2 Caffe Bene locations coming to the East Village

Caffe Bene, the coffeehouse chain based in Seoul, South Korea, with nearly 20 locations planned for NYC, will be opening two outposts in the East Village in the months ahead.



The first location is on the southeast corner of Avenue A and East 13th Street (above).

This Caffe Bene is seeking a beer-wine license for the address, and reps will make their case during this month's CB3 SLA committee meeting on Aug. 17.

The previous longtime tenant, Kim's Laundromat & Cleaners, got rent-hiked out of here in July 2014. The new tenant will likely mean the end of Chico's tribute from 2009 to Eric "Taz" Pagan outside the laundromat. Pagan, 42, a bouncer at the former Forbidden City lounge on Avenue A, was shot and killed trying to break up a fight on Aug. 23, 2009. Pagan was not on duty at the time of the shooting.

---

The second Caffe Bene is coming to 24 St. Mark's Place between Third Avenue and Second Avenue … in the former Pinkberry space.



According to the Commercial Observer, who first reported on this deal, Caffe Bene signed a 10-year lease, with asking rent in the $240 per-square-foot territory.

The brokers told the Commercial Observer that the building's landlord, Beame Realty, "is looking to tap into the hedge funds and tech companies coming to 51 Astor Place, as well as the New York University and St. John’s University crowd."

The IBM Watson Building/Death Star at 51 Astor Place looms large over the block in more ways than one…

Development drama continues at the former P.S. 64, where the city approved dorm-conversion permits (again)

[Photo from Saturday]

The saga of the former P.S. 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street is now in its 17th year ... on this occasion, there are a few developments to note as landlord Gregg Singer continues his quest to convert the landmarked space into student housing.

The DOB approved permits for conversion of the existing building to a college dormitory dated from June 19.

This approval apparently caught local activists and politicians by surprise. Last September, the DOB issued a Stop Work Order to halt any construction that may have begun under a Partial Work Permit that was issued based on misinformation to the department, according to City Councilmember Rosie Mendez's office.

Here's Off the Grid with a report from Friday:

At a meeting [last] week of the SOCCC-64 (Save Our Charas Community Center PS 64) steering committee, Mendez said she was deeply frustrated with DOB’s apparent lack of oversight, issuing permits when the developer still does not appear to be adhering to the requirements of the community facility use restriction: that is, signed leases with qualifying institutions, rather than promises of leases with organizations that may or may not qualify.

When recently contacted by The Villager, Singer said that he wasn't commenting on the project.

The latest Schedule A on file with the DOB shows the following…


[Click on image to go big]

The proposed plans show "sleeping accommodations" for Joffrey Ballet … as well as "music practice rooms" on floors 2-4 and "individualized dance instruction studio" on floors 3-4. The fifth floor and mezzanine remain vacant.

In any event, the approved permits may be short-lived. On Friday, the DOB added a "notice to revoke" message atop the permit.



Check out the Off the Grid post for more details on the current situation.

Singer bought the formerly city-owned building in 1998 for $3.15 million … and has to date unsuccessfully been able to convert the long-emtpy space into a dorm. Meanwhile, there has been a movement to return the building between Avenue B and Avenue C to use as a cultural and community center.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

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

Rent hike dooms East 6th Street mainstay Gandhi

We saw that the gate was down this past weekend at East Sixth Street anchor Gandhi ...

The sign directs people to go to Haveli Banjara around the corner on Second Avenue...



Turns out that this is a permanent closure here at 345 E. Sixth St. just west of First Avenue. A staffer at Haveli confirmed to EVG reader Michael Hirsch that Gandhi has closed for good, that a rent increase pushed out the restaurant.

Gandhi, which opened in 1984, is the second longtime Indian restaurant to close this year on East Sixth Street because of a rent hike. The 42-year-old Mitali East was Cromanated back in March.

Both Gandhi and Mitali East directed their customers to Haveli, just like Banjara did in 2013.

BYOB

In case you didn't see these posters around Tompkins Square Park this past weekend … and are interested in donating blood … There's a blood drive tomorrow from noon to 6 p.m. at Urban Realty, 212 Avenue B near East 13th Street.

No word if the blood will suffice as your deposit and first and last month's rent.

A smaller Galleria J. Antonio reopens on Avenue A, 2 doors down

Earlier this year, the store closing signs arrived at Galleria J. Antonio at 47 Avenue A between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

However, Galleria J. Antonio curator Jesse Gee decided to reopen two doors down at No. 43, where he will continue to sell arts and crafts and custom jewelry and watches…

As he told us at the start of the summer: "I can't stop working because I love what I do and STILL NEED A JOB, but — I must slow down and work fewer days and hours."

