154 Second Avenue starting to show off its girders

Two months have passed since we checked in on the progress at 154 Second Ave., where workers will be adding several new floors for "luxury rental apartments."

Kind of hard to say what's happening behind the scaffolding. EVG reader Terry Howell notes that most of July brought intermittent banging and knocking without much evidence of actual "construction."

Then! In early August, he noticed that workers delivered a pile of girders. Let's take a look at the latest photos that he shared...

Terry also hears that the remaining structure facade will not be kept — eventually it will all be demolished.

Here's what the address looked like in the 1940s, via Vanishing New York...

And one day...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former funeral home looks to double in size with help from 'the controversial penthouse king of the East Village'

Redeveloped funeral home looking for a few live retail tenants

The walls come tumbling down at 154 Second Avenue

Noted

A reader sends this along... spotted in the lobby of a building owned by Ben Shaoul's Magnum Real Estate... where there is an ongoing rat problem. Tenants are hopeful someone gets the hint...

Is a 99-cent store going into the Copper Building retail space on Avenue B?

[October 2010]

We've been curious about what would take the corner retail space here at the Copper Building on Avenue B and East 13th Street ... home of million-dollar penthouses.

There was an a rumor about a 7-Eleven opening here... But that is simply not true — the retail-space-for-lease ad specified no delis or laundromats.

In recent weeks, workers have put up brown paper on the windows... and we finally got a look inside.... Let's see, packages of undershirts...

... and plastic toys for kids...

Looks like a 99-cent type of store ... like the ones remaining around the corner on East 14th Street. We asked a broker here last week for information on the new tenant, but never heard back.

Previously.

Your work is done here, assholes

Here on East Seventh Street and First Avenue... someone broke off the 7-foot sunflower about to bloom... and there is a note for that person now...

Thanks to EVG reader Raquel Shapira for the photo...

What's coming to 201 First Ave.

Sa Aming Nayon, the Filipino restaurant that opened here on First Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street in June 2011, closed less than a year later this past spring...

Workers have been tooling around the space... several readers recently asked what was coming here... Time Out provided the answer several weeks ago. The place will be called Jeepney, from the people behind Maharlika down First Avenue at Seventh Street.

Per Time Out:

The young guns behind behind ... Maharlika will put a Pinoy twist on the gastropub this fall. To eat, find Southeast Asian-inflected plates, including a meat loaf with ground chorizo, duck-egg yolks and an heirloom-tomato gravy. Styled after the ubiquitous colorfully decorated WWII jeeps in the old country, called “jeepneys,” the 70-seat spot will be kitted out with hand-painted signs.

Shine on

A photo from Friday night... by Bobby Williams...

Chico's cab fare

Chico was at work today on a mural for the rolldown gate at Percy's on Avenue A at East 13th Street...

[Bobby Williams]

...and later...

[‏@danielleintheev]

How you can help protect the Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street

From the EV Grieve inbox from the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors...

[The proposed hotel]

Below are details sent from the Merchant's House Museum regarding an extremely important hearing that could indeed impact the structural safety of the city's only fully intact Federal-style rowhouse, the landmark Merchant's House Museum at 25 E. 4th St.

At issue is a proposal to build a 9-story hotel tower on the adjacent 27 E. 4th St., an enterprise that experts agree would have a devastating impact on the Merchant's House.

The Merchant's House is one of the city's most precious historic resources. In recent years, we have seen the destruction of Federal era houses at 35 Cooper Square, 135 Bowery, and in many other locations. Please come out on Tuesday to protect the Merchant's House and stop the inappropriate, out-of-context development that threatens it. — David Mulkins, Chair, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

------

After five postponements, the LPC hearing on the proposed 9-story hotel next door will be held on Tuesday, September 11, at 3:30 p.m. Location: Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor.

We've said it before, but we'll say it again: The proposed building is out of character with the East 4th Street block and is inappropriate to the historic context of the NoHo Historic District.

Until the 1880s, East 4th Street comprised a row of 13 red-brick and white-marble single-family homes stretching from Lafayette Street to Bowery. Each of these homes featured well-articulated facades and gardens in the rear.

Today, only the landmarked 1832 Merchant's House and 1845 Skidmore House, at 37 East 4th Street, survive to suggest the aesthetics and scale of the block during the mid-19th century.

The proposed 9-story, black glass building butting up against and towering over the delicate late-Federal/Greek revival Merchant's House would brutally shatter this vision.

Adding salt to our wound, the proposed development also poses a grave threat to the structural integrity of the Merchant's House. It's not a question of "if," but rather a question of "how much" damage to the exterior brick and the interior architectural elements will be incurred as a result of demolition and construction next door. According to experts, we can't afford to have the building shift, even one-eighth of an inch.

It's still not too late to help. Please send an email to the LPC urging them to reject the developer's plans. Click here for a template letter.

