Parts of Avenue C and D now with a SkyWatch tower, additional NYPD lights

[Photo via Magic Brian]

Several readers noted the arrival last week of an NYPD patrol tower (SkyWatch) on East Third Street at Avenue C… and additional lights on East Fourth Street at Avenue C…



Their arrival coincides with the report of a shooting on Nov. 7 outside the Mariana Bracetti Plaza public housing development at 251 E. Third St. west of Avenue C. According to CBS New York, the victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries. There hasn't been any further information about this shooting.

Meanwhile, the NYPD also set up a light tower on Avenue D at East Fifth Street last Wednesday…





There are unconfirmed reports of a recent shooting on this corner.

Resident Bill Morris pointed out that the lights appear to be trained on his bedroom… (the lights and generator stay on even after sunrise…)



Morris asked the NYPD if the lights could focus more on the street and less on the building. So far nothing doing. He says a call to the 9th Precinct about the lights generated this suggestion: Call Commissioner Bratton's office.

The changes to 3 Bowery mainstays

Just adding up the changing Bowery landscape along East Third Street and East Second Street…

Workers continue jackhammering away at the Salvation Army's former East Village Residence on the Bowery at East Third Street. The site will one day yield a 13-floor, 30,000 square-foot mixed-use residential development.



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The Whitehouse Hostel at 338-340 Bowery closed for good in early September. The building was sold. There are pending plans to build a 9-floor hotel in its place. Otherwise, there's not much activity here. There's still someone sitting behind the front desk … and the Pepsi machine remains in the lobby…



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On Friday, workers erected the sidewalk bridge outside the former Amato Opera building at 319 Bowery just below East Second Street…



Landlord Steve Croman received DOB approval in September to convert the former theater into a commercial and residential building. Documents show that there will be one residence on each floor above the retail space. Amato Opera ended its long run on May 31, 2009.

And these are just the changes on one block. Curbed documented more of the Bowery's changing landscape back in August.

Noted

An Urban Etiquette Sign from inside an East Third Street building via EVG reader Philip Treviño, who notes the flyer is still fresh and unmarked by a Sharpie. (And not just to copyedit.)

Ben Shaoul's latest gift to the neighborhood: A 10-floor residential building

News broke Friday about the new retail-residential complex coming to the one-level strip on East Houston between Orchard and Ludlow: a 10-floor building with 83 residential units.

In addition, the new building will feature 13,500 square feet of ground-floor retail and nearly 5,000 square feet of community facility space, according to New York Yimby, who first reported on Ben Shaoul's plans now on file with the city.

The address for this Shaoulville will be 196 Orchard St.

As BoweryBoogie (who first learned that Shaoul was behind this project) has been reporting, the businesses along here (Bereket among them) have closed or moved to make way for the development. Pretty much everything you see will be gone — except for Katz's, whose co-owner sold their air rights to Shaoul.

Ismael Leyva is the architect of record.

Yaffa Cafe's former sidewalk cafe is now a garbage dump

Yaffa Cafe officially announced their closure back on Oct. 1 after 30-plus years in business.

We've been curious what will happen to the space at 97 St. Mark's Place just east of First Avenue. We've haven't heard any news about this in recent weeks… the only activity to note is that someone moved the garbage and recycling to the space where Yaffa's sidewalk cafe was…





Yaffa's management decided to call it quits after the city ordered them to discontinue use of their backyard garden … and from the fines stemming from a recent DOH inspection.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Yaffa Cafe is officially gone; back garden dismantled

More about Yaffa Cafe closing

Week in Grieview

[Why did Zoltar move? He loves Paul's! Photo by Derek Berg]

Gracefully is closing on Avenue A (Monday)

Q-and-A with Vanessa McDonnell, director of the John's of 12th Street documentary (Thursday)

East Village Radio is returning (Friday)

Native Bean moving soon on Avenue A (Thursday)

Q-and-A with activist Kelly Cogswell, author of "Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger" (Tuesday)

Pizza Bagel Cafe yielding to a T-Mobil store on East 14th Street and First Avenue (Tuesday)

City's first cat cafe opening on the LES (Thursday)

Out and About with Ben Bahud (Wednesday)

Coming soon to First Avenue: Sweet Generation, "A Bakery for Arts Education" (Monday)

Facebook is here now in Midtown South (Wednesday)

