Unleashed

First Avenue and East Fourth Street today vis Bobby Wiliams...

Week in Grieview

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

East Third Street buildings sell for $58 million, $34.5 million over the 2012 price (Tuesday)

Demolition permits filed for former Mobil station on Avenue C; plus new renderings of what's replacing it (Thursday)

Here's the rolled ice cream shop taking over the former Sock Man space on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Woman in critical condition after being struck by cab on University Place (Thursday)

The former Nino's is for rent on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place (Monday)

Developer Douglas Steiner presents Steiner East Village (Tuesday)

City clears the homeless out of Tompkins Square Park ahead of the mayor's visit to discuss the homeless (Tuesday)

New York state AG's office investigates Rivington House; city orders full Stop Work Order on the demolition (Wednesday)

Something in the works for the vacant space that housed Irreplaceable Artifacts on Second Avenue (Thursday)

Owner of 99 Favor Taste bringing Korean-style barbecue and Chinese hot pot to St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Condos hit the market at former East 13th Street dumping ground (Friday)

11 stories of condos to join the growing East Houston residential horridor (Wednesday)

Proprietors offer more details about proposed Vietnamese restaurant for St. Mark's Place (Friday)

Cadillac's Castle has closed on East Ninth Street (Thursday)

On the corners of Avenue C: Albert Trummer's incoming Sanatorium; a closed pizzeria (Friday)

Sidewalk bridge at 100 Avenue A looks so naked now without the naked, painted people (Monday)

The Lyric Diner has closed once again in Gramercy Park (Wednesday)

All dogs in Stuy Town must now have a tag and lanyard (Friday)

Nohohon Tea Room opens on St. Mark's Place (Saturday)

Drake, lost and found (Thursday)

Verizon Wireless closes for good on Second Avenue (Thursday)

New sushi restaurant on First Avenue has portion sizes for men and women (Monday)

Eye Beauty Spa opens on East Fourth Street (Monday)

... and always fun to see a snowplow on April 9...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Broadway Panhandler is gone

In January, Norman Kornbluth, the owner of Broadway Panhandler, announced that he was retiring, that his cookware retail shop on East Eight Street near Broadway would be closing.

We lost track of the closing date. (It was originally reported as some time this spring without a specific date.)

Anyway, in case you were planning on one last trip... the shop closed at the end of March. Our blogging friend Roger_Paw discovered this yesterday...



According to their Facebook account, limited inventory is still available at www.broadwaypanhandler.com.

The shop opened in 1976. Broadway Panhandler has been at the Eighth Street location the past 10 years.

New location of Mamoun's Falafel now with Mamoun's Falafel signage on St. Mark's Place

[Photo by Derek Berg]

Yesterday afternoon, workers put up the new signage at 30 St. Mark's Place...


[DB]

...soon to be home to the new Mamoun's Falafel...


[DB]

... and a look today...



As we first reported back in December, Mamoun's will be relocating to this larger space from their longtime home at 22 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

We haven't heard an exact open date yet for No. 30. The move is supposed to take place this spring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mamoun's Falafel is moving on St. Mark's Place

Your Sunday morning Hare Krishna tree photo

Tompkins Square Park a little earlier... It's out. A little chilly.

Updated: Cupcake Market opens today on East 7th Street

That's according to a reader and the Cupcake Market website, which doesn't offer up any other details at the moment...

The market is located at 74 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...


[Photo from March 30 by Derek Berg]

The previous tenant, North Star Tattoo, closed at the end of 2015 after eight years in business.

Updated 12:30 4/10

An EVG reader stopped by and gave the bakery high marks... they were selling six varieties of cupcakes ($3.75 each) and they also had apple pie, banana bread and rosemary-cheddar scones. The Market sells coffee and tea as well.

And here's a photo of the candidate cookies someone mentioned in the comments...


[Image via @cupcakemarketnyc]

Updated 4/12

The Daily News has a piece today on how quickly the candidate cookies are selling. Read that here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Former tattoo shop will now house the Cupcake Market on East 7th Street

[Updated] Manhole problems on 9th and C

We've heard several varying reports this morning about FDNY and Con Ed activity on the northeast corner of Avenue C and Ninth... One reader reported hearing "an explosion" around 9 a.m.

The FDNY was quickly on the scene...

Fire in the (man) hole! @evgrieve pic.twitter.com/ezIP9xVpLH

— Ted Roden (@tedroden) April 9, 2016

Unofficial word here is a fire in the electrical cables underground ...


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

Updated 10:28 a.m.

