Big crane work at the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street

EVG reader Ron Z. shares photos from this morning... A crane has arrived for the second installment of pre-cast concrete floor planks for the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



He notes that the planks are hoisted over 539-541 E. 11th St. and lowered onto the steel superstructure that workers have put into place.

"All residents on the 4th and 5th floors have to vacate their apartments until later this afternoon — in case a plank decides to land on top of the building," Ron says.







There were three trucks with planks waiting along Avenue A...





The Mary Spink Apartments will one day be home to eight stories — 46 units — of affordable housing for formerly homeless and mentally disabled East Villager residents.

Spink, a respected community activist, CB3 member and executive director of Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, died in January 2012 at age 64.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 11th Street lot prepped for the Mary Spink Apartments

Empty East 11th Street lot will yield to 8 stories of affordable housing (49 comments)

Today's Rite Aid update

More progress here on First Avenue and East Fifth Street...

EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla notes that the mural is courtesy of The Royal Kingbee UW, a Bronx-born graffiti artist. Kingbee and Vase1, who specialize in urban and rural landscapes, will also be painting the exterior at the Avenue D Rite Aid...

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)

Rite Aid's enchanted forest

An East Village without rent regulations

[File photo via Bobby Williams]

The Times will have a piece in the magazine on Sunday on rent regulations... a version is now online titled "The Perverse Effects of Rent Regulation."

The East Village plays a starring role as writer Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR's Planet Money, presents some what ifs about the elimination of rent regulations and other forms of housing subsidies. He goes over the two rental markets in the city: "Roughly half the apartments are under rent regulation, public housing or some other government program. That leaves everyone else to compete for the half with rents determined by the market."

One East Village realtor estimated that there are between 20-30 available apartments for rent in a given month.

He goes on to point out how "an East Village where nobody makes less than $90,000 a year might actually damage the city's long-term prospects" ... because the neighborhood has always "served as an initial toehold into this chaotic mess" of Manhattan.

Christopher Mayer, a housing economist at Columbia Business School, contends that these programs actually make the city much less affordable ... he lays out one scenario:

Eliminating rent regulation would be such a huge windfall for landlords, Mayer says, that he could imagine a sort of grand bargain. The programs go away, but landlords have to pay higher property taxes. The extra city revenue could go to a fund to help poor people afford market-rate apartments. In theory, this could be designed to make the shift win-win-win. The city could stay socioeconomically diverse without any six-bedroom apartments renting for $225.

Otherwise?

Writes Davidson: "What happens if all the rich people are on one island and the poor but creative are somewhere else? "

Anyway, there's a lot to take in with the article... too much to quickly recap in a post. Go read the article here.

An 'especially dramatic' retail opportunity for Fourth Avenue

Last month, plans emerged about developing the long empty space on East 10th Street and Fourth Avenue. The Massey Knakal listing notes that "plans exist for a nine story mixed-use building with 8 floor through apartments and a bi-level retail space with double height ceilings."

And now the retail portion of the potential development is on the books. Per the Massey Knakal listing:

This prominient corner retail space will be located on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 10th Street. Currently, the site is under construction, and the anticipated possession date will be one and a half to two years from now. The site also provides an exceptional opportunity, which could accommodate a variety of uses. The space will house over 2,600 square feet of column-free space on the ground floor and over 3,500 square feet on the lower level. The lower level will also feature partial double-height ceilings, making the space especially dramatic.

No word on the asking rent for the retail space. But! The price for the lot is $24 million.

Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor opening Thursday on East 13th Street

[Image via @SembradoNYC]

Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor, the new Mexican restaurant from Danny Mena, the chef and co-founder of Hecho en Dumbo, is apparently opening on Thursday. (This info comes via a news release published in The Epoch Times.)

Sembrado’s, opening July 25, will be one of the first in New York to use the classical Mexican technique of slowly cooking marinated pork on a vertical rotisserie — called the trompo.

Grilled meat tacos, made with hand pressed corn tortillas, will be a staple on the menu.

The pastry chef is Fany Gerson, who used to work for Eleven Madison and Rosa Mexicano.

Sembrado offers a “Make-Your-Own Mexican Sundae” dessert menu.

Sundae options will include rotating ice cream flavors such as Mexican Vanilla, Strawberries and Sour Cream, and Horchata.

Each is coated with a choice of sweet tomatillo sauce, Mexican hot fudge, and goat’s milk caramel.

The Sembrado website is live... and includes the menus...


[Click image to enlarge]

The space at 432 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue was previously home to Masak.

Meanwhile, at the Jefferson...

At the site of the former Mystery Lot. Where million condos are at the ready.



Previously on EV Grieve:
City approves new building for Mystery Lot

The last days of the Mystery Lot

Before it was the Mystery Lot

The Mystery Lot developers using famous dead comedians to sell condos at The Jefferson

The Jefferson reveals what '21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York' costs

The Jefferson loses its netting, gains its glass

Speaking of The Jefferson... EVG regular Katja notes that the construction netting is off the East 13th Street side...



... and the glass is going in...