And now the new, smaller Galleria J. Antonio is open, as EVG regular Peter Brownscombe reports…





As for No. 47, we hear that the owners of the Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A are opening a second outpost.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Galleria J. Antonio is closing on Avenue A

Avenue A storefront shuffle

All photos by Peter Brownscombe

Bodhi Tree closes on 3rd Avenue

The Thai restaurant at 58 Third Ave. between East 10th Street and East 11th Street shut down late last week … and a for lease sign has already arrived in the front window.

The proprietors ran two other places in Brooklyn, both of which are closed now as we understand it.

Bodhi Tree opened in the spring of 2009 … the space was previously home to the worst Taco Bell in America.*

The building at 58 Third Ave. remains on the market. The listing notes that "the building currently has 6,308 sq ft, but an additional 4,786 sq ft. may be added."

* Blanket statement

An opening date is within sight at B&H Dairy

[EVG photo from Saturday]

Some very good news yesterday for B&H Dairy, the 73-year-old diner that has been closed since the deadly Second Avenue gas explosion on March 26.

After a number of unexpected setbacks and upgrades and inspection bureaucracy, the Department of Buildings approved all the recent work yesterday here at 127 Second Ave. between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

Next steps? From the B&H Facebook page:

Gas should be turned on early [this coming] week and then they stock and get cooking. We will announce an opening date soon – could be as soon as a week.

And here is the reaction from owners Fawzy Abdelwahed and Ola Smigielsk upon passing the inspection …


[Image via Facebook]

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding campaign continues for B&H. The current fundraiser is to help pay for the new exhaust system, a gas line upgrade, three months of employee wages, rent, taxes, utilities as well as food to stock the restaurant kitchen. You can find more details here at YouCaring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Progress and frustration at B&H Dairy

Week in Grieview

[Friday night's blue moon via Derek Berg]

After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Chase space on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place is for rent (Monday)

The NYPD removes the patrol tower from Tompkins Square Park (Tuesday)

The 3rd annual MoRUS film festival is underway (Friday)

The Church of the Nativity closes (Friday)

Report: 28% of East Village apartments serve as illegal hotel rooms on Airbnb (Thursday)

Checking in with Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street (Friday)

Out and About with Wendy Scripps (Wednesday)

Summer camp at Cooper Union (Friday, 57 comments)

Reader report: Super Mario statue swiped from Sixth Street (Wednesday)

Ashiya Sushi has moved away from the East Village (Monday)

Alex Shoe Repair on Second Avenue has closed (Friday)

Reports: Prep school teacher arrested for having sex with 16-year-old girl in bathroom at Lit Lounge (Thursday)

Shelter for homeless woman on Lafayette sold to make way for retail (Wednesday)

Hoops dreams: Checking in on the Tompkins Square Park basketball courts (Wednesday)

Bed-Stuy is the new East Village, per a Craigslist ad (Monday)

Penthouse comes into view at the former Amato Opera on the Bowery (Tuesday)

Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston (Monday)

XYZ puts up its letters on East Seventh Street (Monday)

Homeless model says that he lived on an East Village rooftop for six years (Thursday)

Avenue C subs for Downtown Brooklyn (Tuesday)

Zoltar gets a scrubbing (Tuesday)

Signage spotting: Sea Beauty Spa on Avenue B (Thursday)

A note about some old lady who rammed your car (Sunday)

One year after closing, the Rodeo Bar space remains vacant on Third Avenue (Wednesday)

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer (Friday)

… and parallel parking is always the most difficult part of learning to drive…


[Photo on East 9th Street via Derek Berg]

After hours

[Tuesday]

Last week, Ray announced that he was cutting back his hours at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A … from 24/7 to 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the time being as he continues to recuperate from heart valve replacement surgery earlier this summer.

So much for those hours — at least perhaps on a Saturday night … here's the scene at 3:20 a.m. … with a line at the window and the counter…



Photos by Peter Brownscombe

Previously on EV Grieve:
Get well soon, Ray!

Welcome back Ray!

East Village Vintage Collective opens today on East 12th Street

A photo posted by EV Vintage Collective (@evvintagecollective) on Jul 30, 2015 at 10:44am PDT

The shop opened today at 545 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Here's their description via Instagram: "Vintage clothing for women, men & kids, records, books, home goods & so much more."

There's a grand opening party this evening from 7-10 featuring 20 percent off everything in stock.

