EV Grieve

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Noted

Squirrels in Tompkins Square Park continue trying to be cute... photo by Steven

Love Shine is closing shop on 6th Street and moving online

[Image via Facebook]

After 20 years at 543 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, Love Shine is closing up shop at the end of March, moving to an online-only operation.

Owner Mark Seamon, a visual artist and former chef, officially launched his business in 1996. He opened the storefront and studio the next year to sell his line of handmade bags, accessories and gifts.

We reached out to Seamon for more on the upcoming closure.

"Our lease is expiring at the end of March. The best deal we could negotiate with our landlord was a 25-percent increase with additional yearly increases," he said via email. "While we absolutely love our location, and live right down the block, the foot traffic isn't really the best for a retail store. We couldn't afford to move to an avenue and now we can't afford to stay here."

He continued: "When we first opened in 1997 it was possible to open a mom-and-pop shop in the East Village because the overhead was low and the neighborhood was filled with creative people, artists and designers. There was a large availability of affordable spaces to rent. I really think the development of the neighborhood, change in demographics, along with the enormous rents and the rise in online shopping, have made it really difficult to sustain a small retail shop."

Despite the changes, he doesn't have any plans to move away.

"The positive news is the East Village has always been our home," he said. "Our studio/workshop will be in the hood. We have our own unique line of bags and designs, and while we continue to invest in our online shop, we hope to be able to maintain a presence here at local craft fairs and markets and possible some other local stores."

You can follow Love Shine on Pinterest ... Facebook ... and Instagram.

VeryThai coming to Avenue B

Signage is up for VeryThai at 186 Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street.

We have very little information about the new restaurant at the moment. They were pre-approved for a beer-wine license during this month's CB3-SLA meeting. The application (PDF) on file for that committee meeting shows daily hours of 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The restaurant will have nine tables seating 29 people.

It appears that VeryThai will not be using the garden space that the previous tenant, Barbone, had. The low-key Italian restaurant closed after 10 years last June when landlord Steve Croman reportedly wouldn't renew the lease.

[Updated] Foreclosure notice arrives on Raphael Toledano-owned building on 12th Street

[Click for more detail]

A tipster shared the above photo... a foreclosure notice arrived yesterday on the door of 514 E. 12th St., one of the East Village properties owned by Raphael Toledano.

Earlier this month, Madison Realty Capital reportedly moved to foreclose on one of Toledano’s major EV portfolios, 15 buildings total, sources told The Real Deal.

From that article published Feb. 6:

Just three days before Madison filed to foreclose on the buildings, sources said Joseph Sutton, son of retail mogul Jeff Sutton, signed a hard contract to buy the buildings from Toledano for about $145 million.

Madison, according to documents filed in New York State Supreme Court late last week, claims Toledano, the founder of Brookhill Properties, owes the firm about $140 million, which includes $125 million in loans against 15 properties, plus interest and attorneys’ fees.

Sources close to Toledano said that after he defaulted last year, Madison waited months to initiate foreclosure proceedings, allowing time for him to find a buyer for the properties.

The address on the foreclosure notice matches that of Madison Realty Capital.

The notice reads in part:

The dwelling where your apartment is located is the subject of a foreclosure proceeding. If you have a lease, are not the owner of the residence, and the lease requires payment of rent that at the time it was entered into was not substantially less than the fair market rent for the property, you may be entitled to remain in occupancy for the remainder of your lease term.

And...

All rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants are protected under the rent regulations with respect to eviction and lease renewals. These rights are unaffected by a building entering foreclosure status.

It's not known at the moment how many other Toledano properties received similar foreclosure notices.

The Toledano-owned 97 Second Ave. will be auctioned off next week.

Toledano purchased 28 buildings in two separate portfolios from the Tabak family for a total of $140 million in the fall of 2015. Toledano has been accused of a variety of predatory practices. In addition, 20 of his buildings were tested for toxic levels of dust.

Updated 1 p.m.

A resident said that that packets of foreclosure legalese arrived on the doorstep outside one of Toledano's building on Fifth Street...

Former Dahlia's Tapas Wine Bar space for lease on 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

The for lease sign has arrived at the former Dahlia's Tapas Wine Bar on Ninth Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

The restaurant quietly shut down in December.

