. It was really touching and beautiful. I just think that this block is super special. That's the good aspect of this neighborhood.

The bad aspect is all the bro kids who move in — the same kids who do SantaCon and dress up as sexy Leprechauns on St. Patty's Day and throw up in my hallway. I just loathe the new regime of the bro coming in. It's the worst. The 13th Step, that used to be Telephone Bar, which was fantastic. You could meet somebody there and have a decent conversation. Now it's like, oh my God, children. It's frat boy city. I've called 911 more times in front of that bar about fights or people who are passed out in front of there...

Especially with Coyote Ugly around the corner, who I have like a raging one-woman campaign against. I hate them. They are a pox on the neighborhood. I have a real war going with Coyote Ugly because of my bedroom. They have a courtyard where they empty and recycle at all hours of the night, so they're emptying glass bottles at two, three, four in the morning, and then they open up their backdoor and you hear Jon Bon Jovi, 'Shot through the heart, and you're to blame.' Look, I like Bon Jovi as much as the next girl. I'm from Philly. I totally am down with Jon Bon Jovi, but I don't want to hear that shit at four in the morning. And then 'Woooooo!'

I'm like, 'Was I like that when I was in my 20s?' I don't… I'd like to think not. I was living in this neighborhood, and it was so different because we didn't have those kinds of bars. We got drunk in our apartments, respectfully.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

[Updated] Someone tagged the Keith Haring sculpture outside 51 Astor Place

Noted.

The sculpture has been here since Dec. 2, 2014 ... and I don't recall it being tagged much or at all to date.

Updated 1 p.m.

51 Astor Place crews quickly cleaned off the statue...


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

14th and C still waiting for its Karl Fischer-designed retail-residential complex

Nearly a year has passed since we've done a post about 644 E. 14th St., where a mixed-use retail-residential complex has the go at the corner of Avenue C.

As you can see, there hasn't been much — or any — progress on this plot of land that previously housed the single-level R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009.







Anyway, a look at the DOB files show some amended documents as of September 2015 ... with a slightly different-sized building. Previously, permits showed a 15-story mixed-use retail-residential complex totaling 61,789 square feet. DOB permits showed 8,578 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor... and 18,937 square feet for a community facility.

The amended permits show a 14-story building totaling 63,932 square feet, with 8,064 square feet for retail ... and 21,991 square feet for a community facility. The Schedule A still shows 50 apartments.

The prolific Karl Fischer is the architect of record. (His other EV work includes The Robyn on East Third Street and The Nathaniel on East 12th Street.)

No sign of renderings yet for No. 644. But we did spot some sexy diagrams at the DOB for the address...




[Click to go big]

The diagrams do indicate balconies for the units, which are on floors 6 through 14. The documents also note "flood gate storage" on the first floor. Not sure exactly what that is, but it sounds like a good idea. This corner was about 3-6 feet under water during Sandy.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Development back in play for East 14th Street and Avenue C

More details on the sale of 644 E. 14th St.

Here comes a 15-story retail-residential complex for East 14th Street and Avenue C

Prepping the former R&S Strauss auto parts store for demolition on East 14th Street and Avenue C

City OKs 15-story mixed-use retail-residential building on 14th and C

14th and C now waiting for the Karl Fischer-designed 15-story retail-residential complex

Vape shop casualty as East 2nd Street storefront arrives on rental market

Grand Vape, which opened early last fall, has closed on Second Street just east of Avenue A.

The 400-square-foot storefront at 150 E. Second St. is now for rent.

Per the listing:

Typical uses include grocery stores, dry cleaners, drug stores, restaurants and other businesses that cater to the daily needs of the immediate neighborhood.

Located one store off Avenue A, East Village. This block is convenient for those that walk to the 2nd Avenue subways and buses.

The rent is negotiable, per the listing.

Before Grand Vape's grand opening, the storefront housed both a Nicky's and a Vicky's Vietnamese sandwich shop.

Thursday night at MoRUS: The FBI expose '1971'

As noted last month, The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is hosting Movies @ MoRUS, a monthly film series exploring themes such as social justice and political reform.

Playing tomorrow night:

• Thursday, March 17 — "1971," dir. Johanna Hamilton, 2014, 80 min.
"On March 8, 1971, The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, a group of ordinary citizens, breaks into a small FBI office in Pennsylvania, takes every file, and exposes the FBI's illegal surveillance and intimidation of citizens."



Upcoming Movies @ MoRUS include:

• Thursday, April 21 — "Garbage Warrior," dir. Oliver Hodge, 2007, 86 min. In honor of Earth Day, "Garbage Warrior" follows U.S. architect Michael Reynolds and his mission to introduce radical sustainable housing to the masses.

• Thursday, May 19 — "Food Inc.," dir. Robert Kenner, 2008, 94 min. The documentary examines how big corporations influence all aspects of food production in the United States.

Movies @ Morus, which play the third Thursday of the month, are free to the public but a suggested donation of $5 is appreciated. Showtime is 7 p.m. at MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

Noted

EVG reader Michael spotted this on the 14D today...

"Movies & Movie Stars Have Totally Ruined Us."

And someone added an arrow and a comment to this statement...

Feel free to discuss: Have movies and movie stars ruined us?

I blame Harold Lloyd.