Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel ready to sell its 1st Avenue campus

[Photo from May]

The Mount Sinai Health System, as previously reported, plans to replace its existing First Avenue facility by opening a smaller hospital on 14th Street and Second Avenue in the years ahead.

Now officials have reportedly put up its First Avenue properties, which are expected to close in the next four years, on the market.

Lois Weiss at the Post had the scoop:

Real estate sources say the sale, which is expected to include that full block bordered by First and Second avenues and East 16th to East 17th streets, will also include other First Avenue properties.

Weiss reported that Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured, who brokered the $5.45 billion Stuy Town/Peter Cooper deal with Blackstone, is talking to interested investors.

While it lies opposite Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village ... the campus is also opposite the leafy and elegant Stuyvesant Square Park, making residential options enticing, especially as Stuy Town’s new owner, Blackstone, has plenty of air rights toward seeking landing strip.

There's no word yet what this prime chunk of real estate might fetch. The Real Deal noted that "hospitals make an attractive target for developers. For example, in 2014, Fortis Property Group paid $240 million for the Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill, where it plans to build residential towers."

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.



By James Maher

Name: Joe
Occupation: Retired, Teacher
Location: Village View, First Avenue
Time: 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 21

I grew up in Little Italy. I was born on Mott Street and went to school in St. Patricks', the old cathedral, which is down the block from where I lived. The neighborhood there was mostly broken up in parts, like on Mulberry Street there were mostly Neapolitan people. Half of Mott Street was half Neapolitan and half Sicilian. On Elizabeth Street were all Sicilian people; there were all different dialects of Sicilian people.

There was a lot of street activity. You’d play baseball in the street. Kids used to take a pair of ball-bearing skates, take them apart and get a piece of 2x4 wood ... they used to nail a milk box or a soda box on the top, and that was a scooter to ride around on. It was crazy, but this is how we did it in those days.

We never had crime in that neighborhood. As far as racism or anything, we didn’t even know what racism was about. I didn’t know anything about segregation until I went to school. When I was in the neighborhood, you either conformed or you didn’t, and if you didn’t they made you conform or you moved out.

Most of that area was controlled by the Mob. So if you had any problems the Mob knew and they’d settle it up before you’d have any problems. The neighborhood was very safe. You could have went out to a dinner or a dance when you were a teenager, come home at 2 in the morning and you didn’t have to worry, because those guys were out 24 hours. They were out all hours of the night. As soon as they saw the wrong person coming, they used to go after them. They were protective because they didn’t want the police in the area. You never had crime there.

You got spoiled because a lot of the things in Little Italy were fresh made: fresh pasta, fresh meat, fresh sausage, fresh everything. You got spoiled. There were a lot of good places to eat. Every block had a restaurant or an outlet where you ate. A lot of them were like cafes. People used to go in there and hang out. A lot of those stores used to have pastries, but it was almost like a come-on. It wasn’t like that was their main product to sell. They had a pool room and these guys used to hang out in there. They used to gamble and what not. A lot of the fellas used that as a place to meet. Then the ownership turned over and the pastry became the main part.

In those days, a lot of people went to public school and then when they got married they moved out of the neighborhood. Eventually there was no more Little Italy. Most of the owners now either own the building or their family was there for many years and they still have the business. But other than that, they’re all gone. They [began] moving out in the 1960s. That’s when everything started to change. Most of the people moved to Jersey, Staten Island, Long Island and Brooklyn.

Mostly years ago all these sections were split up [by ethnicity]. Like Orchard Street was all Jewish. If you were there and you weren’t Jewish and you wanted to rent a store, they wouldn’t rent it to you. They were clannish because they had to be. When you passed the Bowery and went west, there were all Italians there. They never had wars; they never had fights, because they got along.

Second Avenue was like Broadway to the Jewish people. On Saturday night, if you didn’t have a fur coat, you couldn’t go there. People used to come down to see the plays. There was the National Theatre, the Yiddish Theatre. There were all Jewish movie theatres down here.

The best places here were the famous dairy restaurants on Second Avenue. My family owned a building on Second Avenue, and we had a dairy restaurant in there called Steinberg’s Dairy Restaurant. Then you had the Moskowitz and Lupowitz, which was a Romanian restaurant. They sold very good food. Then there was Ratner’s. So when people came out of the theatres on Saturday, all those restaurants were booming. They made a ton of money and the food was out of this world.

You passed there as a kid and you looked in the window and you’d see these big cheesecakes. Your mouth used to water but you couldn’t afford it in those days. This was the 1950s and 1960s. It was a different way of living

Next week, Joe talks about moving into Village View in 1964 and working for NYU.