The owners also operated Dahlia’s, the Mexican restaurant on Second Avenue and Fifth Street that the SLA busted for allegedly serving 50 minors in January 2016. The restaurant closed in May. The owners tried again with 100% Healthy Blend (or maybe just Healthy Blend) in the space last September. They closed after three months. That space is also on the rental market.

Full views of the zinc-clad 347 Bowery

Workers have removed the construction netting from the Annabelle Selldorf-designed 347 Bowery ... allowing for full views of the 13-story luxury building with the zinc panels at Third Street ...

As previously noted, the building will feature five stacked town homes: "The four duplex units and penthouse triplex each have a central spiraling staircase and suspended catwalk which overlooks the main living space and provides a separation between the master and secondary bedrooms."

According to Streeteasy, two of the units are in contract with three left for sale.

The homes will sit atop a two-story commercial base.

No. 347 was previously the Salvation Army's East Village Residence.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Salvation Army's former East Village Residence will be demolished on the Bowery

Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Looks like 347 Bowery will be home to a 13-floor mixed-use residential development

The future of 347 Bowery (sorta!) revealed

Let's take a look at 347 Bowery, now and in the future

347 Bowery getting its zinc supplements

Monday, February 20, 2017

The Immigrant adds cocktails to its menu on 9th Street

The signage for cocktails arrived this afternoon outside The Immigrant, the low-key neighborhood bar at 341 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The Immigrant, which opened in 2009, started serving several cocktail choices last month to supplement the wine bar menu, according to owner Jason Corey.

The "immigrant themed" menu includes an Old School Manhattan, a Bee's Knees, a Green Juice Margarita and a Cuba Libre with Havana Club Rum, Corey said.

For now, the cocktails won't be served in the Tap Room, the extension that opened next door in 2013.

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Behold Civic Hall, the high-tech future of Union Square — and NYC

[EVG file photo]

As you may know, the city is redeveloping the city-owned site that P.C. Richard (and Son!) has leased the past 20-plus years at 124 E. 14th St. at Irving Place.

In late December, the de Blasio administration announced that RAL Development Services, a real-estate firm, will develop the site with Civic Hall — "a tech-focused work and event space" — anchoring the space.

And on Friday, de Blasio unveiled the renderings for the 20-plus story building that will be erected between NYU dorms...

And here is more from the city's news release on Civic Hall:

Mayor de Blasio met with tech workers at AppNexus today to unveil the latest designs and details for the new Union Square Tech Hub, a City-backed project to provide space for tech worker training, education, start-ups and convening.

The hub itself will generate 600 good paying jobs, and serve as a new home for Civic Hall that will include a digital job training facility for all New Yorkers, and modern, flexible workspaces designed to meet the unique needs of early-stage startups in New York’s vibrant innovation economy.

“This new hub will be the front-door for tech in New York City. People searching for jobs, training or the resources to start a company will have a place to come to connect and get support. No other city in the nation has anything like it. It represents this City’s commitment to a strong and inclusive tech ecosystem,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.

And!

Currently the site of PC Richard & Sons Union Square, 124 East 14th Street will be transformed into a hub for civic innovation, job creation and fluid work and learning opportunities in a state-of-the-art tech-enabled facility. The 258,000 square-foot project will be developed by RAL Development Services and designed by Davis Brody Bond, and is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs. The project will be union-built and staffed, and in compliance with HireNYC guidelines.

The $250 million project on City-owned land, will bring together the best-in-class programs offering affordable digital skills training for New Yorkers seeking to join the 21st century economy – all in wired, open, and accessible workspaces. It will be anchored by Civic Hall, a collaborative work and event space advancing the use of technology for the public good. Civic Hall has grown to more than 1,000 members, including a diverse mix of community organizations, tech companies, city, state and federal agencies, and individual civic entrepreneurs. The new Civic Hall plans to include the following workforce development partners: the New York City Foundation for Computer Science Education, General Assembly, Per Scholas, FedCap, Code to Work, and Coalition for Queens.

As for the renderings, Gizmodo noted: "14th street’s new tech tower looks like what would happen if you asked Ikea to build a white-collar prison" and also referred to the building as a "massive broken Rubik’s cube."

According to TechCrunch, the plan is to start construction in 2018 and open in 2020.

Updated: There were public meetings about the plans here via CB3 in December 2015.

