Asbestos abatement to begin at former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office

Signs arrived Friday at the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office noting the start of asbestos removal from the building at 432-438 E. 14th St.



This Post Office branch just west of Avenue A closed for good in February. (The USPS is leasing the former Duane Reade at 333 E. 14th St. for retail services.)

Initially, word was that the USPS was unable to come to terms on a new lease with the building's owner. However, a rep for the owner, Benenson Capital Partners, told the Town & Village blog and the Save the Post Office blog that it was actually the USPS's decision to leave because of a desire to downsize.

Last fall, the Stuyvesant Stationery shop next door to the post office lost its lease and closed. In July, the 99-Cent Discount Center to the east closed, making for three consecutive, single-level storefronts sitting vacant.

To date, there's nothing on file with the DOB to suggest any demolition or new development here.


[EVG file photo]

Asbestos abatement is often the first step before a demolition. Or, perhaps this is just for a conversion of the space to suit a retailer. Or, perhaps the landlord just wants to be proactive and clean up the place. Or, as several EVG readers believe, the three buildings will be taken down to make way for a retail-residential complex similar to what's coming to 500 and 538 E. 14th St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
UPDATED: Did you hear the rumor about the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch closing?

Report: Closure of the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office is pretty much a done deal

First sign of more development on East 14th Street?

Esperanto has opened a juice bar

Well, we missed this one. In late June, Esperanto on Avenue C and East Ninth Street (quietly) opened a small juice shop called Jugo adjacent to the restaurant … you enter on the East Ninth Street side…





They'll be expanding the to-go options here in the coming weeks.

Thanks to @galadarling for the tip!

The 'stop the rooftop noise' signs return on East 10th Street

The signs returned here along East 10th Street between Fourth Avenue and Third Avenue this past weekend ... in several shapes and sizes...





We last spotted this flyer/sticker campaign in April (read that post here) ... as far as we know, the signs date back to June 2010 ... so we can celebrate four years of rooftop noise here then.

Be Juice coming to 3rd Avenue

The cold-press juice craze shows no sign of slowing down (oh wait until the juiceocalypse!). Signs are up now for a new Be Juice location on Third Avenue between East 12th Street and East 13th Street adjacent to the new Basics Plus, which opened Friday.



Where's the door?



The folks at Basic Plus said that the juicers will have a walk-up window … and it will be open for business in another week.

Anyway, Be Juice opened a location on East 13th Street and University Place back in the spring — also attached to a Basics Plus.

Here's to your juice cleanse.

Au Breve Espresso remains 'closed for renovations' on Cooper Square

We noticed that Au Breve Espresso at 51 Cooper Square closed earlier this month … for renovations…



Two weeks later, it doesn't appear that too much renovating has been happening here…



So far, there isn't any mention of the temporary closure on their website, Twitter feed (which hasn't been updated since Dec. 24) or Facebook page (last entry is from last Sept. 22).

Au Breve opened in November 2011.

Week in Grieview

[E. 9th Street outside La Plaza Cultural]

About the rooftop parties at Icon Realty's 205 Avenue A (Tuesday, Thursday)

Deal for East Village treasure John's of 12th Street is off (Tuesday)

Tenants suing Steve Croman on East 8th Street (Friday)

Jim Power begins removing his mosaics from Astor Place ahead of reconstruction (Thursday)

Billionaire Peter M. Brant buys Walter De Maria's amazing East 6th Street home and studio (Tuesday)

Out and About with Gary Bell (Wednesday)

Remembering Robin Williams on East 13th Street (Friday)

The ancient ruins of 98-100 Avenue A (Thursday)

Laundromat replaces laundromat on Avenue B (Monday)

Hibachi Dumpling Express opens in former 2 Bros. space on First Avenue (Wednesday)

Shakespeare & Company closes for good at the end of the month (Friday)

Lovecraft Bar NYC now open at 50 Avenue B (Tuesday)

Check out the new mural by Paul Kostabi on East Second Street (Monday)

Korilla BBQ confirmed for Archie & Sons space (Monday)

More reports of ATM skimming (Thursday)

Heavenly Market coming to Third Avenue (Monday)

Prima closes on East First Street (Monday)

Aug. 25 is the last day for Kim's Video and Music (Tuesday)

Birthbath Bakery has apparently closed for good (Monday)

14 photos of the East Village from the 1980s (Friday)

So much for "Taxi Driver 2" (Sunday)

You can still rent the Le Souk space on Avenue B (Friday)

T.G.I. Friday's closing on Union Square (Monday)

… and one more look at the supermoon via EVG regular Grant Shaffer…

Basics Plus is now open on 3rd Avenue

The windows at Basics Plus at 91 Third Avenue are filled with oven mitts, household cleaners and power drills!

