The growing scandal over 45 Rivington St.

[Aerial view of 45 Rivington via Google Maps]

On March 22, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer launched an investigation into the de Blasio administration's decision to lift deed restrictions on the Rivington House at 45 Rivington St., a move that netted the nursing home operator, the Allure Group, a $72 million profit off the property's sale to condo developers.

In the days that followed, many more details emerged in the media, such as that James Capalino, a de Blasio friend and fund-raiser, had been lobbying for two years for the prior owner to have the deed restriction lifted. Capalino's firm earned a record $12.9 million lobbying City Hall in 2015, according to the Times.

The Allure Group had promised that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In February 2015, Allure paid $28 million for the property. The deed was reportedly changed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city.

Allure then reportedly quietly sold the property for $116 million to the the Slate Property Group, a condo developer (and Capalino client) who plans to create 100 luxury residences in the building that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.


[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Here are some developments about the sale and investigation from this past week...

TUESDAY

Op-ed — To catch a thief: Solution needed for de Blasio real estate deal whodunit (Daily News)

Op-ed — Why isn’t the mayor furious at this rancid deal? (New York Post)

WEDNESDAY

CB3 Sent Written Plea to Mayor on Rivington House Jan. 27 (The Lo-Down)

How New York Allowed Gentrification for $16 Million (The New York Times)

Two pols demand info on deal to turn Lower East Side nursing home into condos (Crain's)

THURSDAY

Nursing home deal, and City Hall response, raises questions (Politico New York)

And an excerpt from the Times article on Wednesday:

“I’m not happy that it happened,” Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, told reporters on Monday. “I’m not happy about the fact that I didn’t hear about it in advance, before it became public.”

On Jan. 27, however, the local community board sent a letter to Mr. de Blasio requesting “information as to what transpired as to this transaction.” The letter was remarkably prescient; it warned that Rivington House could be converted into free-market housing, “as has been made possible by the lifting of the deed restriction.” The building was sold in February; city officials never responded to the letter, according to the community board, and Mr. de Blasio never saw it, said Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Today, the Post reports that, despite de Blasio's apparent anger over the sale, no one in his administration has taken the fall.

Also today, the Post reports that the Allure Group, "a cadre of young, seemingly disparate entrepreneurs," owes more than $6 million in back taxes on two properties in Brooklyn.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What next then for 45 Rivington St.?

Report: Developers buy former LES nursing facility for luxury housing

Week in Grieview

[Citi Bike to the rescue on A. Photo by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

A Day of Remembrance (Monday)

Former Sock Man space to become an ice cream shop (Friday)

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

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

Pizzeria in the works for 8th and C (Friday)

Spring (Thursday)

Out and About with Jon R. Jewett (Wednesday)

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

Ess-A-Bagel eyeing a May opening now (Friday)

Bagel Belly opens (Saturday)

Report: Settlement reached with family of man stabbed to death at Barrier Free Living on East Second Street (Thursday)

Lack of gas stations downtown a concern (Tuesday)

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

Report: Landlord Jared Kushner "treats both rent-stabilized and market-rate tenants badly" (Thursday)

Another local Equinox is on the way (Thursday)

Construction watch: Thirteen East + West (Wednesday)

This open-air home could use a home on Avenue B (Monday)

Brown and out on East 13th Street (Wednesday)

Confessional space for rent on East Sixth Street (Tuesday)

East Village Tobacco & Variety Shop is closing after 6 months on East Ninth Street (Monday)

Still living the dream on the Lower East Side (Wednesday)

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

East Second Street gets milled (Tuesday)

... and save the last dance for Jerry and Beacon...


[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Grant Shaffer]

St. Mark's Place in bloom

EVG reader Susan Schiffman shares this photo of St. Mark's Place between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

Stunt parking rules are now in effect on East 7th Street

[As previously noted via Derek Berg]

As previously noted, several motorists had the ability to capably maneuver an impressive shoehorn parking job between the dumpsters on East Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Well, no more, stunt parkers... there is now some kind of rope fence in place...



This should help you...

Saturday ender

Thanks to Goggla for this shot...

7:10 p.m.

Photo this evening (7:10 p.m.!) by Bobby Williams

RIP Coca Crystal

[Image via Facebook]

The Times today has a feature obituary on Coca Crystal, a major figure in the counterculture of the East Village in the 1960s and 1970, who died on March 1 of respiratory failure. (In 2006, she was diagnosed with lung cancer.) She was 68.

Crystal, born Jacqueline Diamond, started work at The East Village Other in 1969.

Per the Times:

Adopting the pen name Coca Crystal, she wrote about politics, women’s issues and random personal events: a burglary at her apartment that she foiled by serenading her intruder on the guitar; the myriad obscene phone calls that she fielded at the office. The newspaper honored her, in one issue, with her photograph over the title “slumgoddess.”

