Previously on EV Grieve:
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Noted
Groundbreaking ceremony held for new ABC No Rio building on Rivington Street
Yesterday, several city and local elected officials, along with a handful of activists and other members of the collectively run arts organization, broke ground on the lot.
The City is putting $21 million toward the project via the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo: "ABC No Rio embodies the DIY creative energy and legacy of the Lower East Side like few other places."
The environmentally friendly new structure, designed by architect Paul Castrucci, will include a computer lab, print shop, dark room and a zine library, among other amenities. (Find more details here.)
You can read more about the groundbreaking and ABC No Rio history (founded in 1980) at The New York Times... The City ... and Hellgate (email registration required).Broke ground today on @abcnorio’s new arts facility designed by local architect Paul Castrucci. This will be one of the most energy efficient buildings ever built by the city! I have been involved in the fight to make this day possible for the past 30 years. pic.twitter.com/5GAENIwRbO
— Harvey Epstein (@HarveyforNY) July 16, 2024
Per officials, construction is set to start in three weeks... with a 2026 completion date.
We hadn't heard much about the project since the summer of 2020, when DOB signage arrived on the plywood, showing an anticipated completion date of spring 2022 (see below photo from August 2020).
ABC No Rio first unveiled plans for a new home in March 2008.
Its four-story building, said to be in disrepair, was demolished starting in March 2017 ... putting ABC No Rio's programming into "exile" at other arts organizations around the city.
Director Steve Englander shared a Facebook post in December 2019 addressing the latest setback at the site: "After excavating additional test pits to confirm existing conditions at one of the adjacent properties, we determined a redesign of our foundation and support of excavation plans was required." (Demolition of the Streit's Matzo Factory next door and the subsequent construction of the new condoplex on the site complicated ABC No Rio's plans.)
He also stated at the time: "We know that progress with the new building has seemed slow, but please be assured, we are moving forward. It's been tough, and we're glad that you’ve had our back."
Previously on EV Grieve:
• At ABC No Rio's last HardCore/Punk Matinee on Rivington Street (for now)
Director Steve Englander shared a Facebook post in December 2019 addressing the latest setback at the site: "After excavating additional test pits to confirm existing conditions at one of the adjacent properties, we determined a redesign of our foundation and support of excavation plans was required." (Demolition of the Streit's Matzo Factory next door and the subsequent construction of the new condoplex on the site complicated ABC No Rio's plans.)
He also stated at the time: "We know that progress with the new building has seemed slow, but please be assured, we are moving forward. It's been tough, and we're glad that you’ve had our back."
• At ABC No Rio's last HardCore/Punk Matinee on Rivington Street (for now)
Top two photos via @CommishCumbo on X ... last photo, from 1980, by Anton van Dalen
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
EVG Etc.: Those Link5G towers don't actually have 5G; the Swayze days of summer are here
• The Brooklyn builder linked to the Mayor Adams FBI probe is under scrutiny over the new development at 280 E. Houston St., seen above on the right (Gothamist... previously on EVG)
• City records show that just 23 restaurants have hearings scheduled so far for the new outdoor dining program, with just three weeks left to sign up (Streetsblog)
• The man preserving NYC's old signs and marquees, like the old Essex Card Shop signage (The New Yorker)
• Baruch Bathhouse to remain empty as developer moves on from ice rink plan for the Lower East Side (The City)
• Only two of the nearly 200 Link5G towers installed since 2022 have been fitted with 5G equipment (Gothamist ... Curbed ... previously on EVG)
• The three juvenile red-tailed hawks are having a fun summer in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)
• More details about the two new EV spots from the Unapologetic Foods team (Eater... previously on EVG)
• The Lower East Side's last Jewish pickle maker (The Jewish Chronicle)
• Gov. Hochul signs a package of moped and e-bike safety bills into law (Streetsblog)
• A look back at the work of "actor, agitator, musician, and writer" Zoë Lund, who wrote the screenplay for "The Bad Lieutenant" (Anthology Film Archives)
• The Lazy, Hazy Swayze Days of Summer at Metrograph (Official site)
... and memories...
Super important discovery in @SInow research (for a super niche audience). This ad is from Swimsuit issue 1997 and … isn’t that the matriarch of 2000s Lower East Side dive bar Lucy’s? @kicklikeagirl1 @evgrieve. 99% sure that’s Ludwika “Lucy” Mickevicius pic.twitter.com/Y4F8HI9DqX
— Adam Duerson (@adamduerson) July 15, 2024
Did you hear the one about the Upright Citizens Brigade NYC being in preview mode?
The UCB NY website lists nightly shows inside the two-level space, a former gym, through August.