EVG reader Charlie Chen, who shared these links, noted that the second rendering "is dead wrong, as in 2020, the L will still be closed and 14th Street will mostly likely be a bus/bike/pedestrian walkway."

It's 7 a.m.

Photo today by Bobby Williams...

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Week in Grieview

[Filming in Tompkins Square Park Wednesday via Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property on the development market for $26 million (Friday)

Clockwork Bar denounces weekend attack by reported white supremacist group (Tuesday)

Prepping for 2019: L train shutdown workshop rescheduled for March 9 (Thursday)

Raphael Toledano-owned 97 2nd Ave. is on the auction block (Thursday)

Out and About with Delphine Blue (Wednesday)

Local support for "A Day Without Immigrants" (Thursday)

Southern Cross Coffee now open on Fifth Street (Tuesday)

First sign of Ikinari Steak, the quick-serve, no-seat steakhouse coming to 10th Street (Monday)

At the rally for the former PS 64 today at City Hall (Tuesday)

BeetleBug arrives with flowers on Ninth Street (Tuesday)

The all-new 189 7th St. asking $6.25 million (Wednesday)

State attorney general sues David Barton Gyms following sudden closure in December (Wednesday)

Former Biscuit shop for rent on Avenue A (Monday)

Valentine's night at Sunny's (Tuesday)

A new era of Bowery bums, plus more workout choices (Monday)

Plywood arrives on 11th Street outside Danny Meyer's incoming restaurant Martina (Friday)

A 4-vehicle pileup on East Houston (Monday)

Happy No. 163 McSorley's! (Thursday)

More renovations for Whole Foods Market® Bowery (Monday)

"An Evening With Martin Shkreli" no longer happening at Webster Hall Monday night (Thursday)

...and one more look at yesterday, which was reportedly pretty nice...

[Astor Place photo by Vinny & O]

---

Follow EVG on Instragram or Twitter

M2M has closed for now on 3rd Avenue; new storefront coming 2 blocks away

As we reported, M2M was closing on Third Avenue at 11th Street at the end of the business day yesterday.

This morning, the owners of the Asian market put up signage with an announcement about their new East Village location ...

As you can see, M2M will eventually be moving two blocks to the south ... to the long-empty spaces in the retail strip of NYU's Alumni Hall...

The corner space was home to Birdbath Bakery until the summer of 2014. Next door, Citi Habitats moved out in June 2014. No word how many of these storefronts M2M will take. There are two other empty slots that the Subway sandwich shop and Saint's Alp Teahouse previously rented.

As for the former M2M space, Wagamama, the London-based chain of Japanese restaurants, is coming here soon. Before M2M opened in 2002, the storefront housed an OMG jeans outlet.

For now you can get your M2M fix at their Waverly Place store.

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

A mock presidential funeral for Presidents' Day weekend; plus a new NYC Protests site

Several hundred protestors took part yesterday in a New Orleans-style mock funeral for the American presidency... the group started in Washington Square Park... and made their way to Union Square, where Derek Berg took these photos...

Per the Facebook invite: "Join us for wailing, honoring, remembering, grieving, marching, singing, chanting, and demanding the rebirth of a Presidency dedicated to the service of all peoples and 'sacred fire of liberty' that President George Washington swore to uphold."

“We’ve allowed a barely functional idiot reality-TV show star to lead one of the once-great, proud political parties of this country,” funeral organizer Jay W. Walker told Newsday.

On the topic of protests ... this arrived recently in the EVG inbox...

A new tool, NYC Protests, makes it easy to discover, engage with and join the many protests, rallies and marches happening in and around New York City to resist Trump.

With public displays of resistance proving to be a major factor in the resistance to President Trump’s agenda, NYC now has an easy, simple tool that allows thousands of activist-minded residents to join the fight. The newly launched site — www.nycprotests.com — has user-friendly calendars and alerts that make engaging with NYC’s protests easier than ever.

The site is free, easy to follow and optimized for the way we consume info today, with desktop and mobile optimized versions of the website, plus an active Twitter, Facebook and mailing list.

“In the days following the Women’s March, we saw hundreds of posts on social media from New Yorkers asking how they could find more protests, rallies and marches,” says NYC Protests’ Brooklyn-based founder, who has chosen to remain anonymous for employment reasons. “So we created an easy, simple tool for New Yorkers to stay engaged with the resistance.”