Bystanders say the fire is not coming from a manhole... but rather a Con Ed sidewalk grating/access hatch... Con Ed and the FDNY are still on the scene.

Nohohon Tea Room opens today on St. Mark's Place

The tea room, which got its start in Toronto, opens here in the Bubble Tea District up the stairs at 9 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Here's more about their product via their website:

Nohohon Tea Room offers a healthier alternative flavours for bubble tea enthusiasts! Keeping true to the owner roots our green teas are imported from Japan and are steeped to the every guests’ order. Nohohon Tea Room specializes for Matcha drinks, which are hand whisked to each order ensuring maximum freshness.

Our tea is white-sugar Free and uses no artificial powders or powdered milk in the drinks. Pure sugar cane and organic agave are used as a basic sweetener. We also offers an option of sugar-free sweetener and dairy alternatives, Almond milk and Soy milk to cater to your dietary needs. We are also able to offer Vegan and Gluten-Free bubble teas ...

The shop opens at 1 p.m.

This space was previously home to the Brooklyn Dark Hemp Bar, which closed after just three months last October when the city said the cafe needed four sinks — one for soaking dishes, two others for sanitizing and rinsing dishes, and one for hand washing.

Previously on EV Grieve:
First U.S. hemp bar is now open on St. Mark's Place

[Updated] City forces the country's 1st Hemp Bar to close on St. Mark's Place

Something new for 9 St. Mark's Place, but not St. Mark's Place

Report: Police kill a pit bull during a domestic abuse call on Avenue D

During a domestic abuse call last night in the Lillian Wald Houses, police shot and killed a pit bull that attacked one of the officers, the Daily News reports.

The chaotic scene unfolded around 9 last night on the 10th floor of 30 Avenue D.

The crazed pit bull sunk its teeth into the bottom of one officer’s vest – prompting his partner to whip out his gun and kill the dog with one shot, cops said.

Meanwhile, according to the News, a man in the apartment led police on a foot chase that ended on Avenue B and East Houston, where cops subdued the man with a stun gun.

One witness said the man, surrounded by cops, was screaming and flailing until police used the stun gun.

“It was like prime-time TV,” the witness said.

According to the News, the man struck a 30-year woman, believed to be his niece, during a family fight. The woman then called 911. Charges are reportedly pending.

Police also used a tranquilizer on a second pit bull inside the apartment and delivered the dog to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, per the report.

A tenant who lives upstairs said she heard barking and a woman’s wails, followed by a loud bang.

“The dog was barking and the woman screamed, and then a single shot,” she told the Daily News. “You hear all sorts of things in the projects. Usually you don’t pay any mind. But this was crazy!”

In the sunset hour

Somewhere over by Avenue C via Bobby Williams...

Foul play

On the bill tonight at the Cake Shop on Ludlow Street — Las Piñas, who are bringing their brand of surf punk from Argentina. The video is for their song "Panteras."

EV Grieve Etc.: Protesting Steve Croman; previewing the Ramones

[Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Derek Berg]

Tenants get the boot from landlord Steve Croman's office (DNAinfo ... B+B)

City Council weighing oversight hearings on shady Rivington House deal (Capital New York)

A preview of the Ramones exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art that opened Sunday (Gothamist)

And that time the Ramones smiled in a photo (The New York Times)

Difethialone, which has been banned by the EPA for residential use, is being used to kill rats in a public park (Laura Goggin Photogrpahy)

A selection of films Roland Barthes cared for, decried, and, in some instances, helped make (Anthology Film Archives)

"Why New York’s Most Important Art District Is Now the Lower East Side" (Artsy)

A trip to Coney Island (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Pommes Frites one step closer to opening on MacDougal Street (NY Yimby)

...and moving via Citi Bike continues to be a challenge...


[Photo by Derek Berg]

Condos hit the market at former East 13th Street dumping ground

The new residences at 536 E. 13th St. arrived on the market this week... the 6-floor building between Avenue A and Avenue B features 11 homes, which range in price from $1.3 to $1.6 million for around 830-860 feet and one bedroom, according to Streeteasy. (Three of the listed homes are already in contract.)

Here's more on the units via Town:

The condominium consists of 11 residences, with a full floor unit at the ground level and only two homes per floor on the upper five stories. The ground floor residence offers 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, plus home office, and a generous fully landscaped rear yard designed by Terrain Landscape Architects. Floors two through five consist of eight one bedroom residences with windowed home offices, and the sixth floor residences include two full bedrooms.