The listings include a 536-square-foot studio for $850,000 up to a two-bedroom penthouse with a rooftop terrace for $2.49 million. In between, one-bedrooms range from $1.11 and $1.54 million.

According to Streeteasy, six of the units are in contract...



Previously.

Tree pleads: 'I am alive'

Urban Tree Etiquette Sign on East 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



Not to mention Doritos.

See the forest for the Rite Aid

Quick update from EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla ... who figures the RA outpost here at East Fifth Street is about another-day-of-painting away from completing its transformation from Big Box to Big Forest...



Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)

Rite Aid's enchanted forest

Report: DA charges curb-crash driver with vehicular assault

[Photo via @JanSichermann]

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance charged the driver who plowed into East Village Farm and Grocery on Second Avenue last month with vehicular assault, Streetsblog reported on Friday.

As previously reported, the NYPD charged Shaun Martin, 32, of Bayside, Queens, with DWI.

Per Streetsblog:

He was also charged with possession of PCP, according to online court records.

Court records show multiple charges were added on July 5: two counts of first degree vehicular assault, two counts of felony assault with serious injury, a felony count of operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, felony driving while ability impaired, and felony DWAI by drugs and alcohol.

Possible sentences reportedly range from probation to 15 years in prison.

Just before 7 a.m. on June 19, Martin and a female passenger were reportedly speeding down Second Avenue when he lost control of his Nissan Altima ... jumping the curb around East Fourth Street and injuring four people, most critically 62-year-old Akkas Ali. He reportedly emerged from a coma 11 days after the crash.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Car smashes into East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue; 6 reported injured

Crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises nearly $19,000

Crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises nearly $19,000

The crowdsourcing campaign ended this past weekend for the family of gravely injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker Akkas Ali (pictured above). At the end of the campaign, 290 people contributed $18,579 for Ali's rehabilitation.

Community Board 3 member Chad Marlow organized the campaign. As he said in June in announcing the campaign:

"I went through this same thing with my father when he was just 4 years younger than Mr. Ali, and one of Mr. Ali's sons is the same age as I was when my father was stuck and seriously and permanently injured by a speeding, intoxicated driver. So I know how much this kind of support would help him and his family."

We asked Marlow for his reaction to the campaign results yesterday:

"The success of this effort is a wonderful testament to our community ... 290 contributors stepped forward to help this poor family. We have collectively done a great good and, in doing so, have revealed the great goodness lies at the center of the East Village's soul. I am enormously proud and grateful to be part of this community."

Marlow reports that Ali has been transferred to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey.

"Mr. Ali has been opening his eyes and has been exhibiting responsive eye movements, but now that he is at Kessler, which is one of the best rehabilitation facilities in the world — Christopher Reeve also went there — the real work of getting better can begin."

Marlow's father was also a patient at Kessler following his accident.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance reportedly charged the driver, Shaun Martin of Queens, with vehicular assault.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Car smashes into East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue; 6 reported injured (62 comments)

Campaign launched to raise money for gravely injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker

1st week of crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises $11k

An assault at Theatre 80

[EVG file photo]

Lorcan Otway, who owns and operates Theatre 80 and William Barnacle Tavern on St. Mark's Place, shared the following with us... We first saw him post the details on Facebook.

Here is a slightly condensed version of the incident:

On Friday, just after 4 p.m., three young men attempted to extort $100 from the owner of the theatre, Lorcan Otway, to return a phone they had, which had been stolen from an employee. Mr Otway pocketed the phone and thanked them and said that we did not reward theft.

As the three advanced to take back the phone, Otway's wife, Eugenie Gilmore-Otway, a lawyer, snapped a photograph of the instigator of the event, "Mark." He then snatched her phone and the three ran for the door.

Lorcan pinned the three against the door, and as they pushed out onto the street, he wrestled away his wife's stolen phone. One of the three, coming up behind Otway, shoved him head first into the Citi Bike racks [across St. Mark's], causing him a head and knee injury."

Upon fleeing, the men allegedly hit Genie with their car. She sustained a broken ankle and four breaks to her shoulder as well as cuts to the face.

According to Otway, the police have the make and model of the car ... as well as the license plate number, a phone number for "Mark" ... "the staff and management of Theatre 80 hopes for a speedy arrest and settlement of this matter."

Witness a 7-story residential conversion on Avenue C

The 3,050-square-foot, two-story Kingdom Hall owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses at 67 Avenue C will soon yield a 7-story, 7-unit residential building, BuzzBuzzHome first reported on Friday.

Permits filed Wednesday at the DOB show plans for 1,843 square feet of commercial space and 7,451 square feet of residential space. As BuzzBuzz pointed out, the building just south of East Fifth Street will get five new levels, including "a penthouse vertical extension. The residences will be full-floor and half-floor, with a duplex penthouse on top." (As we understand it, the Jehovah's Witnesses will continue to use the adjacent space at 63 and 65 Avenue C.)

Developer Natan Vinbaytel is listed as the developer. (He's also currently putting up the new 6-floor building at 227 E. Seventh St.) The architect is Vikatos Architect PC.

