Saving what remains of the neighborhood

Community activist Susan Howard has a column in this week's issue of The Villager. It begins:

What is a neighborhood? A place where you feel a sense of belonging as you walk down the streets? Where you know your neighbors and local shopkeepers? Where your children go to school? Where you play, garden or just shoot the breeze? Where you can sit on the stoop, in the park or in a neighborhood hangout and listen to music, gossip and lore?

That’s the way I remember the Lower East Side, before all our vacant land was sold for the development of luxury housing in an 80/20 scheme. Before it was marketed to the white upwardly mobile as a cool place to live. Before the speculators arrived to scoop up the existing buildings to turn them into luxury rentals and condos, and before many of our squats and gardens were bulldozed for more of the same. Before the largest tract of land, once promised for artists, low-income housing and community facilities, was sold in another 80/20 scheme for the development of a luxury community, Avalon Christie, before the high-rises, hotels, high-end eateries and boutiques.

Sure, it may just look like a hole in the ground now...

This abandoned hole-in-the-ground project at 427 E. 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue has been on the market...



At one point five residential floors were going to be added to the existing storefront. Dunno what happened to those plans. Here's the listing:

East Village residential rental development opportunity, with FOUNDATION already in place. The foundation was poured prior to the June 2008 421-a deadline, enabling the full property tax exemption benefits. This site has plans for a six story (plus cellar and roof), 12 unit, rental building, w/ a total of 12,952 gross SF (10,741 SF above grade, 2,211 SF below grade). A Condo plan is also available. Another option is to file an “alt plan”and develop the property to custom specifications while still maintaining the 421-a tax benefits. This is a unique project for a developer or user and is ready to go. Priced at $178 per gross buildable square foot, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Here's what it could look like!

And now, my collection of bus/truck booty

Why does this annoy me?

On St. Mark's Place.

Rectory also part of St. Brigid's renovation

We've noted the progress on the renovations at St. Brigid's. However, we never heard if the plans including repairing the rectory next door to the church on Avenue B.

The other night, we noticed that lights were on inside the rectory.




So we asked Edwin Torres, chairman of the Committee to Save St. Brigid's, what was happening with the rectory.

The rectory is part of the renovation. It will be fully restored and will serve several functions, one of which will be the home for the pastor. The current church I attend does not have a rectory and the priest rents an apartment [nearby]. It will be a luxury to have a rectory.

P.S.

We've always liked this aerial shot that Gothamist published back in 2006....




Previously.

Great homes for sale: 1840s townhouse on East Ninth Street going for $4.3 million

One of my favorite buildings in the neighborhood has been on the market for several months now... This 1840s townhouse on East Ninth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A is going for $4.3 million. Here are some listing details:

When it comes to historic houses, remember: They aren't building any more of them. This is a three-story town house with basement, 20 feet wide, built in the 1840's, with a large, leafy backyard. Period details include French doors, wide plank floors and exposed ceiling beams. Currently zoned as a 3-family home but could be configured as a 1-family or a 2-family. House is partially renovated and is currently occupied. Only 2 sales of this property in the past 75 years.

In 1998, it sold for $640,000.

An appreciation of Chico's work

We noted some of Chico's new work last week... After the spay/neuter sign disappeared, figured that I may want to chronicle some of Chico's work... As he has said, Chico figures that he has done 7,000 murals around the city the past 30 years. Here are a few of those murals.

Posts that I actually forgot to post: Commercial space available at the Theatre Condos

I've completely forgotten about the Theatre Condominiums. Jeremiah first wrote about this development at Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place in July 2008. Apparently, this is a popular corner! As The Real Deal reported last November, all seven units sold out in Phase I of the development. The condos ranged from $800k to $1.25 million. Or so. As The Real Deal noted: "Most of the buyers were young professionals, college students, or parents buying apartments for their children."

People seem to be living there, too. Or at least the lights are on.



(I secretly walk by and look up in hopes of catching a glimpse of the model from the Theatre Condo Web site...the model who, as Jeremiah wrote, "enjoys her stunning view of BBQ." Nothing better than the fresh aroma of an onion loaf at 11:30 a.m.!)





I bring all this up because... I noticed that commercial space is now available on the second floor...is this Phase II?




I went to the W&S Web site, but couldn't find any information on the commercial space.

But I did tool around the Theatre Condo site...where among the amenities, is this hilariously random list of "bars and clubs," including one that has been closed for three years.

Fundraiser for Calvin Gibson

Read The Villager's profile on Gibson here.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

The Decapitator arrives in NYC. (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A look at New York state's new license plate: "It looks like we live in Delaware or something." (New York Post)

What 311 tells you to do with your dead pet. (The Awl)

They tore down Howard Johnson's in Times Square for this? (Lost City)

Antique rubber boots discovered in Orchard Street shop. (BoweryBoogie)

Lower Manhattan in 1905 (The Bowery Boys)

Another hidden bar on the LES. (Grub Street)

And NYC's newest "underground playground." (NYPress)

Drag queens and DJs put on the unemployment line at Dtox (GaySocialites.com)

Yesterday, we mentioned Bob Arihood's account of Slum Goddess being taken for a spin by rickshaw Spiderman.

And now! Here's the video that Slum Goddess shot of the event.