The housewares store with several NYC locations opened Friday here on the northeast corner of 12th Street. They took over the space last held by Surprise! Surprise!, which closed after 25 years in business on April 27.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Surprise! Surprise! will close at the end of April (42 comments)

Reader report: Basics Plus moving into the former Surprise! Surprise! space

Basics Plus confirmed for former Surprise! Surprise! space on 3rd Avenue

[Updated] Fire this morning at 92 St. Mark's Place

The FDNY responded to a fire this morning just before 8 at 92 St. Mark's Place east of First Avenue.

MAN ALL HANDS 92 ST MARKS PL, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE 1ST FLR,

— FDNY (@FDNY) August 17, 2014

Firefighters smashed the windows and cut away the window guards of the ground-floor apartment as they quickly had the situation under control.

We saw one soot-covered resident, a male in his late 20s or early 30s, wearing only shirts sit down next door on the steps to Physical Graffitea. A next-door neighbor brought him a blanket. Paramedics brought another woman out of the building and treated her on the scene for smoke inhalation, according to witnesses.







First Avenue was temporarily closed to northbound traffic at East Seventh Street. At this point, we do not know the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage. As far as we know right now, there were not any serious injuries.

Updated Aug. 18, 6 a.m.

The Post reports that the FDNY reduced two unconscious women from the fire. They are both "hospitalized in serious condition with smoke inhalation."

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, "but sources said investigators are focusing on the theory that smoking may have caused the couch to burst into flames."

Here's No. 92 early last evening...



Top photos via @evgrieve

Today's hawk (with bonus lunch shot)

Photos today in Tompkins Square Park by Bobby Williams...

Thoughts on unchaining NYC

Jeremiah Moss of Vanishing New York has an op-ed in the Daily News today titled "De Blasio, unchain the city now." An excerpt follows:

It’s time for the mayor to step up and take action against the destruction of the city’s character.

Start by following the example of San Francisco, where City Hall tightly controls “formula retail,” as in big chain stores. If former Mayor Giuliani could keep adult businesses from operating near one another, then de Blasio can keep national chains from doing the same.

Starbucks and Marc Jacobs should not be allowed to have multiple stores within a few blocks, and we don’t need Walgreens down the street from CVS.

Then, pass the Small Business Jobs Survival Act to create fair negotiations of commercial lease renewals, so landlords can’t use insane rent hikes to evict dependable business people.

Give fines to landlords who leave commercial spaces vacant, creating blight while they wait for the right price.

While general commercial rent control may be unworkable, we can protect what little remains of the city’s oldest and most beloved small businesses by creating a selective rent control program.

Read the whole piece here.

You are no longer welcome!

Oh! Just noticed that the Welcome to the East Village/Modelo ad on East 12th Street at Avenue A has been blacked out…



The wall previously displayed an ad for the new season of the HBO television program "Girls."

Given that this appears to be an ad wall now … what ad would you like to see next? (Serious responses are OK.)

Previously on EV Grieve:
Welcome to the East Village — home of beer

Reminders tonight: Memorial for Tommy Ramone at Bowery Electric

Tommy Ramone, the last surviving original member of the Ramones, died July 11.

Previously.

Do it clean

Here's Echo & the Bunnymen live in Spain from 1984 with "Heads Will Roll." The band, now Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant with four other musicians, is touring in support of "Meteorites," their 12th studio album ... they'll be at Irving Plaza tomorrow night and Sunday night. Saturday night is nearly sold out...

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[Cat photo from Cooper Square these days]

The history of Temperance fountain in Tompkins Square Park (Off the Grid)

Scratchbox Project coming to First Street Green Art Park this weekend (BoweryBoogie)

MoMA and the Warhol Museum will digitize all of Andy Warhol's film and video work (Dangerous Minds)

The hawks are being kinda boring in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Delancey Street building sells for $10 million more than 2012 price (The Lo-Down)

Does Stuyvesant Square have the oldest iron fence in NYC? (Ephemeral New York)

Di Fiore Marquet Cafe closes after 22 years on East 12th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

"Gentrifiers, When Do You Call 311?" (The Brian Lehrer Show)

"We Are Mari Pepa," which explores the "lives and loves of a group of school-age punk rockers in Guadalajara," makes its NYC premiere tonight (Anthology Film Archives)

And if you happen by Ninth Street Espresso (the one at 341 E. 10th St. near Avenue B), then you can check out the work of East Village artist Stacy Harshman ... her show, "Defiant Flowers," is up through Aug. 29.

14 photos of the 1980s East Village

[Northeast corner of 1st Avenue and 6th Street/John Fensten]

In recent months, EVG Facebook friend Susan Fensten has posted photos that she and her father, John Fensten, took around the city in the 1980s. Of particular interest to us: The shots of the East Village from that time period.

Susan, who grew up in the neighborhood, gave us permission to post these photos. (Unfortunately, we do not have exact dates and locations for all these.)

Updated to note proper photo credits.