Each of the rear homes include balconies, while the fifth floor front and sixth floor units include spacious private roof terraces; all with quintessential New York City skyline views. Additionally, each residence includes a dedicated storage room in the basement.

As for the individual units, back to Town:

From the interiors, the beautiful windows allow natural light to wash the entirety of the clean and elegant living spaces within. Each light filled home is enhanced by the feeling of openness and clarity provided by wide plank oak floors, custom doorways and high ceilings of more than nine feet.

The kitchens and bathrooms offer subtle details, rich materials, and high quality fixtures and equipment. Bianco Dolomite marble and mirrored glass meld seamlessly into the walls of each bathroom; while top of the line fixtures, including Toto and Zuma provide refined comfort. Each kitchen is punctuated by function.

You can see for yourself during an open house Sunday afternoon at 2.

The lot had been home to a stalled development for years... until this project kicked into gear during 2013.

[December 2009]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Your chance to own a stalled project lot on East 13th Street

A dormant construction site on East 13th Street

536 E. 13th Street is a real dump now

Proprietors offer more details about proposed Vietnamese restaurant for St. Mark's Place

A Vietnamese restaurant is in the works for the old Luca Bar space at 119 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue, as we first reported.

The three principals, who will appear before CB3's SLA committee on April 18 in hopes of securing a full liquor license, have posted letters on adjacent buildings.

The letters offer a few more details about what's in store for No. 119...



In part:

"Our restaurant will feature creative, classic and contemporary Vietnamese cuisine featuring dishes like a Green Papaya Salad with Prawns, Whole Bass grilled in a banana leaf, Lemongrass Pork Chops...

We will be applying for a liquor license so that we may complement our cuisine with Vietnamese-inspired cocktails containing unique Southeast Asian fruits and juices, and beverages that will otherwise pair well with food."

Their proposed hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday; until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

According to the questionnaire (a 30-page PDF) on file at the CB3 website, two of the proprietors have worked for Stephen Starr's Starr Restaurants, whose NYC establishments include Upland, El Vez, The Clocktower, Morimoto and Buddakan.

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.

On the corners of Avenue C: Albert Trummer's incoming Sanatorium; a closed pizzeria

Yesterday, we reported that the demo orders are now in to take down the Mobil station on Avenue C and East Second Street/East Houston to make way for a 10-story residential building.

This prompted several readers to note the changes on other nearby corners of Avenue C.

So let's start with the northeast corner of Avenue C and Second Street... as reported last summer, mixologist Albert Trummer is opening a cocktail bar in the space that last housed Adinah's Farm...


[Photo from Wednesday]


[Photo from March 26]

The space is called Sanatorium ... no word on an official opening date just yet... (their Instagram account said February...)

Albert Trummer announces his new NYC bar Sanatorium - opening New York Fashion Week February 2016

A photo posted by @sanatoriumnyc on Dec 13, 2015 at 5:56pm PST

-----

Meanwhile, Majesty Pizza and Grill on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Third Street closed back in January...



...an eviction notice followed in early February...



An EVG reader who lives nearby notes the pizzeria started selling fresh fruits and vegetables at the end of the year... to give people who didn't want pizza a reason to stop by... apparently they didn't.

----

And across Avenue C... the corner buildings remain abandoned...



There has been a full vacate order on 32 Avenue C at the corner since August 2012. There's nothing on file with the DOB to suggestion anything happening here any time soon.

All dogs in Stuy Town must now have a tag and lanyard

An EVG tipster shared the following missive with us from the senior director of resident relations for Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village:

In an effort to keep PCVST occupied with only registered dogs, Public Safety is requiring all dog owners to hang their dog’s registration tag from the leash handle. Complimentary lanyards are now available to clip on to the handle of the leash so that the registration tag can be clearly visible. After April 30th, 2016, anyone walking a dog on property without a lanyard and tag will be asked to leave the grounds, including dog walkers who walk PCVST dogs along with non-registered dogs.

The lanyard and clips are now available for pickup at the Resident Services Office at 276 1st Avenue Loop and Public Safety at 2 Stuyvesant Oval. If your dog is already registered, simply show your dog’s registration tag to the receptionist and you’ll be given a lanyard.

Per the EVG tipster: "They should worry about out-of-control delivery guys, residents who don't clean up after their dogs and woo-ers."

Fine, as long as the squirrels don't start eating pizza with a fork in Tompkins Square Park

Goggla spotted this happening today in Tompkins Square Park...

As for using a fork with the pizza... to date, the squirrels in the Park seem to have it down... flashback to 2014...