No word on an official opening date.
Meanwhile, comedy classes are happening, too.
As previously noted, this marks a dual homecoming — first announced last summer — for the comedy brand.
UCB's East Village outpost, UCBeast, wrapped up its eight-plus-year run on Avenue A and Third Street in February 2019. At the time, UCB officials blamed the "extreme costs" of operating in the space for its closing. UCB then presented three nights of programming at SubCulture, a 130-seat venue on Bleecker Street.
Eventually, the whole empire — where Kate McKinnon, Donald Glover, Aubrey Plaza, and Broad City's Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, among many others — got their start, shut down. Amid ongoing financial difficulties made worse by the beginning of the pandemic, UCB closed all its remaining NYC locations in April 2020... and then in Los Angeles in December 2020.
A comeback was underway starting in March 2022 when longtime talent manager Jimmy Miller and former CEO/Owner of The Onion Mike McAvoy reportedly bought the brand.
Grillify-NYC opens in the former Le Burger space on 5th Street
Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
New operators have taken over the former Le Burger space at 540 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
The brother-and-sister team of Estefanie and Luis Cuahutle (above) are running Grillify-NYC.
While a variety of burgers remain a mainstay on the menu, they have expanded the offerings to include tacos, quesadillas, and wings.
Look for various pop-ups and nightly specials along the way.
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday. You can follow them on Instagram here.
Le Burger opened here in the fall of 2022.
Monday, July 15, 2024
Today in sidewalk sarcasm
Photo by Stacie Joy
As seen on Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street... where not everyone appreciates @7soulsdeep's soulful-ish sidewalk messages such as, "New York isn't the same without you."
Here, someone responded: "Well, thank you. I just robbed 5 people and was sorta feeling bad about it till now."
A blood drive at the 9th Precinct tomorrow (Tuesday)
Save a life, make a difference! The 9th Pct will be holding a Blood Drive Tuesday July 16, from 12:00PM to 6:00PM #donatehttps://t.co/f6pKN2DkWK pic.twitter.com/oWthf2oSQf
— NYPD 9th Precinct (@NYPD9Pct) July 12, 2024
The 9th Precinct is at 321 E. Fifth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Watch where you park!)
Report: East Village building owner plans demolition amid ongoing controversy and litigation
As Crain's New York first reported, Jeremy Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, filed the paperwork with the Department of Buildings (DOB) last Wednesday.
On Nov. 28, as we first reported, 642's residents — many of them in rent-stabilized units — were abruptly vacated after ongoing excavation on a Madison Reality Capital-owned 24-story development next door on the SW corner of Avenue C destabilized building.
Previously on EV Grieve: From the Department of Buildings at the time: "Structural stability of building compromised due to construction operations taking place at 644 E. 14th Street. Heavy cracks in the exterior and interior in addition to separation noted at door frames and floor from wall..."
Lebewohl's attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, told Crain's that "multiple engineers have now said the building is dangerous and needs to be torn down entirely."
According to a spokesperson, the DOB is reviewing the application but has not issued an emergency demolition order for the property, per Crain's.
With the help of Mobilization for Justice and Take Root Justice, several tenants filed an HP Action against Lebewohl and had their first court appearance on Feb. 9. They allege that Lebewohl, who has owned No. 642 since 1984, was aware of the building's structural issues but never took any action to make repairs.
Paul Messick, an attorney for the tenants, told Crain's that the ongoing litigation should prevent the demolition from taking place. Lebewohl's attorney disputed this claim, saying that the structure was damaged beyond repair.
Meanwhile, next door at the construction site, the work that was temporarily halted in late November and limited to shoring up 642's foundation has been picking up pace in recent months. The first sight of concrete reinforcing bars is (barely) visible above the plywood.
Madison Square Realty is the third owner of the long-empty lot (since 2009) in the past eight years. Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 from Brooklyn's Rabsky Group for $23 million.
Plans for the latest development were first unveiled in June 2022.
The 24-story, 234-foot-tall building will be known as 14+C and include 197 residential units. There is no word on how many "affordable" units will be included in 14+C, one of the stipulations for being allowed to build a larger (by nine floors) building. (The Rendering below is via Fischer + Makooi Architects.)
There were already approved plans for a 15-floor mixed-use building, though no affordable units were attached to that version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing. 
The Ninth Ward plotting its return to 180 2nd Avenue after 8 years
At the time, the owners of the New Orleans-themed bar, Nic Ratner and Robert Morgan, expected to return to the retail space — hopefully in late 2018 — after a gut renovation of the building between 11th Street and 12th Street.
Fast-forward eight-plus years and the Ninth Ward is reapplying for a liquor license for the address. Reps will appear before CB3's SLA committee tonight.
