There's a Vietnamese restaurant proposed for the former Luca Bar on St. Mark's Place

[EVG photo from Tuesday]

The former Luca Bar space at 119 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue looks to have another suitor.

A comprehensive questionnaire (a 30-page PDF) is on file for public inspection at the CB3 website ahead of the April SLA committee meeting.

According to the paperwork, the proposed Vietnamese restaurant (no name yet) would have 15 tables seating 42 as well as a bar with 12 seats. In addition, the proposed hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday-Wednesday; until 2 a.m. Thursday-Sunday. The applicants are applying for a full liquor license.

While the three principals have never been licensed before, they have had experience managing-operating restaurants, per the documents. Two of the proprietors have worked for Stephen Starr's Starr Restaurants, whose NYC establishments include Upland, El Vez, The Clocktower, Morimoto and Buddakan.

Here's a sample menu that accompanied the CB3 materials...


[Click to go big]

Previously, the owners of Sweethaus Cupcake Cafe — with locations in Charlottesville, Va., and Williamsburg (Brooklyn, not Virginia) — were looking to open a cafe at No. 119. However, those plans never materialized.

Luca Bar closed in April 2015.

The CB3 SLA committee meeting is April 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Report: Landlord Jared Kushner 'treats both rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants badly'

[Reader photo at 118 E. 4th St. from March 6]

Gothamist checks in with a long look on life in a property owned by Jared Kushner/Westminster Management. And there haven't been any shortage of tenant horror stories since Kushner started buying up properties here in 2013, as we've noted at EVG through the years. (According to the Cooper Square Committee, Kushner is the neighborhood's second-largest landlord after Steve Croman.)

As we noted earlier this month, tenants at 118 E. Fourth St. went to Manhattan Housing Court on March 3 as part of ongoing litigation against Kushner. Tenants there had been without gas for cooking since October. There are other issues too, such as collapsed ceilings, overflowing trash and sporadic heat. (Tenants got the gas restored afterwards.)

In defense of Kushner/Westminster, a spokesperson responds: "Unfortunately, like many other old buildings in New York City, repair issues arise periodically and we inherited problems when we purchased this building. We are grateful that our residents have voiced their concerns. We value their tenancy and we are committed to a mutually beneficial long term building management-tenant relationship."

Brandon Kielbasa at the Cooper Square Committee tells Gothamist that Kushner "treats both rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants badly, and seems to feel that he can get away with not maintaining buildings because the housing market is so tight he can keep them full anyway."

And one outcome of all this in Kushner-owned properties, per Gothamist:

The economic differences between the old and new residents paying three times as much have also created a culture clash. Some longtime East Villagers, nurses and artists and filmmakers loyal to the neighborhood, resent the transient, party-animal culture of affluent students and out-of-towners in their first New York apartment who will be gone when their lease expires.

“We used to have a community in this building,” laments one man. Before ... Kushner, says Kim Stetz, “we didn’t have SantaCon in our building. We didn’t have raging parties with people throwing up out their windows.”

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated

Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Another local Equinox is on the way

[196 Orchard photoshopping]

The Equinox that will be part of Ben Shaoul's incoming development on East Houston and Orchard will have some company in the area.

Per a media announcement via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Equinox continues to make history in Manhattan with three new locations on Bond Street, Gramercy and East 92nd Street. The opening of locations in Dumbo and Williamsburg celebrates Brooklyn’s growing popularity as the new epicenter for culture, business and lifestyle.

The closest of these to this neighborhood is at 670 Broadway (entrance on Bond), which opens this fall. Here's more from the Equinox Bond Street website:

Perched on the corner of a trendsetting lower Manhattan intersection, Equinox Bond Street is an icon in the making. With quintessential New York attitude, the club infuses historic urban architecture with a boundary-pushing downtown vibe.

Housed in a former manufacturing building, Equinox Bond Street creates a true fitness temple with a soaring 18-foot ceiling, exposed brick, arches, and Corinthian columns. The club’s awe-inspiring span showcases four heroically-scaled studios, one of our most expansive fitness floors ever, a spacious home for our luxury amenities, and energizing street views alive with the pulse from Noho’s streets.

Evening rush

Waiting for the F at Second Avenue via Derek Berg

Updated: There's a reward for this external hard drive

An EVG reader shared this... A memory drive lost in the vicinity of East Second Street and First Avenue today around 4 p.m.



Updated 4-3

Apparently it has been found and returned to the owner...

Brown and out on East 13th Street

An EVG reader, with perhaps a hint of disappoint in his email, noted that we hadn't, uh, noted the ongoing graffiti v. brown-paint battle along Verizon's wall on East 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue in a really long time.