The Essex Street Market might look like this one day

[The current Essex Street Market via]

Not the above photo, but this…



Yesterday, 6sqft got a look at a rendering for the building that will likely replace the 75-year-old Essex Street Market.

Per 6sqft:

Known simply as “Site 9″ in the Essex Crossing mega-development, the 12-story mixed-use development would contain market-rate condominiums and two levels of commercial space at its base. The design of the market-replacing building was penned by GF55 Partners who hope the brick, metal, and glass structure will “co-exist with the area’s visual clutter and loudness of the Williamsburg Bridge traffic.” In the sole image provided, a distinguished two-story base recalls the structural features of the nearby Williamsburg Bridge.

The current Essex Street Market is expected to relocate to the base of the 24-story Essex Crossing tower at the southeast corner of Essex and Delancey in roughly 2018. Or so.


[The Essex Crossing tower]

Head over to BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down for more on Essex Crossing… those sites have been covering the day-to-day developments more than any other news outlet.

H/T Curbed

Summer Streets underway

This was the scene on Fourth Avenue between East 12th Street and East 13th Street around 7:45 a.m. The streets along this corridor remain car-free until 1 p.m.

Then you are on your own.



If you missed today, then you can try again the next two Saturdays. Find more info here.

Mad Max: Fury Road image via

A better man

The Libertines are back, and they have a new record — "Anthems for Doomed Youth," their first in 11 years — due out in September. Here's the first single, "Gunga Din."

The 'urination, defecation, masturbation' vacation outside Cooper Union

The Post has a new front for its ongoing exposes on perceived quality-of-life offenses: The Cooper Union academic building.

The annual appearance by the travelers/crusties/whatever-you-like, who have been camping out here every summer since the school opened the building six years ago at 41 Cooper Square between East Seventh Street and East Sixth Street, prompted this headline-worthy quote:

“I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, masturbation in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union faculty member told The Post.

Apparently the group didn't care for reporter Kevin Fasick, who earlier this summer posed as a homeless person outside Gracie Mansion, attempting to interview them.

Nine of the drifters were splayed out on bits of cardboard Thursday morning, and began hurling insults, water and bits of cookie when approached by a reporter.

“I was going to chase him down and beat the s–t out of him,” one thin, bedraggled man spat in anger.

“If I ever see you or that photographer again, I’ll kick the s–t out of you,” he threatened.

And where was the Post in 2010 when a serial vomiter (careful with that link) was targeting this building?

Updated 4:32 p.m.

Oh! We didn't see the paper's version of the story with this headline…



Thanks Matt Rosen!

EV Grieve Etc.: Checking out 2 new East Village pizzerias; Remembering the avant-garde jazz scene

[Photo on East 4th Street by Derek Berg]

Amid irregularities in campaign petition, Community Board 3 Chair Gigi Li exits District Leader race (DNAinfo)

Sunday at Slug's: Ornette Coleman and the avant-garde jazz scene of the East Village (The New York Review of Books)

Sietsema checks in on two new East Village pizzerias — Via Della Pace Pizza and Bruno (Eater)

A red-tailed hawk is found dead on Fourth Avenue and East Ninth Street (Gog in NYC)

The Ungentrifiers (The Awl)

A Sunday morning ritual at Ink on Avenue A (Medium)

A look at Good Night Sonny, now open on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place (Eater, previously on EVG)

Battling over picking Sheldon Silver's successor (The Lo-Down)

An 8-hour rager at Gotham Court on Ludlow! (BoweryBoogie)

Faux roadhouse bar Duke's closes on East 19th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

A look at Club Berlin in Martin Scorsese's great "After Hours" (Flaming Pablum)

Tribute to Tom Baker includes "I, A Man" and "Bongo Wolf's Revenge" (Anthology Film Archives)

The hottest (temperature-wise) subway stations south of Central Park (WNYC)

Pop-up cat camp on Mulberry Street (Daily News)

Why would anyone pay to stay on the outskirts of the city’s center, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street, in 1859? (Ephemeral New York)

Check out the Enterprise-style ride coming to Coney Island's Luna Park (Amusing the Zillion)

Two rare Joy Division tracks were just rereleased (Dangerous Minds)

... and the D.L. Cerney pop-up shop remains open at 317 E. Ninth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue through Aug. 30…



... and remember when Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anthony Mackie were in Tompkins Square Park filming that xmas movie back in January? Anyway, the trailer is now out...

After attack, R'n'R for Miss Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

[Kita from earlier this year]

It has really been far too long since we've heard from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street. (All the way back to November!)

