EV Grieve

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Cabrini conversion under way

[Photo from June]

Work has started on converting the former Cabrini Nursing Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation into residential apartments. As previously reported here, Cabrini, who had been renting the space since opening in 1992 on East Fifth Street at Avenue B, turned over the building to its new owner, developer Ben Shaoul, on June 30.

A chute arrived on the scene late last week...

And the gut renovations were going strong yesterday...

[via @lauramanney]

According to permits on file with the DOB, the first floor of the remodeled space will contain the lobby, six apartments and retail. Floors two through six will house 15 apartments on each floor. (We previously heard that the building would contain one-bedroom rentals.) The basement is earmarked "residential amenities."

The estimated total conversion cost is $6 million, per DOB documents. The architect on record is Richard DeMarco of Montroy Andersen DeMarco. That firm's high-end conversion work includes 5 Franklin Place and 225 Rector ...

And, despite a neighborhood rumor, there aren't any plans on file for a pool in the building.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Cabrini Center patients out by the end of today; closes for good June 30

Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos

Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely

More details on Cabrini's closing announcement

Q-and-A with Patricia Krasnausky, president and CEO of Cabrini Eldercare

The New York Times profiles Ben Shaoul

On the topic of Ben Shaoul, currently developing the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on Avenue B and East Fifth Street ... as you may have seen, he was the subject of a lengthy feature in The New York Times on Sunday.

Writer Rebeccca Flint Marx chronicled how the president of Magnum Real Estate got his start ... amassing an estimated 40 buildings in the East Village alone. ... she also documented some of criticism that he has garnered from tenants along the way ...

However, as the article noted, Shaoul defends his record and wonders why he doesn't get a "pat on the back" about renovations/improvements from residents ... he also said that he doesn't understand why people hate him. "I'm a regular guy, I have feelings."

There's too much in the article, which also quotes EV Grieve, to summarize here. You can read the whole article here.

Croxley Ales looking to expand on Avenue B

Croxley Ales, the beer-wing-and-sports bar on Avenue B, is on the CB3/SLA committee agenda Monday night with a planned expansion.

More details about all this are now on file at the CB3 website (PDF here).

According to the documents, Croxley would add more room for dining by expanding next door into 30 Avenue B... a "separate dining space" that would add 13 tables and 48 seats to the overall Croxley capacity...

Anyway, I couldn't even remember what was next door here between Second Street and Third Street ... a real estate office?

You might recall that Croxley Ales once had the beer garden on the south side of their current location... the garden closed about five years ago... and the space remains empty.

The CB3/SLA meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. The usual place: JASA/Green Residence, 200 E. Fifth St. at the Bowery.

The baby spires of St. Brigid's

On Tuesday, Dave on 7th pointed out the arrival of the small (baby?) spires atop the south tower of St. Brigid's on Avenue B at East Eighth Street...

Yesterday, courtesy of Bobby Williams, we got a better look at the new tops after workers uncovered them...

Well, not quite the 50-foot, crocketted steeples that, as The Villager noted, "adorned the church until they became unstable and were removed in the 1960s" ...

[St. Brigid's in the 1870s]

...but impressive enough?

Development still planned for 75 First Ave.

On Tuesday, EVG reader Yenta Laureate spotted workers behind the plywood at the seemingly dormant 75 First Ave. near East Fifth Street (next to the Rite-Aid) ... the workers looked as if they were picking up some debris, clearing some brush...

Anthony Marano, the developer at 75 First Ave., confirmed via email yesterday that he is still planning on a rental building here, though there isn't any timeline for a start just yet.

A rendering from 2007 showed the development looking something like...

As we understand it, the new building would be a shorter, modified version of this... though we haven't seen any new official renderings just yet...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

Another public meeting to discuss Open Road Park

Tonight, CB3's Parks, Recreation, Cultural Affairs, Landmarks, & Waterfront Committee meets to discuss the "public use of Open Road Joint Operated Playground" over on East 12th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue...