“She was the epitome of the flower child,” said Lynda Crawford, a colleague at The East Village Other. “She was sexy, she was young, she was very smart — she was cool.”

As the Times notes, her future was in television... cable-access television... for nearly 20 years, with a show that counted David Letterman as fans.

In 1977 she reserved a one-hour slot each Wednesday night at 10:30 on Channel D to present “If I Can’t Dance, You Can Keep Your Revolution,” a mix of politics, culture, music, audience call-ins and spontaneous nonsense. She often described the show as a visual version of The East Village Other.

Ms. Crystal, who in addition to her sister is survived by her son, Gustav Che Finkelstein, had an unflappable, slightly spacey demeanor and an incongruous la-di-da accent that added an extra layer of ineffability to an already bizarre persona.

Here's an episode from 1977 featuring Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie...



Her final show aired in June 1995...



This May 2012 feature in The Local has the story of how Crystal cared for Gus, her mentally and physically handicapped nephew whom she adopted, for nearly 40 years.

In recent years, they lived near Woodstock.

She often describes her life as unconventional. “I don’t have a normal sleep schedule, I have a bizarre child, my dog is limping, my cat is in love with the dog. It’s just a little bit off the beaten track here,” she said.

But then again, Ms. Crystal never cared much for the ordinary. “When I’m in the hospital and wondering where I’d rather be, I’m thinking I’d rather be sitting with Gus watching ‘Tom and Jerry.’ That’s the best I can think of.”

H/T Steven

Opening day at Bagel Belly

[Photo from Thursday because someone forgot to take a photo this morning]

As announced, Bagel Belly opened for bagelness business this morning at 6 at 114 Third Ave between East 13th Street and East 14th Street.

Decent-size crowd inside given the earlyish hour (8:30 a.m.). A Bagel Belly worker was standing outside handing out menus and telling people bagels were 50-percent off the first week.

Anyway! Inside...









...haven't seen one of these in awhile (since that time at a Holiday Inn Express)...



The menu is quite extensive... they offer eight salad wraps, 13 tossed salad varieties, eight kinds of panini, eight daily soups, plus burgers, sandwiches ...


[Click to go big]


[Ditto]

As for the basics, a bagel with butter is $1.50; $2.75 with plain cream cheese... and you can see the varieties available...



And as you might expect, there was a little confusion given that they were just 2.5 hours into their opening. For instance, people tried to order from the cashiers when you need place your order with one of the workers behind the counter ... (seems kinda obvious to me)... and there was a whispered conversation about what to charge me for avocado (yeah, yeah).

I liked my plain bagel. Probably not as much as ones that I've had at Tompkins Square Bagels or Ess-A-Bagel. But solid. (This is why I never write about food. I can't think of anything to say aside from solid.)

Given the proximity to, say, Con Ed office workers, Mount Sinai Beth Israel staffers, NYU students, Union Square straphangers... Bagel Belly should do a good business.

Oh, and they will toast your bagel.

Bagel Belly has a website here.

Pigeons still won't use the paper plates that are provided

This morning's bread dump along Avenue A in Tompkins Square Park... previously

The Crocodile Lounge is still open

Because a few people have asked now... the bar at 325 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue with the free pizza is still open. The awning disappeared about, oh, 10 days or so ago. Giving the place that We're Closed look.

Perhaps a new or refurbished one is one the way...


[Malcolm Brown/NYCGo]

Almost everybody is working for the weekend

Tacocat's third studio record, Lost Time, is out today... here's a track from that called "I Hate the Weekend." (Also, "X-Files" fans may like their tribute song to Scully.)

And the Seattle-based Tacocat will be at the Mercury Lounge on April 12.

EV Grieve Etc.: Self-serve craft beer on Clinton Street; WFMU at the movies

[Photo on St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg]

Hello Jean-Georges: "Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel at 215 Chrystie St. will also be a luxe nightlife playground, boasting at least eight separate dining & entertaining spaces" (The Lo-Down)

An in-depth look at Blackstone's Stuy Town-Peter Cooper deal (Gothamist)

A sneak preview of the upcoming exhibit at the Queens Museum called "Hey! Ho! Let's Go: Ramones and the Birth of Punk" (NY1)

Never-ending East Houston construction continues to damper local business (DNAinfo)

Self-serve craft beer shop Paloma Rocket opens soon at 7 Clinton St. (BoweryBoogie)

A look at the now-completed condo-plex at 372 Lafayette (NY Yimby ... previously on EVG)

"Sex and Broadcasting: A Film About WFMU" now playing (IFC Center)

The producers of "Barney’s Wall" (about the late East Village resident and Grove Press publisher Barney Rosset and the mural in his home office) need financial help finishing their documentary (East Hampton Star ... previously on EVG)

The average price of a Manhattan apartment surpassed $2 million (Curbed)

The documentary "Notfilm" (about Samuel Beckett's cinematic collaboration with Buster Keaton) makes its NYC premiere (Anthology Film Archives)

Rodenticide likely culprit for a red-tailed hawk's death in Chinatown (Laura Goggin Photography)

About the new zine Time Warp (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

...and everyone wants to get into the act...