Unfortunately, dear Miss Kita is having another tough summer — at least the last part of July. Last summer, she was recovering from a torn tendon.

Her owners provided us with an update this week:

On the evening of July 22 we were walking on 11th between B and C at around 11 when Miss Kita the Wonder Dog was rather brutally attacked by another dog — a Shar-pei/pit bull mix. The dog was with a young guy who wasn't in control of it.

Kita will be fine but her injuries are severe. She's got a ton of stitches and needed some sort of a tube in her throat. The dog attack was very traumatic for her and for us.

The vet did remove the tube a few days ago, and Kita continues to rest and recover.

"She is in much better spirits now."

Photo of Kita by Elias Weiss Friedman.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Meet Kita

The further adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

The further (often truly) amazing adventures of Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Happy holidays from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street has her first ever annual checkup

Holiday greetings from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Summer greetings from Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street

Kita the Wonder Dog of East 10th Street is on the mend!

As the Church of the Nativity closes for good tonight, take a look at the original structure

As previously reported, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is closing the Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street.

The final mass is tonight at 7.



On this occasion, volunteers posted a photo of the the original Church of the Nativity building. Via Facebook yesterday:

The first church, located at 48 Second Avenue, was built in 1832 as the Second Avenue Presbyterian Church. In 1842 it was sold to the newly formed Nativity Parish. This building was demolished in 1970 after a fire. It was rebuilt by hardworking parishioners — hence the new, smaller church built with cinder blocks now located at 44 Second Avenue.

The Church of the Nativity is merging with Most Holy Redeemer on East Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. In total, as amNY reported: "New York City's 112 parishes will be consolidated into just 55 new parishes due to 'changing demographics' and a shortage of priests available to say mass."

Reminders: The 3rd annual MoRUS film festival starts tomorrow

As we've been reporting, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) has partnered with community and activist groups to present I [heart] NRCHY: Subversion & The City, which runs tomorrow through Aug. 8.

Visit the MoRUS website here for more details on the screenings, which take place each night at 8.

Last day for Alex Shoe Repair on 2nd Avenue

Back in February we reported that Icon Realty was the new owner of 57 Second Ave., the 10-story building between East Third Street and East Fourth Street.

This meant that the two retail tenants — Alex Shoe Repair and Allied Hardware, who were both on a month-to-month lease — would not be around much longer.

Well, today is the last day for Alex Shoe Repair.

Earlier this week, the Lo-Down published an interview with the shop's proprietor:

Born and raised in Uzbekistan in a Jewish family with four brothers and five sisters, Amnun “Alex” Kariyev immigrated to Chicago where he worked in a cable manufacturing company. Looking to run a business of his own, he went to school at night to learn the art of shoe repair.

Alex came to New York City and in 1986 set up shop on Second Avenue. When he started out, the rent was only $1,000, which might seem very low for the nicely proportioned 1,000 square foot space. But back then, Alex recalls, all of lower Second Avenue below 4th Street was “a no man’s land.”

And…

He bears no grudge against Icon Realty, who have given him his final month in the location free of charge. Having lived through the brand of Communism imposed by the former USSR, Alex says he believes in capitalism and that — at the price Icon paid for the property — they have the right to make money.

Alex was paying $4,000 a month in rent. The new asking rent is $14,000.

This Alex is now sending his customers to the unrelated Alex Shoe Repair at 71 First Ave. between East Fourth Street and East Fifth Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
57 Second Ave. hits the market for $30 million

Reader report: Icon Realty new owner of 57 Second Ave.

CVS has teamed up with Watson, IBM’s supercomputer

[Doctored file photo]

Earlier this month, news broke that CVS would be the first retail tenant at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star.

Apparently CVS and IBM's Watson have bigger plans. The Washington Post had the news yesterday:

IBM is teaming with CVS Health to harness the power of the Watson supercomputing brain to transform how the care of patients with chronic conditions is managed.

[T]he companies will work to develop a system that would be able to provide better personalization of care, prevent the use of unneeded and costly interventions, and even predict health declines for a wide range of conditions including heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Troyen A. Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health, said in an interview that no specific product or timeline has been worked out, but that the first stage would be to jointly develop intelligent algorithms and test them to see if they helped improve patient outcomes. He said he was hopeful “realistic interventions” could be identified in one to two years.

In addition, CVS stores, using Watson's POWER7 processors and IBM's DeepQA technology, will be able to reduce the one-hour photo service to .001 seconds.

Previously on EV Grieve:
BREAKING: CVS is the 1st retail tenant for the Death Star! (42 comments)

1st sign of the incoming CVS at 51 Astor Place