Historic 25 Bleecker St. one step closer to being demolished for a 6-story building (w/ penthouse)

Over in the NoHo East Historic District, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a proposal to demolish the existing 25 Bleecker St. to make way for a new mixed-use building, as New York Yimby reported.

The existing three-story structure was originally constructed around 1830, though as NYY points out, its facade was heavily altered in 1984 ... there was also the addition of a rear extension.

Plans here call for a six-story (plus penthouse) mixed-use building with three residential units. Here's a look at a rendering...



Here's more from the article:

Commissioner Adi Shamir-Baron struggled with what to do here, but in the end decided the approach was “excellent” and supported it.

On the matter of demolition, Commissioner Michael Goldblum said there was still some historic material there, but not on the front. He said the only case for maintaining the existing structure could be volume, not appearance. Of course, its neighbor is seven-stories-tall. “What are you holding on to?” he asked rhetorically, concluding that the remnant doesn’t rise to the “gotta keep it standard.”

Community Board 2 recommended against the approval, as did reps from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and NoHo-Bowery Stakeholders, among others.

The plan still needs the approval of the Board of Standards and Appeals.

Head over to New York Yimby for more on the story, some renderings and a cool shot of No. 25 from the 1940s.

Previously

Formerly elusive night heron makes triumphant return to Tompkins Square Park

[Photo by @nitenateperry]

The black crowned night heron that captivated audiences around Tompkins Square Park just about this time last year ... is back!

Several readers tonight reported seeing the heron hanging out in the Park near the entrance on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place...


[Photo by Jose Garcia]

Here's more about the heron via the National Audubon Society:

Seen by day, these chunky [ed note: husky?] herons seem dull and lethargic, with groups sitting hunched and motionless in trees near water. They become more active at dusk, flying out to foraging sites, calling "wok" as they pass high overhead in the darkness. Some studies suggest that they feed at night because they are dominated by other herons and egrets by day.

The Park has been proven to be a good foraging ground... as seen here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The night heron apparently comes out at night in Tompkins Square Park

Elusive night heron becoming less elusive

Noted

EVG reader Camila spotted this flyer on the corner of Houston and the Bowery...



Who's gonna email them and fork over a $1???

Everything is waiting for you, downtown

[Click to go big]

East Village-based artist/photographer Daniel Root shared this photo looking toward the East Village from the MetLife building... They have some kind of film over the windows, which led to some distortion, but you get the idea...

Headline H/T

On this Urban Etiquette Sign, grease is the word

Goggla spotted this Urban Etiquette Sign on East Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

"Do Not Sit on the railing of the tree guard. Your weight bends the planter holder.

As a deterrent the railing has been coated with grease."

To which someone responded, "You are a freak."

You are in the East Fifth St. Tree Committee territory here. Please act accordingly. And keep your butt off the tree guard!

Report: Residents at 444 E. 13th St. will receive a $1 million settlement over claims of harassment by Raphael Toledano

[Photo from May 2015 by Stacie Joy]

Landlord Raphael Toledano has agreed to pay a little more than $1 million to settle claims that he harassed tenants at 444 E. 13th St., according to The Real Deal.

Last spring, rent-regulated tenants at 444 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue accused Toledano, 26, and a management company he hired of harassment and intimidation. A staff attorney at the Urban Justice Center, who is representing the East 13th Street tenants, told reporters during a rally outside the building last May that "there are tape recorded conversations where the landlord is threatening to drop dynamite on the building and then let everyone 'figure it out themselves.'"

Jeffrey Goldman, an attorney for Toledano, denied the harassment claims at the time.

"I have not seen him engage in any behavior or conduct that would give rise to an investigation let alone a finding of harassment,” Goldman told the Daily News.

The settlement between Toledano and several rent-stabilized tenants at No. 444 was finalized May 6, per The Real Deal, who reports that the New York Attorney General’s office and the state Homes and Community Renewal’s tenant protection unit are continuing their joint investigation into the harassment claims.