[DB]

The scoop on the former Sock Man space on St. Mark's Place

The for rent sign is down at 27 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Workers at the scene told EVG correspondent Steven that an independent ice cream shop will be opening in the space later this spring. That's all we know about it at the moment.

Until Jan. 16, the storefront was home for 30-plus years to The Sock Man.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Sock Man is closing on St. Mark's Place

The Sock Man says thank you; store closes on Saturday

Closing portraits at The Sock Man

Pizzeria proposed for the corner of Avenue C and East 8th Street

[EVG file photo]

In recent years, not even proposed restaurants have been able to make the space on the northwest corner of Avenue C and Eighth Street work.

This month, the proprietors behind the cocktail bar Mother's Ruin in Nolita will appear before CB3's SLA committee for a full liquor license for a proposed pizzeria.

According to public documents on the CB3 website, the space will feature 22 tables with 56 seats and a bar for 13. (The configuration also shows five sidewalk tables. The previous restaurant tenants here also had sidewalk cafes.) The proposed hours are noon to 2 a.m. (until 10 p.m. for the outdoor seating).

The documents include a sample menu...


[Click to go big]

In January, an applicant appeared before CB3 for a sushi restaurant. CB3's SLA committee would only approve a beer-wine license with a midnight closing time. The applicant was seeking full liquor with a 2 a.m. close. In addition, according to CB3 meeting notes, "this applicant has no experience operating or managing a licensed or similar business and has no developed plan or team to operate this business." So apparently the applicant decided to move on.

As previously noted, this corner space has been home to Lumé, the "Epicurean drinkery," ... Life - Kitchen and Bar … which had taken over for Verso. Other restaurants here in the past seven years include Caffe Pepe Rosso and Caffe Cotto.

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

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 8th Street and Avenue C, home to 5 restaurants in recent years, is now on the market

The big ol' Bagel Belly opens tomorrow (Saturday!)

The Grand Opening Signage went up yesterday.... Bagel Belly makes its debut starting tomorrow at 6 a.m. here at 114 Third Ave between East 13th Street and East 14th Street.



And the signage points to 50-percent off ... something. (Bagels and all sandwiches?) Tomorrow through April 9.

You may find our 349 Bagel Belly posts here.

The Ess-A-Bagel signage has arrived, but the opening date has been postponed

The sign is up now (as of last week) at Ess-A-Bagel, 324-326 First Ave. at East 19th Street in the Shoppes of Stuy Town.

However, the original February opening date never obviously happened. According to the new issue of Town & Village (story not online yet), David Wilpon, one of the owners, said that there have been some unnamed obstacles that have pushed back the timing. He's now looking at a May opening.

Meanwhile, renovations of the space continue. "We are plodding along," he said.

Updated 5 p.m.

The story is now online here

H/T Edmund John Dunn

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Landlord forcing Ess-a-Bagel from its longtime home (46 comments)

1 week left for Ess-A-Bagel at its current 1st Avenue location

[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel has closed for now on 1st Avenue

[Updated] Ess-A-Bagel announces its new location on 1st Avenue

Do you have what it takes to take this free Team Hot Wheels backpack?

Spotted on East Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue earlier today... with a sign "This backpack comes with immense responsibility."

Possibly the work of the East Fifth Street Tree Committee?

Photo by Derek Berg

Who wants an egg cream?

Morning milk delivery today at Ray's Candy Store, 113 Avenue A...Photo by Peter Brownscombe

Spring

[St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery by Allen Semanco]


[Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]


[TSP via DB]


[Over Avenue A via Grant Shaffer]


[Christo rooftop sunbathing on Avenue B by Bobby Williams]

Report: Settlement reached with family of man stabbed to death at Barrier Free Living

The operators of Barrier Free Living at 270 E. Second St. agreed to settle with the family of Ronal Garcia, who was fatally stabbed by another resident inside the facility between Avenue C and Avenue D in December 2009, the Daily News reports.

The $1.2 million settlement came toward the end of a month-long trial. The family of Garcia, who was 24, sued Barrier Free Living, arguing the city-contracted nonprofit for people with disabilities failed to protect the victim. Felipe Rivera-Cruz, who, like Garcia, uses a wheelchair, is currently serving a 25-years-to-life prison sentence.

Before the fatal encounter, the two men got into a fistfight after Garcia made a comment about Rivera-Cruz’s manhood, authorities said. They knocked each other out of their wheelchairs and on the floor during the melee before staff broke it up. The men were then separated and cops were called.

At the trial, Barrier Free Living officials claimed they lost incident reports filled out by staff during the attack. And they couldn’t find the portion of a video showing Rivera-Cruz ride past the security guard on the main floor.

Image via Google Street View