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

Tompkins Square Park getting a Prince-inspired piano for the next 10 days

The Sing for Hope piano arrived in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... where it will be officially unveiled tomorrow for public use through June 19.

Here's more via the Sing for Hope website:

As NYC’s largest annual public art project, The Sing for Hope Pianos impacts an estimated 1 million New Yorkers and visitors each year. For two weeks each summer, we bring 50 unique, artist-created Sing for Hope Pianos to the parks and public spaces of all five boroughs for anyone and everyone to enjoy.

This year, we are thrilled to announce that, following public installation, all of The 2016 Sing for Hope Pianos will be placed in permanent homes in NYC public schools, bringing the power of the arts to an estimated 15,000 New York City schoolchildren.

Brooklyn-based artist Eric Inkala designed the piano for Tompkins Square Park...it is titled "Dearly Beloved," and is dedicated to Prince.

Here's a look at the piano after workers unwrapped it...


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

This is the first pop-up piano for the Park since 2013. (There was a piano on Astor Place last year.)

Thanks to William Klayer for the top two photos

Hi, Ben Shaoul would like to buy your building

Slightly amused/mostly horrified residents of a co-op on East 11th Street passed along the following unsolicited email from a rep for developer Ben Shaoul... addressed to a Maria, even though there isn't anyone by that name living in the building...

On East Houston, empty lot awaits million-dollar condos

A crew made pretty quick work of demolishing the two-level structure at 287 E. Houston St. near Clinton Street...as these photos from Saturday show...



As previously noted, there are plans for an 11-story building with 28 luxury residences (top price will reach $5 million). The city has yet to approve the necessary permits for the development.

The space previously housed a tax preparation service and a landscaping business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
11 stories of condos to join the growing East Houston residential corridor

Ready to join the flight club

Christo and Dora's red-tailed hawk offspring continue to practice flapping their wings in Tompkins Square Park...



Goggla, who has more hawklet photos here, figures the trio will be ready to fledge any moment now...

Photos today by Bobby Williams

Chico's tribute to Muhammad Ali on Avenue B

Between Second Street and Houston.

The last tribute mural that we recall longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia creating was for Robin Williams on East 13th Street in August 2014.

End days for Surma Books & Music

As you may have read, Surma Books & Music is closing this month at 11 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square after 98 years in business.

The New York Times has reaction from the Ukrainian specialty store's longtime patrons ... as well as third-generation owner Markian Surmach.

A sampling:

“You can trace the whole history of our community through this store,” said William M. Dubetz, 79, a security guard from the Bronx who has stopped by Surma for 61 years to pick up his weekly Ukrainian newspaper. “I don’t know what will happen to that culture once it closes.”

And...

Despite the gentrification of Little Ukraine (and its corresponding rent increases), Markian Surmach was not exactly forced out of his store. He owns the building, which his grandfather bought for $15,000. Its sale now is likely to fetch millions — a sum surely never envisioned by the young Myron Sr., whose mother sold a cow so he could afford to leave Ukraine. Although many customers bemoaned his decision, Mr. Surmach explained that sales have slumped since the 1990s, when the fall of the Soviet Union and the proliferation of cheap specialty goods online made Surma’s once scarce wares more readily available.

“Even if we own the building, the property taxes and upkeep are very expensive and have drowned out profits to the point where we’re barely floating,” Mr. Surmach, 54, said. “If we didn’t own the place, we’d have been out of business decades ago.”

The St. Mark's Church Greenmarket returns today

The Greenmarket outside St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue at East 10th Street returns for its 35th year today.

A few details:

Open Tuesdays, June 7 - November 22
Market Hours: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

GrowNYC's Textile Recycling: 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
GrowNYC's Compost Collection: 8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Cash, EBT/Food Stamps, Debit/Credit, WIC Vegetable & Fruit checks & FMNP coupons accepted.

Farmers
Mi Ranchito Farm Specialty vegetables, New Farmer Development Project Participant from Monmouth County, NY
Kernan Farms Vegetables from Cumberland County, NY

Updated 9:30 a.m.

A photo via Steven of the Greenmarket this morning...

Former Avenue D Rite Aid has been demolished to make way for a 12-story building

Workers have wrapped up the demolition of several one-level storefronts, including Rite Aid (and Shady's pizza!), on Avenue D between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...





In January, the Rite Aid relocated one block north to the vacant retail space in the Arabella 101 building.

As for 79-89 Avenue D, the approved permits on file with the city show a building with a total of 96,038 square feet (7,868 of them for the retail component). There are 110 dwelling units listed.