We've lost track what's been going on here... In June 2011, officials from the East Side Community High School temporarily closed the park popular with skateboarders... During a public meeting, officials cited increasing incidents of discarding trash and debris, smoking cigarettes, selling marijuana ... and trouble with people not respecting set school or other programmed activities. (This report came via EVG reader dwg, who was in attendance.)

The park closed again last December ... someone even tossed the skateboarding ramps ... the park later reopened...

Given the need for another meeting... things must not have improved this year...

The meeting is at 7:15 p.m. at BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey Street (btwn Chrystie & Forsyth Streets).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Open Road Park closed now on 12th Street

Why the Open Road Park is closed

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' whimsy

The Films in Tompkins series continues tonight with "Fantastic Mr. Fox," including pre-show music by Dandy Wellington And His Band.

Per Wikipedia:

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way into the foxes' home. However, the animals are able to outwit the farmers and live underground.

The film features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. For director Wes Anderson, it was his first animated film and first film adaptation.

And as we'll cut-n-paste all summer long ~~like Bruce Brown~~:

Free. Gates Open at 6 p.m. Music Starts ½ Hour before the Start of the Film (sundown)

July 19 — Summer of Sam, Music by The Debonairs and Brendan O’Hara

July 26 — Goldfinger, Music by The Luddites

Aug. 2 — Donnie Darko, Music by The Rad Trads
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 9 — The Big Lebowski, Music by Main Squeeze Orchestra
A Two Boots 25th Anniversary Event with Free Pizza!

Aug. 16 — Poltergeist, Music by Timbila

Dates subject to Rain Delays.

Films In Tompkins is sponsored by Ella, The Blind Barber, Two Boots, Grolsch, GalleryBar, Tower Brokerage and NYC& Company.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Man on a ledge, sort of

Watching some men at work this afternoon atop St. Brigid's on East 8th Street and Avenue B ... inching closer to the edge, though he was fully secured in a safety harness...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning edition

[Photo on St. Mark's Place by James Maher. Find more of his work here]

CBGB vs. Dial 7 car service (BoweryBoogie)

"Broadway Danny Rose" then and now (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz's former Spring Street home may be demolished (Runnin' Scared UPDATE: It WILL be demolished, DNAinfo)

Snakes on East Fifth Street (The Gog Log)

Timeshare Backyard is back for another summer on Ludlow (The Lo-Down)

Video interview with LES photographer Brian Rose (The Daily Beast)

Attention Blondie fans: The Morrison Hotel Gallery adds work of Chris Stein to its roster (Stupefaction)

A photo of a hot squirrel in the East Village (Wheeeeeeee!)

Famous people came out to see the screening of the LCD Soundsystem documentary last night at Village East Cinemas (DNAinfo)

There will be free, unlimited WiFi via NYC payphone kiosks (Gothamist)

...and Dave on 7th noted the arrival of a new light pole at Seventh Street and Avenue A yesterday...

...and perhaps a new canvas for the Mosaic Man...

City doesn't allow enough time for this woman to safely cross the Bowery

We've been writing about the pedestrian crossing signals on the Bowery at East Third Street and East Fourth Street ... there's a newish 7-second countdown to cross six lanes of traffic...

One reader reported getting clipped by a truck here late night... Goggla noted this: "Too many vehicles blow the red lights and the constant construction makes things worse. Down at 3rd, cars turning north onto Bowery also go way too fast and seem not to care if anyone is trying to cross ... I've definitely had some close calls along this stretch."

And in the past few weeks since our post on June 18, several readers have said that they lodged complaints via 311.

The other morning, we waited at East Fourth Street to get across the Bowery. We followed behind the resident pictured at top of this post. She was just halfway across the intersection before the 7-second countdown began.

She still had a lane to go when the light changed. She started moving the moment the "walk" sign started flashing. And she wasn't dawdling. The woman simply didn't have enough time to cross a treacherous intersection. She's certainly not alone.

We'll repeat what we wrote earlier... This is especially a short signal considering that the Evelyn and Louis Green Residence at Cooper Square is on the corner at East Fifth Street... and the residents here and their visitors might likely need more time crossing a busy street... Why not a 25-second countdown like at the 14th Street intersections?

Will change finally arrive when someone gets run over at this intersection?