Find a petition here.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation provides more details here.

BoweryBoogie wrote about the planned hotel here.

[UPDATED] 50-54 Second Ave. on the market for $10 million

[Dated photo via the DJK website]

There's a new listing at the DJK website for 50-54 Second Avenue at East Third street. There isn't much information with the listing:

Location, Location, Location. Corner 6 story walkup building, 50'x40' with 10 apartments. Retail component of 2100 square foot can be delivered vacant. Portion vented.Excellent upside potential in extremely desirable East Village.

Streeteasy doesn't have any additional information, except for the price: $10 million. Chester Pechock is listed as the current landlord.

Have any tips about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

UPDATED: THE BUILDING IS NOT FOR SALE.

Have you seen St. Brigid's at night?

There are exterior lights on the East Eighth Street side of the church.

Spectacular. The renovations continue here at Avenue B, with an eye toward a possible October opening.

Previously.

Weeds and new medians on East Houston

Last month, we talked with a reader, who wondered how tall the weeds would get in the under-construction median on East Houston between Avenue C and Avenue D.

Flashback!

Well, crap. We went back with our measuring tape and found that...

...someone chopped down the weeds ... or they died.

But!

Walk a little further toward Avenue C... and the Field of Weeds picks up again...

Perfect location for our Fall Harvest Celebration!

As I've cut-and-pasted previously, the $60 million Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction is expected to end in the summer of 2014. The plan calls for the widening of sidewalks, enlarging of medians, installating new pavement markings and bicycle lanes from Second Avenue to FDR Drive and creating two new plaza areas.

And things look pretty good the closer you travel east toward the FDR...

Previously.

A note for real-estate brokers on East 12th Street

[Click to enlarge image]

"The tenants of this building are not responsible for helping you get into the building or assist you with renting apartment... Therefore, it is unacceptable for you to ring random buzzers all night. It is disturbing to residents who have an expectation of being left along by strangers."

Photo by Dave on 7th.

I Coppi is closed for now on East Ninth Street

I Coppi, the pleasant Italian eatery on East Ninth Street, is closed for now... Dave on 7th and William Klayer sent along the news this past weekend...There is a legal document on the door dated Friday... tough to make out, quite frankly...

This part of the court notice looks as if the restaurant owes $37,600 in rent...

The restaurant opened in 1998 ... and we understand that they might be relocating ... A side note, Porchetta/Porsena owner Sara Jenkins was the chef here back in the early days...

Photos by William Klayer.

St. Mark's Place soon to welcome new most popular business

Spotted last week between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

[Bottom two photos via Bobby Williams]

Anticipation builds for new pop-up Halloween shop

Sign went up last week here at Halloween City, a pop-up shop in the Shoppes at Red Square on East Houston. We're looking forward to shopping here (no opening date noted just yet) after Halloween ...

EVG: So the Herman Munster costumes didn't move much this season, huh?

HC: That's Kris Humphries.

Seriously, though — Rock On. Or, Turn Heads. Or, Freak On.

Previously.

7-Eleven now giving its regards to Broadway!

Hey, the 7-Eleven that we first reported on here back in February (and almost the same headline!) on Broadway at East 12th Street opened Friday...

[Silence]

Meanwhile, have you noticed how much trash piles up outside the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place?

Anyway, the Axis of 11 is alive and well with four now around here... with more on the way, wouldn't you think?

Today in the Tompkins Square Park playground

Via EVG reader Terry Towery...

Week in Grieview

[East 10th Street and Avenue C yesterday. By Shawn Chittle]

The East Village is getting popular (Friday)

The East Village has a lot of bars (Thursday)

Graffiti is expanding on East 10th Street (Tuesday)

New York Observer publisher buys 5 East Village walk-ups (Wednesday)

Looking at the new home for the Avenue A flea market (Tuesday)

Standing in line for $1 FroYo (Thursday)

Porchetta.Hog closed for now on East Fifth Street (Thursday)

Chubby Mary's opening on East 14th Street (Monday)

"Pudgy purse snatcher" alert (Wednesday)

Baoguette Cafe closes on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Arabella 101 50% leased on Avenue D (Thursday)

A chase after after a stolen iPhone (Thursday)

Workers have gutted the former Cabrini Center on East Fifth and Avenue B (Thursday)

Pop art on East 10th Street (Monday)

'We would love the community to join us as we say goodbye'

Last weekend, a neighbor of Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street said that the church was having its final mass last Sunday. That was incorrect information. Parishioner Josephine left us a message saying that the last mass will be celebrated there today at 11:30.

Per Josephine: "We would love the community to join us as we say goodbye."

The church will be making way for some sort of yet-specified new development.

Previously.

On Avenue A last night

Photos by Shawn Chittle.

And leftover from Friday night via EVG reader Duke...