Sure enough, it has been nearly 15 months.

OK! So the wall still attracts various tags...



... and images...



...and whatever this was...

Still living the dream on the Lower East Side

The Times checks in with a piece for the paper's real estate section titled The Lower East Side, Where Gritty Meets Trendy.

Aside from details on the schools and the commute, the Times provides some average pricing for rentals and condos.

Despite the higher prices for everything, people still come here to live the dream. (Oh, that's what dreams are made of.)

“This used to be a place for a new beginning, people living the dream in a tenement apartment,” said Ariel Tirosh, an associate broker with Douglas Elliman who is the sales agent for several luxury condos, including 100 Norfolk and 179 Ludlow. “Now they live the dream in a new condo.”

Out and About in the East Village

In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.



By James Maher

Name: Jon R. Jewett
Occupation: Photographer and Writer
Location: 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A
Time: 5:30 pm on Monday, March 28

I’m coming from the East Village Cheese shop. It’s heaven. And they have the discount section. Tonight I don’t feel like cooking, so I have some cheese, some pâté, a good loaf of bread, and fruit… and certainly a vodka rocks before hand.

I grew up in Maine, between Camden and Bar Harbor — one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. It’s stunning. I go up there for the summers. All my summer friends lived here in New York. I have been coming to New York forever and ever, and there was a time about 20 years ago that I decided that the Maine winters were too much. I got out. That’s what brought me here. Certainly the friends, and what New York has to offer drew me here. I like the arts and good food and I had a way to move here, and so I did.

When I first came, I lived over on Midtown West — Hell's Kitchen. And I then became a personal assistant to a writer and critic friend of mine, who was getting older and I worked for her for 10 years.

New York is the best place in the world to live alone. It really is. I miss the bookstores all over the place. That was a big draw. If you take pictures, there’s always something to go out for a walk for. Every walk is different, because you’re looking at it through the lens.

Cheaper rent brought me to this neighborhood, even though rents are getting high here. I came here about three years ago in February. Something about the East Village that I adore is the light and the lack of density. You don’t really have a tourist attraction down here, so we don’t get that. I work at the community garden, 6BC. I volunteer there. That gives me a private park directly across the street. It’s the best. I go there and knit and read. I use it a lot. It’s a good group of people. It’s where I’ve met a lot of my friends. I walk to Chinatown to shop for food. It’s about half the price and it’s fun, but you have to have a certain edge to do it.

I like shops like [East Village Cheese]. I try to do business with stores that only have one cash register. I want it to be sort of a mom and pop, where they may live upstairs or something like that, because you make friends with the people in the store.

I go in spurts ... I do a million and one things, and then for a month I just lay low. I call it, home enough so I can’t wait to go out, and out enough so I can’t wait to stay home. That’s the balance I like to keep. There are the galleries, museums. Sometimes I can never plan and all of a sudden it’s just time to go to the Met for a day. You can be spontaneous here. I keep a to-do list.

There’s the European influence. I shop for food every night. I do the errands and at the end of the errands pick up three or four newspapers, some food, and then I have these very pleasant evenings at home. I’m strange. I’m a little homebody in New York, but I think there are more of those that we think. Home life in New York can be so pleasant.

And Maine is such a tight in together state. All of my Maine friends, who are all over the country, we keep the fire going, like all winter, thinking about what’s coming up in the summer. I have to give Maine a lot of credit. I go there for about three or four months in the summertime to work, and then I come back to process my work here. I think that makes me overlook a lot of the negatives of city living.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Report: East Village restaurateurs creating limited-edition bagels for Black Seed

Black Seed at 176 First Ave. is working with chefs from Hearth, Porchetta, GG’s, Babu Ji and Bowery Meat Co., for a limited-edition series of bagels, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Dianna Daoheung, Black Seed’s executive chef, said many of them got involved after stopping by to pick up orders. The East Village is "not like Nolita or SoHo, where it’s a super-touristy spot,” she said. “It’s definitely a community neighborhood."

Starting today here between East 10th Street and East 11th Street, you can try a bagel (through April 12) created by Sara Jenkins, who operates Porchetta and Porsena on East Seventh Street. Her creation is "a bagel with labne, a kind of strained yogurt, plus pickled turnip, shaved cucumber and radish and mint ($8.50)."

And from April 13 to 26, Bobby Hellen, executive chef at GG’s on East Fifth Street, is adapting his pizza in honor of the 1986 World Series-winning Mets: "a sopressata everything bagel that features the spicy salami with mozzarella, fennel agrodolce, pickled peppers and arugula ($11.75)."