The Marshal seizes Cafe Cambodge on Avenue C (Thursday)

$73 million and Ben Shaoul's Bloom 62 is all yours (Friday)

John Lurie's new live Internet radio show debuts (Wednesday)

LaVie in rubble (Friday)

zPizza closes on First Avenue (Monday)

A Building condo returns to market WITHOUT THE SLIDE (Tuesday)

Heavenly Market opens on Third Avenue (Friday)

Awwwwwwwww: Christo and Dora make cute in the sunset (Tuesday)

Momofuku-French Louie vets bringing BARA to East First Street (Monday)

Refurbished El Sombrero debuts (Wednesday)

New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units (Wednesday)

57 Second Ave. available for $30 million (Thursday)

Mystery mounds (Friday)

Mile High Run Club is up and running (Monday)

… and we realized that we never noted the arrival of the recently relocated Cloak & Dagger boutique at 334 E. Ninth St. … in the former Archangel Antiques space…

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York

The Post today features our blogging friend Jeremiah Moss on its My New York page… his list of favorite NYC places highlights many from the East Village, including Ray's Candy Store and Theatre 80… Check it out here.

Discarded Citi Bike of the day

Abandoned Citi Bikes have been a common sight these past, oh, 17 months… this one atop the temporary boilers on East Sixth Street at Avenue C took a little more effort, though… (unless it fell) …



Photo via @TedRoden

And now a lot of photos of leaves (and a few of the sun)

Just a few scenes of the fine-looking fall from the last few days…

Crime scene tape remains on 3rd Avenue and East 13th Street

Several readers noted the presence of crime-scene tape outside the Brazen Fox on Third Avenue and East 13th Street early this morning.

Per one reader who was on a pre-dawn walk: "the sidewalk was blocked off, at least on the 13th Street side, and there was a patrol car parked there at the corner of 3rd Ave with lights flashing."

We don't have any information about what may have happened.

Droplets of blood remain on the sidewalk.

You will have to do without the Citi Bike valet service until the spring

[Seventh and A via Derek Berg]

Sorry for the lack of notice … but the Citi Bike valet service on East Seventh Street and Avenue A (and East 14th Street and Avenue B???) ended last evening.

Tonight is the final night of Valet service in the East Village and will end at 9pm! See ya in the spring...

— Citi Bike (@CitibikeNYC) November 14, 2014

And what did valet service mean?

Staff will be on hand at the Alphabet City stations to make sure that every bike that arrives will get a dock. So anyone heading to the East Village on a weeknight can be rest assured that they won’t have to search for a docking point at the end of their trip.

Previously

At the South Street Seaport: Ice Rink, tree lighting and another VBar

Just mentioning a few things happening at what's left of the South Street Seaport in case it's of interest...The Seaport Ice Rink returns today, and the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony takes place on Dec. 2 at 6 p.m. You can find more info here.

In other news, VBar, which has a location on St. Mark's Place and First Avenue, is opening a location at the Seaport … at 212 Front St. (former home of, sob, Carmine's).

And what does the future hold down there? Here's a video with details, if you dare…

Easy does it

Here is "Easy Money" from Johnny Marr's second solo album, the recently released "Playland."

And Johnny Marr and Co. are playing a sold-out show tomorrow night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

A godsend? Heavenly Market opens today on 3rd Avenue

The new market opened this morning on Third Avenue at East 11th Street… offering up a fine selection of deli fare… they are open 24 hours … and they deliver… (and they are giving out free muffins today if you buy something)...



Heavenly takes over the space that last housed Fern Cliff Deli.

EV Grieve Etc.: Mourning Edition

[A Giuseppi Logan photo shoot in Tompkins Square Park the other day via Derek Berg]

Remembering The East Village Eye (Hyperallergic)

There's a newly restored version of this William Burroughs documentary playing through Nov. 19 (Anthology Film Archives)

The radical history of 110 Second Ave. (Ephemeral New York)

Listen to the demo recordings from The Ramones' debut album (Boing Boing)

Check out the new street photography blog by EV resident Adrianna Grezak (On Second Avenue)

RIP Big Bank Hank (Daily News)

Drunken driver wipes out Cemusa stand on Delancey (BoweryBoogie)

A visit to Makari on Third Avenue (Off the Grid)

Tenants who are fighting Steve Croman (The Villager)

