RIP ‎Dennis Zentek

[Image via Facebook]

Dennis Zentek, who opened d.b.a. at 41 First Ave. in 1994 with friend Ray Deter, died last night.

Here is the official message via the d.b.a. Facebook page:

It is with such a heavy heart that we make the announcement that our beautiful friend Dennis Zentek passed away last night. Dennis with his friend Ray was one of the co-founders, co-pioneers, co-visionaries of what has become a huge family. We will share more details later on, but for now we ask that you send love and say prayers and raise a glass to a dear friend who will be so very missed.

Deter died in July 2011 from the injuries he suffered in a bicycling accident.

Free monkey business

Spotted on Avenue A near East 14th Street this morning by stickmanpk.

Not sure if this is such a good strategy by Fresh Direct — expanding their offerings while, at the same time, giving the stuff away.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A brief history of humiliating Teddy bears in the East Village

Another day, another stuffed bear heartlessly discarded on an East Village Street

Virage closed until April 15 for renovations

As we pointed out on Friday, Virage would be closing today for some kind of unspecified makeover on Second Avenue at East Seventh Street.

Signs on the 14-year-old restaurant this morning don't offer up much details ... other than they will reopen on April 15. (No mentions of the renovations just yet on Virage's website or Facebook page.)

The brunch/lunch/dinner spot was closed for renovations for several days back in December 2010.

Renovations underway at former 7A space

Renovations have started at the former 7A space on Avenue A and East Seventh Street. Workers removed the awning last Thursday.



… and the crew is gutting the interior…



The Avenue A mainstay closed on on Jan. 26. CB3 documents show that Paul Salmon, one of the restaurateurs behind Miss Lily's, the Jamaican bar and restaurant on West Houston, and Joe's Pub, will be overseeing the new restaurant's day-to-day operations.

While there have been rumors of a southern-themed restaurant with some part of 7A remaining in the name, there haven't been too many other details about what's next. We will be curious to see which route ownership goes to announce the details … maybe UrbanDaddy ("A New East Village Eatery with Balls — Meatballs.") Or perhaps the owners will take the more upscale route with a piece in the Dining & Wine section at the Times ("A New Look for an Old East Village Favorite. Hold the Punk, Pass the Lobster Pappardelle.")

Previously on EV Grieve:
Some part of 7A will stay in the new 7A's name

Details emerge about what's next for former the 7A, Odessa Cafe & Bar spaces

[Updated] Reader report: 7A will close at the end of the month

A new for rent sign at the former Odessa Cafe and Bar

[EVG file photo from December]

The Odessa Cafe and Bar awning came down last week… and a new for rent sign from a different broker appeared Friday in the front window...



The Odessa Cafe and Bar closed after service on Aug. 31. There have been several suitors for the space. Most recently the plan called for a bar-restaurant serving Nashville Hot Chicken from a Ravi DeRossi-backed operator. We're not sure what happened to this concept. CB3 OK'd the license last month.

Regardless, it appears that 117 Avenue A is back on the open market. We didn't spot this listing just yet on the Tower Brokerage & Picken Hospitality website.


[Photo Saturday via @AnnV_Reilly]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

Former Odessa Cafe and Bar will serve comfort food specializing in Nashville Hot Chicken

Plans filed for new 9-story building at site of Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C

[EVG file photo]

Hakimian Property has filed plans to erect a 9-story mixed-use building on the site of the Mobil station on East Houston and Avenue C.

Plans call for 45 residential units and 4,550 square feet of commercial space, New York Yimby reported on Friday.


[Click image to enlarge; via Michael Sean Edwards]

This space has been destined for development for several years. But we thought there was still time left for Mobil. In an article last October in the Times titled Manhattan's Vanishing Gas Stations, the paper noted that construction would begin when Mobil's lease expires in two years. So roughly toward the end of 2015. Or so.

Per New York Yimby:

The site is currently occupied by a Mobil gas station, and its redevelopment will be beneficial to the surrounding neighborhood, reducing automobile traffic while eliminating a mostly-vacant lot.

Not sure we agree with that assessment. A new building won't reduce the amount of traffic on East Houston heading to and from the FDR… and people driving in the city need somewhere to buy gas. The BP station on East Houston and Lafayette will be home to this one day.

Gas stations also provide valuable billboard space for advertisers to show off some butt, like here on East Houston and Lafayette…


[EVG file photo]

Previously on EV Grieve:
How much longer will the East Village have gas stations?

The East Village will soon be down to 1 gas station

The Mobil on Avenue C is still going strong — for now

You have a little longer to get gas on Avenue C

Temporary boiler leftover from Sandy now leaking oil on East 6th Street

[Photo by EVG regular @TedRoden]

It appears that one of the temporary boilers that remain on East Sixth Street at Avenue C outside the NYCHA-owned building is now leaking oil into the street.

Good thing that Sen. Schumer and Mayor de Blasio announced yesterday that $100 million in federal funding will be used to replace temporary boilers in New York City Housing Authority buildings damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Dig bottoms out on Cooper Square; here comes the dorm, here comes the dorm!

[March 8]

We've been watching the big dig at 200 E. Sixth St. at Cooper Square… where a 13-floor dorm is in the works for Marymount Manhattan College.

It's easy to monitor the progress via the blogger portals on the plywood… (So much better than having to ask a passerby for a boost over the wall.)