Toledano bought the building for $6.1 million in January 2015. Later in 2015 he bought a 16-building parcel in the neighborhood.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: State investigating East Village landlord Raphael Toledano

Health Department to inspect Raphael Toledano's East Village properties for toxic levels of lead dust

Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel 'will cut its inpatient capacity'

Mount Sinai Beth Israel officials are expected to make an announcement soon "that it will cut its inpatient capacity after the hospital lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the past two years," Crain's reports.

This announcement is expected within the next two weeks, based on a message sent to union members by the New York State Nurses Association, per Crain's.

The timing comes after a report in the current issue of The Villager, which, citing three anonymous nurses, reported that the facility would be closing.

According to Crain's, top Mount Sinai officials refuted that story in an email sent to faculty, staff and students... a copy which Crain's republished:

“We are well aware of the understandable stress and confusion that has been caused by an inaccurate story in today’s Villager newspaper. We are working on a plan which will enhance existing services and develop new facilities in the Mount Sinai Beth Israel community. In the meantime, there will be no disruption in any of our patient care services.”

However, as Crain's pointed out, the email doesn't directly address whether the 856-bed teaching hospital will downsize.

As Gothamist noted: "since St. Vincent's Hospital shuttered in 2010, following a series of increasing layoffs, there have been just a handful of hospitals serving Lower Manhattan, the largest being Mount Sinai Beth Israel" at First Avenue and East 16th Street.

The former St. Vincent's is on its way to becoming a luxury condo complex called Greenwich Lane.



Imagine what developers would pay for Mount Sinai Beth Israel ... with its views of Stuyvesant Square Park off Second Avenue..

This dessert continues to take the East Village by (ice) storm

[Photo by Steven]

A coming soon sign for Roll It Up ice cream has arrived at one of the empty retail spaces at 65 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.



Roll It Up will join the other coming-soon shops in the East Village that will serve rolled ice cream... Pink Bear on East 14th Street and Lab 321 on St. Mark's Place. (And, in a variation, Bingbox Snow Cream Co. recently opened on Second Avenue.)

The east storefront at No. 65 was previously home to Smooth Skin Factory.

Movies at MoRUS this week

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, 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.



Also this week...there's a special screening of "The World According to Monsanto" Friday at 7 p.m. The film will be followed by a discussion and Q-&-A with the filmmakers.

The screening is a warm-up for the global March Against Monsanto, which starts at Union Square Saturday afternoon at 1.

Movies @ Morus 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.

Thor Equities is the new owner of Patricia Field's former retail condo on the Bowery

[EVG photo from January]

As we noted in January, a storefront-for-rent sign arrived outside the outgoing Patricia Field boutique at 306 Bowery.

Apparently there's a reason Thor Equities had the listing. According to the Commercial Observer, Thor Equities is also the new owner of the building. The $8.2 million sale closed Monday.

“The Bowery is continuing its transformation into one of Manhattan’s most vibrant shopping corridors, fueled by the area’s new residential development, boutique hotels, museums, art galleries and nightlife,” Thor Chief Executive Officer Joseph Sitt said in a statement.

Not sure if vibrant is the right word.

The John Barrett luxury hair salon shut down at Bond Street after just a few months in business. Other recent closures include Environment Furniture ... PYT and SRO Pizza ... and Tatyana Boutique. (There's not even a place for the former "Most Interesting Man in the World.")

As for 306 Bowery, there isn't any mention of the asking rent for the space that totals 6,700 square feet and features a separate entrance on Elizabeth Street. And here's a rendering of the possibilities...



Thor has also purchased 176 Bowery and 195 Bowery in recent years.

As for Field, she announced late last year that she was closing her boutique at 306 Bowery to concentrate on her film and TV work and other various projects. She operated a boutique in various locations downtown for 50 years.

As for Sitt and Thor Equities, they have been busy in Coney Island.

Hot night at Exit9

Tonight, local artist Steve Ellis was on-hand at Exit9, 51 Avenue A ... where he debuted his Ignited Lighter Project, a collection of lighters featuring an array of downtown personalities... in celebration of Lower East Side History Month.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy was at the shop tonight between Third Street and Fourth Street...