Also! From April 27 to May 10, Hearth's Marco Canora will create a duck prosciutto, taleggio cheese and maitake mushroom bagel sandwich. Jessi Singh, chef and co-owner of Babu Ji has a toasted-fennel and burnt-garlic bagel with masala radish, raita and Indian-style scrambled eggs, with green chili, ginger, turmeric and scallion available May 11 to 24.

To date, no one has asked me to create a BP bagel in honor of the soon-to-close gas station on Lafayette and East Houston...



-----

Also on the bagel front... we hear that Bagel Belly opens this week at 114 Third Ave. near East 14th Street... there's a rack of fruit in the front window...

Construction watch: Thirteen East + West

[No. 442]

The former garages on East 13th Street (No. 436 and 442) between Avenue A and First Avenue are gone...


[No. 436]

... and workers are clearing out the rubble ...



... to make way for the incoming condos dubbed Thirteen East + West...


[Rendering via Instagram]

As we pointed out in previous posts, each building has 6 floor-through homes, all with private outdoor space. Pricing will start at $2.3 million; $3.4 million for the penthouses via broker Ryan Serhant. The penthouses at each building will have their own private garages and roof decks.

Meanwhile, neighbors are making the best of any leftover/broken construction equipment (soon to be wading pool?) on the scene...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street

Temporary art and future condos on East 13th Street

Demo time for East 13th Street garages that will yield to luxury condos

A look at the residences coming to Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street

Checking in on Trash & Vaudeville

Trash & Vaudeville has been up and running in its new home at 96 E. Seventh St. (Day 10!) ... and in a post on Racked today, owner Ray Goodman talks about the store's 40-plus-year history, starting in 1975 at 4 St. Mark's Place... his merchandising philosophy and longtime collaboration with T&V manager Jimmy Webb.

An excerpt from Goodman:

We're always looking to find new things — We have our core theme, but we build around it. We keep layering on it and layering on it. We have our basics, and our basics are black skinny jeans and black motorcycle jackets. We're always going to have Beatle boots, and we're always going to have creepers. I know I'm going to sell more black leather and black suede Beatle boots then I'm going to sell green python Beatle boots, but I still need green python Beatle boots because they're so damn cool.

Previously

Thumbnail image by Jono Bernstein/Racked

Plywood report and the future of 75 1st Ave. (Spoiler: condos)

An EVG reader shares the following about the plywood at the empty pit also known as 75 First Ave.:

I feel like this barrier on between Fourth Street and Fifth Street is going to collapse and flatten a child or small dog or old lady any moment now.

It even has crap leaning on it from the opposite side.

There is a complaint on file with the DOB from last October about the plywood, with the caller noting the fence "is in danger of collapsing." However, an inspector checked it out and said "site safe and secure." (The plywood did fall down during Sandy and Irene.)

Anyway, this reader query prompted us to take a look at this lot adjacent to Rite Aid. The space has been empty for years. There have been several variations of residential buildings in the works, but nothing ever materialized after nearly 11 years of efforts.

Last fall, Ozymandius Realty and Orange Management sold the property to the Colonnade Group for $12.9 million, as The Real Deal reported.

Now, here is info on what the Colonnade Group has planned for the lot via their website:

This striking cantilivered ground-up structure is located in the heart of the East Village, one of most exciting and vibrant neighborhoods.

Designed by HTO-Architect, the building will rise 8 stories and will stand out with its contemporary and timeless glassy structure. Comprised of 22 residential units, ranging from 1 to 3 bedroom condominiums, 75 I˚ AVE is the ultimate destination for New York sophisticated buyers looking for all the comforts of a high-end residence in a young and dynamic environment.

All of the units will benefit from a number of amenities, including Fitness Center, Lounge and Library, Private and Common Roof Deck, Storage, Bike Storage & Doorman.

Construction is anticipated to start at the beginning of 2016 and estimated completion is Fall 2017.

We didn't spot any full renderings of the project... but the Colonnade website had this tease of an image...



Also, a familiar name will be involved...

To clarify @trdny 's article, our 75 1st Avenue development will host 22 units and no retail. @RyanSerhant will handle sales and marketing

— Colonnade Group (@ColonnadeGrpNYC) October 7, 2015

Previously on EV Grieve:
Developer: A shorter building in the works now for 75 First Avenue

High-rise for 75 First Avenue back in play

Long-stalled First Avenue site now has a brand-new rendering

Report: Long-dormant 1st Avenue development site changes hands

Report: Landlord Steve Croman owes the city over $1 million in unpaid code violations

Controversial landlord Steve Croman, whose 9300 Realty owns multiple residential buildings in the East Village, reportedly ended 2015 with more than $1 million in unpaid building- and construction-code violations on properties he owns.