L&M Development Partners, one of the groups involved in the Essex Crossing development at the former Seward Park urban renewal site, bought the three parcels of 79-89 Avenue D in 2014 for $12.5 million.

We have not seen any renderings for the new building just yet. GF55 Partners, whose area work includes Jupiter 21 and 48 Bond, are the architects of record.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million

Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D

Permit pre-filed for new 12-floor building at 79-89 Avenue D

East Village-based artist Ori Carino unveils Ramones mural in Forest Hills

[Ori Carino with Mickey Leigh]

On Sunday afternoon, East Village-based artist Ori Carino unveiled a new mural at the "Thorneycroft Ramp" in Forest Hills, Queens. The ceremony was part of a day of events organized by the Queens Museum, which is currently showing "Hey! Ho! Let’s Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk."

Carino painted the image of the four Ramones at the ramp based on a 1975 photograph by photographer Bob Gruen.

Presiding over the unveiling was musician and author Mickey Leigh (brother of Joey Ramone), who recalled times spent at the ramp in his 2009 memoir, I Slept with Joey Ramone: "We’d always wind up at Thorneycroft, the apartment complex across the street from John's [Johnny Ramone] building...Invariably everyone would meet up at the Ramp to shoot the shit, pull pranks, hide from the cops, and of course get high."


[Carino]


[Marc H. Miller, curator of "Hey! Ho! Le's Go" and artist-musician Claudia Tienan, partner of Tommy Ramone]

The exhibition "Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!" is on view at the Queens Museum through July 31.

H/T Marc H. Miller and Bowery98 for the information

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

[EVG photo from March]

Expect to see a demolition crew soon enough at the former Houston Street Beer Distributors at 298 E. Second Street between Avenue C and Avenue D.

The demo permit is now on file with the DOB... ahead of some unspecified new development.

We first reported back in September 2014 that the one-story warehouse was for sale. Per the listing:

It is located in an R8A zoning district with an FAR of 6.02 (approx. 15,941 SF) or up to 7.2 FAR with Inclusionary Housing designated area bonus (approx. 19,066 sq. ft.) This prime development site is across the street from Hamilton Fish Park and a branch of the New York City public library, offering unobstructed southern exposures.

A new development would enjoy sweeping views of downtown and midtown Manhattan, Williamsburg, LIC and more.

The asking price was $8.9 million. According to public records, it sold for a little more than $7 million last fall to 298 East Village Owner LLC.

To date, there haven't been any any work permits filed for this property, which sits adjacent to two other new developments — The Adele on East Houston and Avenue D and The Robyn on East Third Street near Avenue D.

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

East Village now minus 2 beverage distributors

A farewell show for Other Music

The owners of Other Music, which is closing for good on June 25, have announced a farewell concert at the Bowery Ballroom.

Here are the details for the show on June 28:

After 20 years, the iconic New York City record shop Other Music will be closing their doors on June 25, and three days later, they are bringing together a broad cross section of NYC artists they love for one last blowout party. Record shops are all about community, and none more so than Other Music, who for two decades created a haven for artists, fans, and music industry to come together for the love of records. Come celebrate 20 years of Other Music at this benefit concert and farewell celebration!

Julianna Barwick, Frankie Cosmos, Helado Negro, Menahan Street Band, Matana Roberts, Sharon Van Etten, Yo La Tengo, John Zorn's Simulacrum (with John Medeski, Matt Hollenberg and Kenny Grohowski) plus more special guests and surprises TBA!!

Tickets are $25 in advance; $30 at the door. They go on sale Friday at the Bowery Ballroom box office and at Other Music on East Fourth Street between Lafayette and Broadway.

Kanye West News Hour

The News Cycle on the aborted early-morning Kanye West show at Webster Hall shows no sign of cycling out... local news crew are camped out outside the venue on East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...



There are all sorts of first-person accounts from the Kanyefest/Pablo Mob, including at The New Yorker and Los Angeles Times.

And a passage from DNAinfo's reporting...

Neighbors who woke up to find their cars had been used as bleachers overnight were not amused.

"I thought it was going to be a quiet evening, a quiet day, and it was going to be safe," said optician Michael Gomez, 55, who parked his Chrysler and Impala in front of Webster Hall, and came back to find both had dents in the roofs and vomit on the ground nearby.

He estimated it will cost him thousands to fix his cars and says he cannot afford to make the repairs.

"I'm in shock. I'm stunned. I know I'm never going to park here again."

H/T EVG Pablo Mob correspondent Christine Champagne