Academy Records' Cory Felerman finds a rare Yoko Ono 45 good for $1,703.99 on First Avenue (The Village Voice)

Christo hanging out in Tompkins Square Park (Gog in NYC)

Some more Pussy Galore detective work (Flaming Pablum)

Celebrities visit Miss Lily's 7A (Page Six)

Appreciating Cafe Edison's interior (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Rethinking traffic on Canal (The Lo-Down)

Iggy Pop TV interview from a Cleveland TV station circa 1979 (Dangerous Minds)

...and if you need plans tonight that include gambling for a good cause (a fund-raiser for The Neighborhood School on East Third Street), then you in luck... tickets are available at the door...

Ben Shaoul is selling Bloom 62 for $73 million — all cash!

[EVG file photo]

Back in January, the Post reported that Bloom 62 on Avenue B and East Fifth Street — the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — "is being shown to investors and expected to sell for roughly $70 million."

At the time, we never spotted any listings for the building that Ben Shaoul bought for $25.5 million from a family trust made up of the estates of Jacob W. Friedman and Sol Henkind in December 2011.

Now a PDF for the building is making the rounds … it arrived in our inbox. From that listing:









All you need is $73 million. All cash.

Cabrini closed for good on June 30, 2012. The 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 people.

Bloom 62 started renting in May 2013. Prices top out at $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment. The building has quickly earned a reputation for throwing the most disruptive rooftop parties.

Previously on EV Grieve:
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

Ben Shaoul looks to make a whole lot of money converting nursing home into high-end housing

East Village Radio will return

Looks as if there was something to that recent activity around East Village Radio after all.

We spotted a new East Village Radio logo on Facebook and work at the former First Avenue studio a few weeks back.

Now comes word that East Village Radio is returning.

Brooklyn Vegan has the scoop on what's happening:

The comeback happens via the recently-launched Dash Radio network. The 1st Ave studio is getting a redesign with new equipment and technology. Some EVR programming and DJs will return to EVR 2.0, and there will be new shows and produced specials too. More details and the actual relaunch date will be announced shortly, but the plan right now is for EVR to be on the air before we reach 2015.

Dash is also launching a sister station — Brooklyn Radio, which will operate from a storefront studio in Williamsburg.

We'll have more on all this in the weeks ahead.

East Village Radio signed off after 11 years on May 23, as we first reported.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: East Village Radio is signing off after 11 years; final day of broadcasting is May 23 (53 comments)

Signs of life at East Village Radio, but what does it mean?

More PS 64: There's a Save Our Community Center meeting on Monday

The flyer above has all the info... City Councilmember Rosie Mendez and other elected local officials will be onhand to discuss the the future of the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street.

A quickie recap: Back in September, the Department of Buildings put a stop, for now, to developer Gregg Singer's plans to convert the long-emtpy building between Avenue B and Avenue C into a dorm.

The meeting is Monday night from 6:30-8:30 at 308 E. Eighth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C (at Casa Victoria's community room).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

'Misinformation' cited as DOB issues Stop Work Order at the former PS 64; community meeting set for Sunday afternoon

Mystery mounds at the former Mary Help of Christians lot

[Photo by dwg]

Several readers have wondered what has been going on at the former Mary Help of Christians lot off of Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street ... currently enjoying the afterlife as a trash dump and graffiti canvas.

There has been some activity at the site of late ... a few dump trucks and mounds of dirt...





Not sure what the workers are doing. (Making a course for area children to snow tube and sled this winter?)

Developer Douglas Steiner is still waiting on city approval for his retail-residential complex. The city last disapproved plans here in June, according to DOB records.

During the summer of 2013, workers demolished the church, school and rectory. As for the new 438 E. 12th St., there will be 158 residential units… and maybe a rooftop pool.

Bottom two photos by Bobby Williams

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

$4,495 a month — for this

Snack Dragon, the tiny taco shack on East Third Street near Avenue B, ended its East Village tenure on Halloween night. Cause of death: Cromanation (aka, a big high rent hike courtesy of landlord Steve Croman).

We knew that the asking rent is $4,495 for this small space — roughly 100 square feet. However, that size vs. asking rent didn't really sink in until we saw the space emptied out this past week...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Cromanated: The East Village Snack Dragon Taco Shack is closing

Snack Dragon has officially closed