EV Grieve

Monday, January 9, 2012

Reader reports: Village Farms closing Jan. 31; building will be demolished

[Yesterday morning on Avenue A]

On Friday, our friend Doug Quint at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop stopped by the Village Farms on Avenue A ... workers there told him that the grocery is closing Jan. 31.

Meanwhile, in far more disturbing developments, a tipster passed along the following this past weekend. A Village Farms employee told the tipster that the landlord is "wrecking the building.' Not a good sign."

Indeed. Not surprising, though if this is true.

Still, as of now, there still aren't any permits on file with the DOB.

Finally, last night, we received the following message:

This is a message written on behalf of the current business tenants, Monica and her husband, written by their daughter: "We are so thankful to have gotten to know many of you and to have been a part of this neighborhood. We are sorry for not always doing a great job and being responsible for any bad shopping experiences some of you may have had. We are indebted to our loyal customers and their friendships. The new location is a friend's store, who we will be working alongside. As we are in the process of scouting a store ourselves, we hope to maybe meet in the future if we come back to Avenue A. God Bless, everyone! As the store closes, we will be having a special clearance sale sometime in the last week of January. Hope to see many of you there! With Love, the Songs"

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village Farms is closing; renovations coming to 100 Avenue A

St. Brigid's copper tone

Dave on 7th provides us with an update on St. Brigid's on Avenue B at Eighth Street ... where workers are now polishing off renovations on the south slope of the roof...

And here's a shot of the church's backside, now mostly free of scaffolding...

h/t to @dens for first letting us know about the progress at the back of the church...

120 St. Mark's Place still doesn't have a Certificate of Occupancy

We haven't paid a visit to 120 St. Mark's Place, the former artists collective known as The Cave, since last April. (Among other people, it was the home of the Mosaic Man.) Developer Ben Shaoul took over the property in 2006.

Bob Arihood documented what took place here through the years. (This link will take you to the history.)

In a post dated Aug. 6, 2010, we noted that the address didn't have a Certificate of Occupancy — not even a temporary certificate of occupancy. The most recent Certificate of Occupancy, a temporary order, expired in November 2008, according to the DOB website.

This past weekend, a reader told us about the following documents that the City taped to the front door at 120 St. Mark's Place.

According to the City, the building still doesn't have a Certificate of Occupancy three-plus years later.

The "remedy" per the paperwork: "obtain a valid Certificate of Occupancy." Perhaps this will be the year for that to happen.

For more background:
St. Marks Squatters Getting the Boot (Curbed)

Rent Wars: Boy Emperor Gets In On East Village Harassment (Curbed)

Boy Developer Ben Shaoul Wants to Live Forever (The Observer)

Cave collective collects buyouts as Buildings tries to stop cave-in (The Villager)

Stop-work still in effect at former artists’ squat (The Villager)

Has Duke's closed?

[EVG file photo]

That's what a reader asked after this weekend on Avenue C near East Eighth Street ... the place didn't look open (you know — locked door, drawn curtains, no lights) ... and we spotted this note on the window late Saturday afternoon...

Back in August, East Village Eats wondered if the bar was on its last legs. EVE noted that, earlier in the summer, the bar lost access to the basement and had to pull all of their taps and only serve bottled beer. At the time, a manager confirmed that the place was on the way out...

If so, then this is too bad... Duke's is/was a nice, normal neighborhood bar... without the showy cocktails or general stupidity of some East Village bars...

Looking at the Free Cooper Union truck

Easier to read when the truck is parked... not so much when driving down the street...

Photo by Dave on 7th.

Previously.

Unloading WIlliam Gottlieb's real-estate empire

Yesterday, the Post had a feature on William Gottlieb, the unlikely real-estate baron who died from a stroke at age 64 in 1999. His portfolio of more than 100 properties — with an esitmated value of $1 billion or so — has been locked up in a family legal battle ever since then. (You can read the article here for all that intrigue.)

Anyway, his nephew Neil Bender, 56, now has control of the properties, and has began unloading them. Properties in our area owned by the new Gottlieb empire: The Houston Street Mystery Lot that recently hit the market, as The Lo-Down reported in November, as well as 104 E. 10th St., which explains why playwrite-poet-artist Edgar Oliver is no longer living there. (Read Jeremiah's post on this address and Oliver here.)

