Meanwhile, more reaction about the possible Mars Bar closure

Devil in the details: Why would you list a condo at this price?

Here's a fine-looking penthouse on East 10th Street going for... Ah!



$666,000?

Those open houses must be a real horror show!

Get out!



Anyway, someone must have figured out the 666 thing — the unit is now listed at $665,000. The listing was reduced by $1,000 yesterday.

Even in a hospital bed, Bob Arihood still taking photos!

Melanie went to visit Bob Arihood yesterday... and Bob took this photo and one other (please see Melanie's site)...



Bob remains in the hospital. We're told that he saw a printout of the post from Monday as well as all the comments from readers ...he thanks everyone for their kind words and good wishes. Thanks to Bob's friend Jefferson Siegel from The Villager and Daily News for the updates.

[Photo via East Village Corner]

More of 14th and Third ready for something new

On the southwest corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue, you have your new burger place opening some day, as DNAinfo noted... the retail space adjacent to the corner, formerly home to the salon, is now on the market...



Now with some ghost signage from a previous tenant...



...and the salon is just relocating a few blocks away...

People who are now friends with Minnie McSorley (and when did McSorley's get TVs?)

Yes! Friend her here. (Thanks to Cat Sitter in the City!)

P.S.
And when did McSorley's get TVs???

Per Minnie's Facebook page:

The boss should never have installed TVs. McSorely's was not a very happy place last night as the NY Jets lost 45-3 to the Patriots. This is because they didn't play in the New Meadowlands Stadium, where there is a black cat in residence -- a black cat that is good luck, like all cats.

They took the bar!

Previously on EV Grieve:
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no: Why the Mars Bar is closing (maybe)

Developers!

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no: Why the Mars Bar is closing (maybe)

That's it.

So, the Local East Village via Curbed is reporting that "BFC Partners, builders of luxury condos like Noho's 48 Bond and Downtown Brooklyn's Toren, plans to renovate part of [lower Second Avenue] and add new market-rate housing. This will cause the temporary closure of Mars Bar and its neighboring businesses."

From the Local East Village:

“They won’t choke me,” Hank Penza, the longtime owner of Mars Bar, said of the developers, adding, “I didn’t get off the boat yesterday with a pound of spaghetti in my hand.”

Mr. Penza said that he wasn’t too concerned about the lost revenue, noting that he’ll ultimately get a space that’s three to four times the size. The developers, he said, “are good people” — and that seemed enough for him.

BFC goes before CB3 tomorrow night with its plans, including combining the buildings along Second Avenue near First Street — "perhaps bringing the height all the way up to 12 stories."

So many questions. To be continued....

Eater sums it up nicely:

If a current plan to build low income housing on a parcel of land on lower 2nd Avenue is approved by Community Board 3, the borough president, and the City Council, it will lead to the two year shuttering and eventual rebuilding of famed East Village dive Mars Bar.

Everything inside St. Vincent's currently being auctioned off

I may try to buy an ambulance.

Per an EV Grieve reader: "The only thing sadder than a working hospital is the liquidation of one."

Here's the auction site — happening live right now.

Poll update

As of 2:57, the pro Shake Skackers hold a slim lead in the poll.. Vote here.

Minnie the McSorley's cat now has a Facebook page

Our friend Cat Sitter in the City passed along this, uh, tidbit...



Per Facebook: "I'm an adorable cat who's the target of a frivolous pawsuit."

Indeed! Read about the lawsuit here. Have you seen Minnie on YouTube yet?

Is a Minnie Twitter feed far behind?

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

What you didn't know about A Repeat Performance on First Avenue (Neighborhoodr)

Lots of Red Square retail space available (BoweryBoogie)

Another Seventh Street tumor! (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)

A budget hotel with a Beaux-Arts exterior (Ephemeral NY)

A sad photo of a discarded teddy bear (Shawn Chittle)

For coverage of last night's CB3/SLA meeting, check out:
The Lo-Down

DNAinfo

Eater

Gothamist

And tonight...

Claim: 123 Third Avenue Reaches 'Sales Milestone' in 'East Union Square'

That's the word from the site Uniques Homes. According to the site:

After just two months on the market, 123 Third Avenue, the 47-unit condominium located on 14th Street and Third Avenue in New York City, is 55-percent sold. Following a sales launch in early September, 26 homes are in contract at the latest residential addition to East Union Square, reports exclusive sales and marketing agent Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

And!