This is according to research by the Cooper Square Committee, the East Village-based tenants' rights group. As Crain's reported:

The fines that Croman and his firm, 9300 Realty, had accrued showcase the city's inability to collect about $1.6 billion in quality-of-life fines, known as Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations. The city has few means to ensure the fines are paid, giving some landlords and contractors leeway to continue to rack up infractions.

"The city issues quality-of-life violations when people violate construction safety rules, start construction before or after hours, or have dangerous sidewalk conditions—and nobody seems to care," said City Councilman Ben Kallos. "Many landlords and developers treat [the fines] as a cost of doing business."

A spokesperson for 9300 Realty disputed the $1 million figure. Here's more from them:

A Croman spokesman said that the firm invests in buildings prone to violations. "We invest in older properties with the objective of restoring and holding them for the long term," the spokesman said in a statement. "Due to the age of properties in Manhattan, these buildings usually require substantial upgrade and repair work. We take maintenance of our properties very seriously and continually invest to clear building violations and enhance the quality of life for all of our residents."

Among other things, Croman has been accused of using illegal tactics to force out rent-stabilized tenants. Tenants have also said that Croman hired a former NYPD officer to harass and intimidate them.

And in other Croman-related news making headlines... Steve's son Jake Croman, a member of the University of Michigan’s Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter, has been vilified on the Internet for a video in which he is seen berating an Uber driver in Ann Arbor, Mich., last week.

As Gothamist noted:

Uber driver Artur Zawada started filming Croman and his friends after they began harassing him when he apparently canceled a ride they ordered. "Fuck you Artur, you little faggot fuck," Croman yells. "You wanna kick me off? Kick me off, you little piece of shit. You're an Uber driver! Go fucking drive, you little fuck! Minimum wage faggot! Go fuck yourself!"

He added toward the end, "You're working all night! Guess what? I'm gonna sit on my ass and watch TV. Fuck you!"

In a statement to BuzzFeed, Jake Croman said, in part: "What you don’t see in the video is that the driver had made a number of offensive anti-Semitic remarks that provoked my response. I am not proud of my reaction to his discrimination and I regret my choice of words."

The Uber driver denied the accusations.

Someone quickly created "the public warning website about the world famous Michigan/New York City douchebag Jake Croman."

Jake Croman's LinkedIn profile notes that he is an associate for his father's real-estate firm.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Steve Croman facing another lawsuit from East 8th Street residents

Report: East 8th Street residents sue landlord Steve Croman, allege intimidation, harassment

Watch a lot of people speak out against Steve Croman and 9300 Realty

Report: State Attorney General launches Steve Croman investigation

Tenant advocacy group names Icon Realty and Steven Croman among NYC's worst landlords

Image from May 2015

Report: Lack of gas stations downtown a concern

As we first reported last week, the BP station on East Houston and Lafayette is closing on April 14 to make way for a 7-story boutique office building.

With this closure, there will be just one gas station in the city below 14th Street — a Mobil on Eighth Avenue near East 13th Street. (There is also a BP on East 23rd Street at the FDR.)

Now as DNAinfo's Allegra Hobbs reports, community groups are concerned about the lack of options in the case of another disaster such as Sandy.

“We learned from that gas shortage that occurred in Superstorm Sandy how important this resource is to a community, and now we find ourselves with no gas stations anywhere near,” said Damaris Reyes, executive director of Good Old Lower East Side and chair of emergency preparedness group LES Ready.

“This does not do well for thinking about a balanced community with all of the resources that are necessary to help it be functional and resilient in a time of need,” she said.

You may recall the vehicles lined up for gas in the days that followed Sandy in November 2012 before the last two stations in the East Village closed ... and there were also lines of pedestrians filling up gas cans for generators at the now-closed Mobil on East Houston and Avenue C...

[EVG photo from November 2012]

...when there was gas anyway...

[EVG photo of the 2nd Avenue BP from November 2012]

Heading to another borough or New Jersey would be a very real possibility, per DNAinfo.

“Having to cross a bridge or go through a tunnel to get gas is not the best way to prepare for an emergency,” said Trever Holland, president of the Two Bridges Tower Tenant Association. “If there are no gas stations to go to, it becomes extremely problematic as to how you’re going to get gas for generators.”

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

Have you seen the glass tower in the works for Lafayette and East Houston?