Here we have March 15…





And now, from this past Saturday… you can see they reached the bottom of the pit and are starting on the foundation…



No sign of any bunk beds yet for the students.

And some day.


[Photo by Robert Miner]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Updated: Here's what the newest East Village dorm will look like

Goodbye giant cranes on Avenue A, goodbye

March Craneness has come to end on Avenue A … the big cranes that were here to put in the new ice machine at Sophie's install the 200,000-pound transformer at the Con Ed substation have packed up and left…



… leaving us with many memories and blog posts …



Photos today by Bobby Williams

Week in Grieview

[Double the hawk fun in Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Bobby Williams]

Former La Vie space will be demolished (Wednesday)

Xi'an Famous Foods closes for renovation (Thursday)

RIP Boukiés (Friday)

A return for Sapporo East? (Friday)

Another Ben Shaoul special for the LES? (Tuesday)

Out and About with Margery Teplitz (Wednesday)

Archangel Antiques is calling it a day (Thursday)

FroYo casualty (Monday)

A record deal for the Death Star (Monday)

47-year-old Stromboli Pizza closed on University Place (Tuesday)

Welcome to EV Grieve's (Friday, 31 comments)

Check out this rooftop addition to this East Second Street building (Thursday)

Report of a late-night fire at 145 Second Ave. (Wednesday)

Landmark hearing for East 14th Street synagogue (Friday)

Burkina is now known as Got it 4 cheap™ (Tuesday)

This apartment is not abandoned (Tuesday)

The Tree Chair of East Sixth Street needs some TLC (Monday)

If you were looking for an apartment with a red suspension bridge (Thursday)

RIP El Sombrero

El Sombrero has served its last inexpensive meal and potent margarita on the Lower East Side. The family owned restaurant closed its doors for good after service last night.

Sad, but not surprising … the restaurant, which opened in 1984, had been struggling to stay open the past few years, as Jeremiah Moss first reported.

No official word on what will be taking over the space at Ludlow and Stanton. The deal for an Artichoke Pizza here fell through. An applicant named Two Almontes Corp. was on this month's CB3/SLA docket to take over the space, but they were scratched from the agenda.

RIP.


[Photo by Jeremiah Moss]

Today in photos of a 200,000-pound transformer on Avenue A

[Photo by Allen Semanco]

Woo, here it is. The new transformer for the Con Ed substation that has blocked traffic on Avenue A this weekend.

This will be a painstaking precision operation…



… so the new transformer doesn't end up inside Sophie's.

It was the kind of day where someone was randomly playing a tuba on Avenue A

Avenue A and East 10th Street via Anton van Dalen. Did this have anything to do with the cranes?

And now, 14 photos of the big-ass cranes on Avenue A

Well, what a day! The Spring Social Season began with not one but two cranes anchored on Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Fifth Street… there to lift (or whatevs) a new transformer into the Con Ed substation …

Here are 14 various views of all this…

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Via EVG regular peter radley…













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Via Tin Can On 5th…



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Via EVG regular Grant Shaffer…



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Via Senior EVG Crane Photographer Bobby Williams…








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Via EVG…

Report: Citi Bike needs 'tens of millions of dollars'

[EVG file photo]

From the Post today:

Citi Bike honchos need tens of millions of dollars to save the struggling bicycle-share program — but Mayor de Blasio said Friday that it won’t come from the wallets of New York City taxpayers.

DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said that she’s confident Citi Bike would resolve its problems and even expand.

“We all know Citi Bike has been tremendously popular with New Yorkers,” she said. “But there have been significant financial and operational issues, including redistribution of bikes to where the riders are and technology issues.”

The Wall Street Journal has more on all this "tens of millions of dollars" business here.

In January, Bixi — the Montreal nonprofit company that developed the technology that powers the Citi Bike program — filed for bankruptcy protection.

Citi Bike launched here last May.

Hey, wait a minute — that's not a Citi Bike docking station

A reader alerted us to the fact the the Citi Bike docking station on the northwest corner of Avenue B and Second Street disappeared yesterday… this was before whatever that thing is called in the photo arrived to help resurface the street…

With Avenue A closed today, mind the sightseeing buses!

Avenue A is closed today and tomorrow so we can take photos of large cranes (plus Con Ed is putting in a new transformer at the substation between East Fifth Street and East Sixth Street)…

So the alternate route is in effect… traffic personnel are redirecting, uh, traffic down East Fourth Street … north on Avenue B … and west on Seventh Street… which means sightseeing buses might start stalking you… Wait, no McSorley's is the other way! Stop!

[Updated] Reminders: Avenue A closed today; RIP tree

[Photo from last weekend]

Hey, Avenue A will be closed between East Fourth Street and East Seventh Street from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow. (Curious if the Avenue will actually be closed for all those listed hours.)

Con Ed is installing a new transformer or something at the substation between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

The flashing signs up on the Avenue suggest that motorists use an alternate route, which is NOT through Tompkins Square Park. As for cyclists, you can ride on the sidewalk like you normally do. (OMG! Kidding! Jeez!)

On a more serious note, EVG reader Tin Can On 5th noted the removal of the last tree on Avenue A alongside the substation …



Not sure if the tree came down because of this weekend's work … or if the tree was diseased.

Updated 10:11 a.m.

One of the cranes on A is right where the tree used to be…



Previously on EV Grieve:
A reminder not to drive on Avenue A next weekend

Working for the Weekend

Here's Weekend with "End Times." Good times!