The team surpassed the 50-percent mark at remarkable speed, which “speaks volumes to the desire for homes of this caliber in East Union Square,” said Elaine Diratz, of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. Set at the nexus of Union Square, Greenwich Village, the East Village and Gramercy Park, East Union Square contains some of the best dining, parks, entertainment and shopping. The famed Greenmarket, Momofuku, Pure Food & Wine, Kiehl’s, and ABC Carpet & Home all provide the quintessential shopping and dining experience. New York is a cornucopia of different neighborhoods, but none with more “best of’s” than in East Union Square.

What if a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park?

The piece in the Times on Sunday about Seventh Street included the following passage:

Near the eastern end of this stretch is Tompkins Square Park, that wonderful 10.5-acre patch that continues to lure the bohemian legions yet resists gentrification against all odds. Originally planned as a farmers’ market, it has been used as a public park since the 1800s and has weathered many seasons since. On any given day, there might be a band making noise, codgers playing chess, schoolchildren all in a line, and a Police Department van slowly cruising through. The echoes of demonstrators yelling “Die, Yuppie Scum” may be very faint these days, but there is no Shake Shack ... yet.

The mention of Shake Shack in the East Village prompted a sudden pain in my groin. In the comments, Jeremiah Moss noted: "the writer is practically begging for a Shake Shack in Tompkins Square Park."

Does the author know something that we don't? Or is this just wishful thinking?

So... what if a big, mooing cash cow of a Shake Shack opened in Tompkins Square Park ... just like the one in Madison Square Park?



As Jeremiah recently wrote: "We know what happens when popular, higher end businesses are introduced into a neighborhood. Like the mongoose and gypsy moth, they have a powerful and irreversible effect on the ecosystem."

What would the release of a Shake Shack mean to the Tompkins Square Park and East Village ecosystem? [The poll actually works now! Vote early and often!]

Shack attack! What would you think about a Shake Shake opening in Tompkins Square Park? The end is near Are there Shake Shacks in Greenland? I will fight like hell to make sure it never opens Who cares, we lost the war a long time ago I actually like Shake Shake and would welcome it Do these granny jeans make me look fat? view results

There are 6 LES apartments on the market for more than $7,500 a month

You know last week we had that post on the $30,000-a-month apartment on East First Street, which we figured was the highest-ever rental in the neighborhoood... The B@C (Blumstein at Corcoran) real estate blog had more on the topic... and Team B@C confirmed this:

"I’ve looked in Corcoran’s system, and despite one apartment that was briefly listed as a $2,150,000/month 1 BR (likely off by a factor of 1,000) it would indeed by the highest rent commanded in the area.

"No matter where you are in the city, rents like these mean you are getting something unique and/or huge. While there is only one other apartment over $20,000 currently (or ever) on the market, 6 tip the scales at $7,500 or more per month. For an area as big as the EV/LES this is a reasonable number of high end apartments. With a relatively low apartment density and as most buildings are 100 years old and chopped into studios, 1 and 2 bedrooms, rentals like this are rare to come by. Comparatively, the Upper East Side currently has 83 units over $7,500/mo, and the Upper West Side has 70. Of course, both these neighborhoods are relatively large, have many more mid-high rises and with locations (of some) right on Central Park they command high premiums."

Here is a listing of the six $7,500-plus apartments in the Lower East Side available now.

East Side Gourmet Deli closes on Avenue B

The East Side Gourmet Deli, formerly known as Cibao's, has closed on Avenue B at Fourth Street... Papi and company cleaned out the store on Saturday...




We don't know why the market closed ... perhaps the competition from the new salad tossers at East Village Finest Deli across the street... Anyway, some longtime residents on Avenue B recall the 1980s when there were other items for sale and what not in the back room here...

Healthy choice?

Last week, Urban Roots, the natural foods store on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street, shuttered without much notice...

Over the weekend, a sign for a competing health food store — Healthfully Organic Market on East Fourth Street — suddenly appeared...



Unless the two stores are owned by the same people, this move seems rather tacky...

Holiday wishes

Avenue A near 12th Street.

More holiday wishes

Alphabets on Avenue A.

Noted

On St. Mark's Place late this afternoon via @JimGaffigan

The Ross Global Academy Charter School placed on closure list

The Ross Global Academy Charter School on East 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue was one of 12 "failing" schools that NYC officials said should be phased out. According to reports, the school has had six principals in five years.

The Wall Street Journal has more on Ross here.