Your chance to give the Citi Bikes a whirl tomorrow on Avenue A

[Citi Bike NYC]

Everyone is, of course, super psyched about the Citi Bike program that the city and Citi are launching this summer...

In case you're not on board yet. From the EV Grieve inbox...

Bike Share Demonstration: Tompkins Square Park
Demonstration
THURSDAY
July 12th, 2012
12:00 PM–4:00 PM
Give the Citi Bikes a whirl, ask questions about bike share, and give your feedback on the system. The bikes will be at Tompkins Square Park on East 7th Street and Avenue A.

By the way, if you're out, can you swing by Gringer and Sons on First Avenue and pick up the upright freezer that I ordered? Thanks!

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Here is the city's new Citi Bike

Here are your East Village bike share locations, probably

An Aiko Houston/Bowery Mural Wall progress report

As BoweryBoogie noted, she prefers to do her work here at night...

The Lo-Down has more on Aiko here.

Previously.

Urban Party Etiquette sign circa 2012 East Village, NYC

Somewhere on East Ninth Street... Via Shawn Chittle...

Dog etiquette signs are getting more colorful, trees weirder

Just noting this sign on East Fifth Street across from the 9th Precinct...

...and adding to the collection that includes this one ... this one ... definitely this one ...

Photo by Bobby Williams.

Beyond Sushi is now open on East 14th Street

Oh, meant to note this earlier... Beyond Sushi is now open on East 14th Street ... at the site of the former Royal Wigs.

The executive chef here is Guy Vaknin, once a finalist on shouty food show "Hell's Kitchen."

Diner's Journal gave it a nice write-up last Friday, noting "Except for the occasional egg, most of his bright, well-seasoned sushi is vegan. He uses a six-grain mixture or black rice as the base and fills the rolls with vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices and tofu."

And here's a lousy photo of part of the menu... find more menu stuff on the restaurant website here.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Too early for the woo

Not even Friday night ... or even Thursday... Avenue A at East Second Street....

A 'chug n’ shred burner' for the afternoon

So while we wait for the record from Thurston Moore's new band, Chelsea Light Moving ... you can check out the second track at the Matador Records blog, Matablog ... The track is "Groovy & Linda." (The MP3 is here.)

Thurston describes the song this way:

Not to be confused with the 1968 coffee house folk song by Tom Parrott (recorded for Smithsonian Folkways), this chug n’ shred burner is a psycho reflection of late 60s NYC East Village hippie idealism slayed and splayed in an Avenue B tenement boiler room.

Meanwhile, here's the unofficial official video for the band's first track "Burroughs," released a few weeks ago...

Are you missing an orange bike from Tompkins Square Park?

Photo this afternoon by Bobby Williams.

Abandoned 13th Street building becoming the Bea Arthur Residence for homeless LGBT youth

A reader points us to some good news via Joe. My. God. .... The long-vacant building at 222 E. 13th St. near Third Avenue is becoming the Bea Arthur Residence.

Here's the official word from the Cooper Square Committee, who has been spearheading the campaign:

The Cooper Square Committee and the Ali Forney Center have been awarded $3 million by the City Council and an additional $300,000 by Borough President Scott Stringer to develop housing for up to 18 homeless LGBT youth at 222 East 13th Street, which will be formally named the Bea Arthur Residence.

Bea Arthur was an advocate and supporter of the Ali Forney Center and its mission.

The property is currently owned by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which will soon begin the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP) in order to transfer the property to our organizations so that we can begin renovations.

Last October, CB3's Land Use Commitee unanimously voted in support of the proposal at the former SRO and notorious crack house that has been boarded up for nearly 20 years.

[November 2010]

Previously on EV Grieve:
A haunted house on 13th Street?

Navigating the Mars Bar underpass at 21 E. First St.

[Photo of 21 E. First St. from last Friday by Bobby Williams]

We continue to watch the 12-story apartment building (quickly) rising on Second Avenue at East First Street, the former site of the Mars Bar, among other things...

However, we usually take it all in from afar... so we didn't notice the walkway set up to navigate the construction site on the southwest corner... we enter on the East First Street side...