As the Post noted, Gottlieb, who was born in Coney Island, "looked like a bum, drove a station wagon with busted windows and carried his important papers in a shopping bag." He was also a lawyer who often did repairs on his properties himself.

The article points out the sale of these assorted properties could "remake downtown in the process."

At least Gottlieb slowed down the rate of change in some neighborhoods.

"Without a doubt, had it not been for Bill Gottlieb there's a lot of buildings in the West Village and Meatpacking District that would have been torn down and replaced with sort of very generic and forgettable new construction, but instead kind of lived to face another day," Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told the paper.

For further reading:
Check out Curbed's coverage of the Gottlieb drama here.

BareBurger is now open at former Sin Sin space

Back on Aug. 19, we first reported that an outpost of the organic hamburglar BareBurger is opening on Second Avenue at the site of the former Sin Sin space.

This past weekend, several readers told us that the place had opened... and EV Grieve Pedro ventured inside the two-floor restaurant at East Fifth Street ...

...and the final product, the BareBurger Supreme...

BareBurger is on tonight's CB3/SLA committee agenda for a beer/wine license.

Check out their menu here (PDF)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Today in photos of a man being swarmed by pigeons in Washington Square Park

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Noted

At the Chase branch this afternoon on the Bowery at East First Street...

Oh thank heavens?

A little bit ago on the Bowery.

ConEd back in transformer action on Avenue A today

They ConEddies are back in action today on Avenue A. Yesterday, workers gingerly removed a (100 ton?) transformer from the substation on Avenue A between Sixth Street and Fifth Street ... today, the workers will be putting the new transformer(s) in place.

And all together now...

Something evil's watching over you
Comin' from the sky above
there's nothing you can do

Prepare to strike
There'll be no place to run
When your caught within the grip
Of the evil Megatron

Transformers
More than meets the eye
Transformers
Robots in Disguise

Reminders today: Day 2 of MulchFest in Tompkins Square Park

So, at least while we were around, it was a fairly low-key — but productive! — day of mulching yesterday... we didn't spot any politicos in protective eyewear... there wasn't a radio station sponsor like last year (the now-defunct WRXP, who seriously played "Laid" by James at the start of the festivities). Read our report from last year here.

Anyway, so — wait...sir? Sir! Watch out for the mulcher while walking and texting...

As we were saying, all the action was on Avenue A yesterday. Apparently transformers are cooler than mulchers.

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Today in photos of ConEd putting in a new transformer on Avenue A

If you walked along Avenue A today, then you likely noticed the cranes, flatbeds, ConEd workers, etc., hanging around... the crew was on the scene to put in a new transformer in the ConEd substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... today, ConEd removed the old transformer; tomorrow, they'll put in the new replacement (which will actually be four smaller transformers, according to one of the ~~300~~ workers on the scene...) Photos here by Bobby Williams...

Transformers in the night...

Invasion of the Transformer People!

This is the old transformer (100 tons!) that ConEd removed this afternoon from its substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street... it was quite the Social Event...

Previously.

Birds of summer, er — winter

Along Avenue A near Tompkins Square Park. These are Anton van Dalen's pigeons...

And 60 degrees at 2:02 p.m.

Photo by Shawn Chittle.

A ConEd Day today on Avenue A

They're putting up something or another atop the substation here on Avenue A between Sixth Street and Fifth Street... And nearly every ConEd employee is on hand to watch. Avenue A is screwy from Fourth Street to Seventh Street. Down to one lane.

[Updated] Reader report: Small fire Smoke spotted above La Palapa

Via @pablo_escolar comes word that passersby spotted smoke on the ledge/balcony above La Palapa on St. Mark's Place, just west of First Avenue. The FDNY were quickly on the scene and seemed to have the situation under control, he reported. More to come, if necessary...

All is well. Restaurant is open as usual... the smoke/flames/raging inferno had nothing to do with La Palapa, we're told...

Updated:
DNAinfo has a report too...Apparently some garbage on the balcony somehow caught fire... "It was no big deal," Judy Maeda, the restaurant's maître d’, told DNA. "It was just smoke, no flames."

Updated:
A few more photos from the morning via @pablo_escolar