[Steve Ellis, left, with Mistress Formika]


[Angel Eyedealism and Exit9 owner Charles Branstool]


[Sean Eden from Luna]

The lighters are $5, and will be for sale at the store until they run out...

Next Tuesday, Exit9 will host a month-long art show titled "LES History, More History." Find more details here.

In case you were wondering what the inside of 190 Bowery is looking like these days

[EVG photo from last week]

The last time we walked by 190 Bowery last week, there was all sorts of activity going on in and around the historic Germania Bank Building on the corner of Spring Street. Hard hats were coming and going from inside the building. Arrows were trying to knock over workers. And a few men were filming a rap video on the front steps.

So what's going inside? Aby Rosen's RFR Realty owns the building, and a company made up of agencies representing creative professionals had previously reported signing on for some of the office space.

Bucky Turco, the editor of the now-defunct Animal, recently got a look inside the under-renovation building ... and shared those images with Curbed.

A few observations from a look around the interior per Curbed:

• "Some of its historic elements, such as an original 19th-century elevator, are now preserved behind glass."

• "The basement is still in disarray, with the old bank vault still intact (though there's a crack in the glass)."

Check out the photos at Curbed.

The retail space is still on the market.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Take a last look inside the mysterious 190 Bowery

Report: ABC No Rio set to close next month ahead of demoliton for new building

ABC No Rio first unveiled plans for a new building on Rivington Street back in March 2008. Now, after delays "by red tape and rising costs," The New York Times reports that the cultural center here between Suffolk and Clinton will likely be cleared out by the end of June, with a demolition to come this fall.

The decision to act now, the Times notes, came after developers paid $30 million for the former Streit's matzo factory next door that will become condos.

Per the Times: "Given No Rio’s age and condition, the structure seemed unlikely to survive the demolition next door."



Here's more from the article:

No Rio plans to replace its fragile four-story home with an environmentally friendly new structure where artists will continue to present the same type of boundary-pushing material that has become the center’s hallmark.

And from ABC No Rio’s director, Steven Englander:

On a recent evening Mr. Englander reflected on No Rio’s future, including the question of how to maintain its oppositional ethos in an ever-gentrifying environment.

That animating spirit, Mr. Englander said, comes from the people inside the building rather than its surroundings. If anything, he suggested, the changes in the neighborhood may make No Rio’s willingness to explore the margins more vital.

“Nobody knows what New York City will be like when this hypergentrification catches its breath,” he said, adding: “I’m pretty confident that people in line with the mission and purpose here will always be around.”

ABC No Rio's impressive zine collection recently moved to the nearby Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center... while the Saturday matinee punk shows will move to various venues across the city.

You can read more about the new building and check out the renderings at the ABC No Rio website.

Previously

Will a car-free 14th Street make life more bearable during (and after) the L train renovations?

So someone has taken notice that the M14A isn't always very punctual ... which should likely only get worse, even with more buses, when the MTA shuts down the L train for repairs in 2019.

As you may recall, the MTA has pitched two scenarios for the work to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie tubes. The first plans sees service cut completely between Eighth Avenue and Bedford Avenue for 18 months. The other option is to close one tube at a time, with a three-year timeframe for the work

Meanwhile, in case you missed this: State Sen. Brad Hoylman has asked the MTA to explore the possibility of closing parts of 14th Street to vehicular traffic, with a dedicated bus and bike route to help ease the crosstown commute while the L is out, DNAinfo reported.

Hoylman is reportedly building on an idea floated earlier by the Regional Plan Association, a Manhattan-based think tank.

Per DNAinfo:

The report, released in April, suggested restricting 14th Street between Irving Place and Sixth Avenue in both directions to buses, bikes, and pedestrians. Trucks would have to make deliveries to 14th Street overnight, or use loading zones on nearby avenues that would take the place of parking spaces, according to the report.

The rest of traffic could travel east of Irving Place and west of Sixth Avenue, but only one-way towards each river, according to the report.

Hoylman has also suggested making this car ban permanent between Irving Place and Sixth Avenue — even after L service is restored in 2089.