According to their questionnaire on the CB3 website:
The scheduled renovations were planned to take 18 months, but almost immediately ran into complications. Unfortunately, due to the landlord's inexperience, construction delays, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the project has now dragged on for nearly a decade.
The liquor license for Ninth Ward, in safe keeping with the SLA, was renewed on two occasions during the construction. In the third attempt to renew the license, it was cancelled as simply too much time had passed with the business being closed.
Ratner and Morgan opened a Ninth Ward in London in 2017.
As for the building at No. 180, workers finally removed the scaffolding, plywood, and sidewalk obstructions in February.
And after all that, the building is on the sales market for $12.5 million.
The Chicago-based Polish National Alliance was the previous owner of No. 180. The building housed the Józef Pilsudski Institute of America, the largest Polish-American research institution specializing in the recent history of Poland and Central Eastern Europe. (They found a new home in Greenpoint.) According to public records, an LLC bought the building for $6.75 million in June 2014. City Realty listed the new owner as Robert Stern.
Tonight's CB3-SLA meeting starts at 6:30. Find the Zoom link here. This is a hybrid meeting, and there is limited seating available for the public — the first 15 people who show up at the Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.
Report: New owners for the 3 buildings on the SW corner of 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place
The three buildings at 127-129 Second Ave. and 36 St. Mark's Place have a new owner.
In a sale announced last week, Ryco Capital purchased the properties on the high-profile SW corner from landlord Jonis Realty (which is run by Citi Urban Management, also owned by the Helegua family) for $29 million.
The three six-story mixed-use buildings contain 10 retail and 60-plus residential units, ranging from studios to five-bedroom apartments. The retail tenants include B&H Dairy, Ramen Misoya, Taqueria Diana, Paul's Da Burger Joint and Poetica Coffee.
From the press release, here's broker Joe Koicim of the NYM Group of Marcus & Millichap:
"The East Village is a supply-constrained rental market that has consistently provided owners with higher annual rent growth than nearly every other New York City submarket. With this asset ideally situated on the corner of Saint Mark's Place and Second Avenue, the buyer will capitalize on the long-term upside created by the natural demand for apartments and retail space in this area. This submarket has been reflective of the overall strength of New York City's rental market, which began the year with vacancy at 1.8%."
According to media reports and public records, tenants have tangled with Jonis Realty since they bought the buildings in the late 1990s.
Per the Commercial Observer last week:
Conditions deteriorated since, and the properties currently have 411 housing violations racked up across its 64 apartments, according to housing records.Tenants have sued Citi-Urban for repairs several times over the last decade and settled the cases for undisclosed amounts, according to city housing records. Now, Ryco will put the buildings in the hands of its own property management firm, Ryco NYC, according to City Residents Alliance, a nonprofit tenant group.
Jonis Realty/Citi Urban Management owns and manages more than 30 NYC buildings, including 11 in the East Village, media reports and public documents show.
On May 8, several residents of the Jonis Realty/Citi Urban Management-owned 131 Avenue A held a rally after two fires in six months at the building on the NW corner of St. Mark's Place.
The Village Sun reported on residents who had difficulty fleeing an early morning fire on April 24 due to alleged building disrepair.
A group of residents who live in properties owned/run by Citi Urban Management formed the Citi Residents Alliance, which has a website with a violations database.
David's Cafe abruptly closes on St. Mark's Place
A reader spotted movers hauling equipment out of the space on Friday.
The David Cafe's website and Instagram account do not mention a closure, though Google lists it as permanently closed. We reached out to David's for more information.
David's Cafe, from Daniel and BLT Market alum David Malbequi, opened in late 2015 and received praise for its menu, including "The Absolute Best Steak-Frites in New York," per Grub Street.
Malbequi is also a partner in Spice Brothers next door... the quick-serve Middle-Eastern venture just got high marks from Pete Wells at The New York Times.
Top photo by Kelly Chasse/2nd photo by Clem Robineau
Grocery & Coffee for Avenue C
Here's a quick update on 193 Avenue: On Saturday, workers put up the new business sign for Grocery & Coffee between 11th Street and 12th Street.
The signage mentions offerings that include coffee and tea, juices and soda, cigarettes, vapes, cigars, and candies.
E-bike retailer moves into this Avenue B storefront
Photos by Stacie Joy
A Toronto-based e-bike retailer opened a shop earlier this month at 95 Avenue B between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.
Movin' Mobility sells several varieties of high-end e-bikes and offers repairs on them as well.
They are open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Movin' co-founder Parwaiz Nijrabi is quoted in this CTV Media piece from January on e-bike battery safety.
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