We wrote about a potential sale back in August 2009 during a guest stint at Curbed. At the time the asking price was $2.2 million.

The space hit the market again in May 2012.

Previously on EV Grieve:
New world order for Avenue C?

Sarkozy-Olsen 'love nest' on the block

Last August, when reports surfaced that Olivier Sarkozy bought 123 E. 10th St., the Post described the historic 146-year-old home as a "love nest" he would share with girlfriend Mary-Kate Olsen.

Apparently there's a change in nesting, as the half-brother of the former French president has listed the single-family Anglo-Italianate townhouse for just less than $7 million. (The townhouse is one half of a 146-year-old set of homes. No. 125 is apparently not on the market.) Property records show that Sarkozy paid $6.25 million for the space.

Douglas Elliman has the listing. Here's a bit about the space:

Erected in 1854 by James Renwick, one of the most famous American Architects of his time, amongst Grace Church, St. Patricks Cathedral and other internationally acclaimed projects, 123 East 10th stands out as one of the most exquisite Row Houses built. This house remains to be as attractive and architecturally significant today as it was almost two centuries ago.

The home boasts at least five bedrooms and currently only four bathrooms but can easily accommodate more of each. An old world layout with a double parlor greets one with a lovely grand entrance and can accommodate multiple sitting rooms. A Garden Level which could be most appropriately used for a kitchen and casual dining area that leads out to a lovely garden with either an open plan for a casual entertaining room or a small room suitable for guest or staff.

No. 123 was on the market for nearly four years before Sarkozy bought it.

Standard East Village unveils 1st phase of reconfigured ground floor with garden lobby

[Bobby Williams]

Back in April 2012, The Standard East Village unveiled major plans to alter parts of its public space. Among other things, the Standarders were going to expand the lobby and take over part of garden space that lined East Fifth Street. If memory serves, then there will also be an outdoor cafe along the Cooper Square side.

Anyway, as the top photo shows, the new garden-lobby entrance is now in use ... and here's a view of the new garden wall along East Fifth Street ...



At first glance it appears to make better use of the space than the former Cooper Square Hotel ... who used the East Fifth Street side to house an array of dead shrubbery and nice cars...

[June 2009]

... and later a fence made out of Popsicles... and that damn Pimm's Cup sidewalk chalkboard sign....

Work continues on the new restaurant and sidewalk cafe at the Standard. Eventually it will all look something like this ...

[Click on image to enlarge]

Lucy's will return Aug. 12 or 13th

Or maybe Aug. 2 or 3. Hard to tell really. Anyway, time for the usual summer break here on Avenue A. No Smiley Face sign this time though. :(

The Wayside is now open on East 12th Street

A few readers told us that Wayside is now open at 139 E. 12th St. just west of Third Avenue...

The cafe took over for the long-closed D&M Convenience store.

We don't know too much about the Wayside (not to be confused with the Wayland). This was the info from the Wayside application filed ahead of the CB3/SLA committee meeting in August 2012:

The applicants, listed as Paul Typaldos and Andreas Typaldos, will run a small cafe that would be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, and 7 a.m.-2 a.m. Thursday-Saturday. They describe the food as "simple organic fare: sandwiches, paninis, salads."

And according to the application, Paul Typaldos is a majority member in Greensquare Tavern over on West 21st Street.

EV Grieve Eatery Etc.: Power problems KO Alder's Friday night; here's Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken

Last Thursday night, several people noted the arrival of the FDNY at Alder, chef Wylie Dufresne's newish restaurant on Second Avenue...


[Photo by @jabell86]

Not sure exactly what transpired other than that the power went out... and that diners finished their meals by candlelight... The power issue kept the restaurant out of order on Friday night too...



Alder was back in business on Saturday.

-----

On Saturday, we took a look inside the incoming Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken on Second Avenue and East First Street... we haven't heard of any opening date yet... but it looks close...

Week in Grieview

[Bobby Williams]

Rally for Trayvon Martin (Sunday)

Cooper Union students end occupation of President's office after 65 days (Monday)

Q-and-A with Nick Zedd (Thursday)

It was pretty hot out (Monday)

Why S'MAC left First Park (Tuesday)

Klean & Kleaner remains a laundromat (Thursday)

205 Avenue A revealed (Tuesday)

St. John's coming to 51 Astor? (Wednesday)

L'asso EV closes (Monday)

No help likely to spare Mary Help of CHristians Catholic Church from demolition (Tuesday)

Box Kite Coffee to open on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Out and About With Michael Duggan (Wednesday)

Alphabets has a new outpost on Avenue A (Monday)

Wafles & Dinges opens on Avenue B (Monday)

Richard Hell likes his apartment (Friday)

Workers remove giant elm in Tompkins Square Park (Saturday)

Swimming in the floating East River pool (Friday)

Rat battle (Monday)

A baby bird in a basket on East 13th Street

S. Wylie shares these photos ... as well as this story...

"Earlier this week an ingenious and noble New Yorker rescued this baby bird on East 13th Street..."





But yesterday, the baby flew the basket...