Filling up: the status of 2 former East Village gas stations

Report: Boutique office building on East Houston and Lafayette at BP site a go

BP station on East Houston and Lafayette closes April 14

Confessional space for rent on East 6th Street

[Photo via Vinny & O]

A follow-up to the news from last week that Confessional has closed at 308 E. Sixth St. The bar-restautrant with a a Latin-Influenced tapas menu was said to be relocating to an undisclosed location from here between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Meanwhile, the space is now on the rental market. The listing for the 1,400-square-foot space offers the following details:

Full kitchen in great condition 6-burner stovetop, oven, hood, dishwashing station.
Full Basement with Walk-in Fridge, Ice machine, and food storage
2AM Liquor License
Upside Potential by Opening More Hours - Has been operating only 4 days a week opening after 6pm
Business for Sale: $125,000 with Partnership offered but not necessary.
Rent $8,500 including RE Tax

Confessional opened in June 2014.

It's raining men and chimneys

Photo (and headline) by Grant Shaffer

Report: Coyote Ugly is now a global brand worth $80 million

Fox Business checks in with a story about Coyote Ugly, the 23-year-old bar on First Avenue between East 10th Street and East 11th Street that spawned a global empire.

Liliana "Lil" Lovell, Coyote Ugly CEO and founder, said that she opened the First Avenue location in 1993 with $70,000. Today, there are 20 Coyote Ugly bars worldwide (she owns 11 of them). Last December, her company opened up its fifth location in Russia. In May, a Coyote Ugly debuts in Wales ... and the company has plans to set up bar in Montreal by August, per Fox.

Lovell said that the company is worth $80 million today.

“I was like wow, who would have thought this little dive bar in the East Village would take off?"

This open-air home could use a home on Avenue B

EVG reader Katie spotted this earlier today on Avenue B at East Houston Street... looks nice from the outside, though, TBH, it is a bit of a fixer-upper upon closer inspection...



Still, it's located in an up-and-coming area with a thriving pancake scene.

A Day of Remembrance

[Photo by EVG correspondent Steven]

On Saturday afternoon, local elected officials along with community members and families of victims came together to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly East Village gas explosion. (The event was billed the East Village Explosion Day of Remembrance.)

"A year after the East Village explosion, all that remains is three empty lots as a constant reminder of an avoidable tragic event that took the lives of two young men, rendered dozens of residents homeless, temporarily displaced hundreds of others from their homes and interrupted the livelihood of small business owners for weeks and in some cases months," City Councilmember Rosie Mendez said in a prepared statement.


[Rosie Mendez]

The speakers offered their condolences to the families of the victims, Moises Ismael Locón Yac and Nicholas Figueroa, thanked the first responders and vowed to take steps to make sure that tragedies like this don't happen again.

"One year ago, we lost two innocent individuals due to greed and poor safety oversight. This tragedy is a reminder that the pursuit of profits over people too often jeopardizes the safety of all New Yorkers," said Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick. "While the City has made efforts since the explosion to bring those responsible to justice, there is still much to do in order to ensure that this type of tragedy cannot occur again."


[Deborah J. Glick]

As for future safety issues, City Council has introduced legislation aimed at preventing another disaster. Mendez is the lead sponsor of Intro. 1093, which requires gas providers to notify the Department of Buildings within 24 hours of issuing a gas service shut off. This bill and eight others were introduced in the City Council on Feb. 24 to hold individuals and agencies accountable.

"As a community, we join the families of East Harlem in their sorrow," Mendez said. "We can never forget the tragedies that were avoidable and we vow to work to ensure that no one else has to suffer and endure what the families and our communities have."


[Mildred Guy, who lived at 119 2nd Ave. for 45 years]


[1st responders representing Engine 33/Tower Ladder 9 and FDNY Engine 28, Ladder 11]



Media coverage from the Day of Remembrance included:

• ABC 7

• CBS 2

• Daily News

• DNAinfo

• Fox 5

• NBC New York

• Newsday

• New York Post

• PIX 11

All photos by Stacie Joy unless noted

Brazen Fox owners looking to open a bar-restaurant across the street

There's an application on file with CB3 for a new liquor license at 104 Third Ave. on the southwest corner of 13th Street.

According to paperwork (PDF) at the CB3 website and in the window of the empty storefront...





... the applicants are Declan Rainsford and Rory Dolan, who are partners in several establishments in White Plains as well as the two-level Brazen Fox directly across 13th Street.

The questionnaire with more information about the proposed bar-restaurant hasn't been posted just yet. However, the notification in the window shows that the two are seeking a full liquor license and a sidewalk cafe.

The empty storefront was home until last June to Gothic Cabinet Craft shop. The family-owned custom wood furniture shop had been on this corner since 1969.

It will be interesting to see the response to a new liquor license in a saturated area in a storefront that previously wasn't licensed.

The CB3 SLA committee meeting is April 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.