[West side of 3rd Avenue between East 10 and 11th Streets/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north from East Fifth Street/John Fensten]


[Random wall from 1984/Susan Fensten]


[Tompkins Square Park/John Fensten]


[East 5th Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[First Avenue/John Fensten]


[Union Square/Susan Fensten]


[Looking north on 3rd Avenue at East 13th Street/John Fensten]


[Astor Place/John Fensten]


[Avenue A near East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[Behind East Fifth Street between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue/John Fensten]


[Leshko's on Avenue A and East 7th Street/Susan Fensten]


[East 4th Street with the Merchant's House on the left/John Fensten]

Report: Steve Croman facing another lawsuit from East 8th Street residents

As previously reported, two tenants at 309 E. Eighth St. are suing their landlord, Steve Croman of 9300 Realty, claiming that he has has engaged in a "campaign of harassment, abuse and neglect" since taking over the property between Avenue B and Avenue C in December 2012.

Now five tenants have filed suit seeking a halt to construction at No. 309, as The Real Deal reported.

According to the suit, filed Aug. 7, the five tenants claim that the landlord has engaged in gut renovations of multiple vacant apartments at the building since 2013, causing the ceilings to collapse in several occupied apartments.

The renovations at the 17-unit building also caused a gas leak that resulted in a month-long gas suspension, according to lawyers for the tenants.

"I would say that this case is symptomatic of what is going on in the Lower East Side today," said attorney Sadia Rahman, who represents the five tenants. "Violations like the broken front door and broken cornices have been in place for years, but owners instead are investing considerable sums of money into vacant apartments so that they can be deregulated and rented at market value."

As the Daily News reported on July 26, State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched a probe into Croman's potentially illegal tactics. On July 25, the Daily News reported that Schneiderman slapped a cease-and-desist order on Falconite, who "tenants say has engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation to force them out."

Meanwhile, Croman and his wife Harriet, an official with 9300 Realty, have been enjoying another August in the Hamptons. On Tuesday, Page Six reported that the Cromans "created a Playboy-themed bash ... complete with a replica of Hugh Hefner’s famed grotto in the center of a tent. Completing the theme, pale pink carpeting surrounded a dance floor."

In her Gimme Shelter column at the Post yesterday, Jennifer Gould Keil noted that the Cromans paid $650,000 this month to rent a Water Mill home "while their own beach mansion, in Sagaponack, is being built."

As for the Playboy bash, "some of Croman's guests told Gimme Shelter they wondered what the couple is celebrating."

Chico creates a mural in memory of Robin Williams on East 13th Street

[Photo by Michael Paul via Facebook]

Longtime LES graffiti artist Antonio "Chico" Garcia finished this up yesterday at B Cup Café on East 13th Street and Avenue B.

And here's a shot of the finished mural last night at 9:30 via EVG Facebook friend Kathleen O'Regan...

Former Le Souk space 'needs a real restaurant operator'

Save for a few mysterious parties, Le Souk has been dead and gone now five years this October. (The State Liquor Authority terminated Le Souk's liquor license in October 2009.)

Since then, the space has been empty (much to the delight of neighbors) ... and on and off the market several times. We spotted a listing for the space at 47 Avenue B between East Fourth Street and East Third Street back in July 2011. The asking price then was $25K.

For rent signs arrived along this Avenue B corridor earlier in the summer. And now the listing has arrived on Craigslist. Let's check it out (Bolding via EVG):

This is a restaurant space that has an atrium in the back, the ansil/flute are in place. there is 6,627 square feet on two floors that could be divided for the right tenant. The asking rent is $331,350 per annum and $27,612.50 per month. This place needs a real restaurant operator. there was a liquor license at one time the new tenant would have to apply for a new one. Tenant will pay their proportionate share of real estate taxes as well as their own utilities which will include water, gas and electric. ownership would be willing to split up this site.

The photos at Craigslist are worth flipping through to admire the ancient ruins of Le Souk. Let's carbon date that disco ball.

Meanwhile, the former Max space at 51 Avenue B also remains on the market. Asking rent is $10,000 a month. This space has been vacant for 20 months.

Previously

Report: Shakespeare & Company closes for good at the end of the month

[EVG file photo]

As we first reported back on April 7, Shakespeare & Co. had lost the lease to its longtime home at 716 Broadway.

Now comes word that the bookstore will officially close at the end of this month, an employee told Gothamist.

Per Gothamist:

Right now, books and other merchandise are on sale at the Broadway store for 30 to 50 percent off. Go purchase some, and experience the soon-to-be-extinct joy of turning real, paper pages.

The current asking rent is $50,000 for the storefront between Washington Place and Waverly Place. A broker told The Commercial Observer that is likely two or three times what Shakespeare is paying now.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader report: Shakespeare & Company loses lease on Broadway

Shakespeare & Company space is for lease on Broadway