[Photo by Goggla]

[Updated] Drake is lost

These flyers are up around parts of the neighborhood... Drake was last seen last evening at Second Avenue and East Second Street.

Updated!
See the comments... Drake is safe back at home.

H/T Creature

[Updated] Woman in critical condition after being struck by cab on University Place

A yellow cab reportedly jumped the curb this morning on University Place, pinning a woman against a building near East Eighth Street.

The collision happened around 10:50 a.m. NYU College of Dentistry professor John Evans witnessed the incident.

“The woman was facing away from the cab, and when it hit her, she went up in the air and the cab basically pinned her against the wall,” Evans told NYU's Washington Square News.

The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was in critical condition but is currently stable, according to an update at WSN.

Woman hit by taxi in front of Weinstein, in critical condition

-- https://t.co/A6BAxuCDqC pic.twitter.com/D4j9rSSNJn

— Washington Sq. News (@nyunews) April 7, 2016

The cab driver was suffering from a medical attack, which caused him to lose control of the car, police sources told the Post. There apparently haven't been any charges filed as the investigation continues.

Updated:
The Daily News has a different version of things. They reported that the victim, 32-year-old Meral Arisoy "was battling for her life after she was hit and dragged a half block by an out of control cab going the wrong way."

"After the accident, the driver went back to his car to look for something,” [witness Jay] Ahn said. “He didn't like he was fazed too much."

The mayhem started after the unidentified cab driver went the wrong way on East 8th St. and University Place at 10:53 a.m. Thursday, police officials said.

The cabbie smashed into a tree pot and then hit Arisoy whose body got wedged under the car, witnesses said.

Ahn and another witness said the cabbie appeared to be speeding.

Development watch: 14 2nd Ave.

There's finally some activity to note at 14 Second Ave. ... the now (mostly) empty lot adjacent to First Park that housed Irreplaceable Artifacts until its demolition by the city in July 2000.

According to published reports that summer, a wall and two floors collapsed, which forced the evacuation of 51 apartments in three nearby buildings.

As The New York Times reported at the time:

A construction crew was making alterations to the first floor of the four-story shop, Irreplaceable Artifacts, in defiance of an order to stop work, a spokesman for the city's Buildings Department said.

City officials ordered the building destroyed, along with everything inside — including several Tiffany windows valued at $50,000 each and a walnut ceiling from William Randolph Hearst's collection. Evan Blum, the owner of Irreplaceable Artifacts, salvages fixtures from demolished buildings and refurbishes them. The collection was worth millions of dollars, Mr. Blum said.

No one was injured. (No. 14 was not for residential use at this time.)

The site has been tied up for years with litigation between Blum and the city. (The Observer has a nice recap here.)





Yesterday, in a rather vague post, Real Estate Weekly noted the following:

SKW Funding closed a $12 million first lien mortgage loan for the refinance and cross-collateralization of two Manhattan properties.

The first asset is located between Houston Street and East 1st Street on Second Avenue in the East Village.

The site is a predominately vacant land which contains the foundation from a prior structure that was demolished in 2000.

The second site is on 125th Street... which also happens to be where the Blum-owned Demolition Depot is located.

While there's some financial paperwork (and cross-collateralization!) happening, to date, there aren't any new work permits on file with the city for the address.

Back in 2007, Blum proposed a 10-story hotel for the property. The idea didn't really go over well at a CB3 committee meeting in the summer of 2007. Per The Villager:

While presenting the preview of the hotel proposal to C.B. 3’s Land Use Committee, Blum’s attorney was met by passionate testimony from tenants of the neighboring Cube Building urging committee members to block it based on Blum’s previous record.

“Given the history of Mr. Evan Blum, it’s very hard to have a positive take on any proposal coming from him,” said Valerio Orselli, executive director of Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association, which manages the Cube Building. “He has a very cavalier attitude when it comes to laws and regulations in the city of New York.”

Blum later expounded on the project to The Villager:

“We intend to do something really nice and interesting and beautiful that the neighborhood could be proud of, as opposed to the crap that is being built around the neighborhood,” he said.

Blum described the project as “more philanthropic in nature, rather than a self-serving commercial interest,” and said it would be “geared toward the arts.”

The hotel would also venture into new gastronomic territory.

“We will be attempting to build the finest vegan restaurant in the city,” Blum said. “It’s something I’ve practiced for many years and it’s finally gaining more stature in society. I think it’s important that one evokes these principles.”

We're looking forward (mostly!) hearing about what might be next for the lot.