The new Shops on East Fifth Street are ready for retail (and a coffee shop)

[Photo from Monday]

The storefront renovations are (mostly) complete now on Fifth Street just east of Second Avenue.

There are three spaces in what are being presented as the Shops on East Fifth Street. A tipster tells us that the middle space will house an Argentinian coffee shop. The other two storefronts are for rent... the bare-bones listing at Coldwell Banker Commercial notes the asking rent is $125 per square foot...



As previously reported, in July 2014, the owners of the previous three businesses had to vacate their storefronts due to a structural issue in the building at 300 E. Fifth St.

S & P Liquor & Wine eventually moved to Second Avenue … while Jamie the check-cashing guy, whose family owned the business for 68 years, had to shut down at the end of 2014 as repairs dragged on. He had been operating for five months from a secure van outside his shop. The Today's Cut hair salon moved to East Seventh Street just west of Avenue A.

Previously on EV Grieve:
3 small businesses temporarily closed due to structural issues at 300 E. 5th St.

RUMOR: The Dahlia's space will be converted into a salad bar

Multiple tipsters have told us that the closed-for-now Dahlia's on Second Avenue and Fifth Street will return as a quick-serve restaurant specializing in salads.

Here's how one tipster put it: "It's going to be a salad bar! Saw them bringing in the sneeze guards. Per a super on the block it's definitely a salad bar and no liquor license."

The Mexican restaurant temporarily closed in early May while the State Liquor Authority decides their future booze fate. Back in February, the SLA temporarily suspended Dahlia's liquor license after serving a reported 50 minors one night. Dahlia's stayed open without alcohol after this, though business appeared quite slow.

The State Liquor Authority website shows that the license, set to expire Nov. 30, 2017, is currently inactive.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Dahlia's busted after cops find 43 minors drinking inside locked restaurant

More about the underage drinking bust at Dahlia's; plus, reaction from NYU students

7th Street residents angered after developer cuts down the wrong tree

[EVG photo of 79-89 Avenue D from June]

Over at 79-89 Avenue D, L&M Development Partners have been prepping for a 12-story retail-residential building with 110 dwelling units here between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

On Wednesday, residents at 274 E. Seventh St. said they were angered to discover that workers "mistakenly cut down a six-story tree" in the backyard of their co-op building.

A resident with knowledge of the situation said that L&M had a work order to remove one tree — from 278 E. Seventh St. However, the crew cut down that tree as well as the one behind No. 274.


[Behind 274 E. 7th St.]

The residents contacted the Department of Buildings via 311, and were told that it wasn't a DOB matter. The 311 rep suggested calling the police.

As for the loss of the tree, the resident said that an L&M rep confirmed they made a mistake and are prepared to do something for the co-op "within reason."

"What could possibly make whole the loss of the sole grace note of our backyard, shading our apartments in the summer, announcing the arrival of spring when it's buds peeped out, the golden light that filtered through its changing leaves in the fall and the shelter it provided squirrels, blue jays, sparrows and rare hawk visits?"

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Space that houses Rite Aid on Avenue D hits market for $22.5 million

Report: New 12-story, mixed-use building in the works for Avenue D

Permit pre-filed for new 12-floor building at 79-89 Avenue D

Former Avenue D Rite Aid has been demolished to make way for a 12-story building

Prepping for 'Rocky Horror'

The rain held off ... and the first in the Films in Tompkins summer series is a go tonight ... with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

As you can see in the above photo via Derek Berg... the film will be shown in the central plaza and not the lawn tonight...

Lost and found: This cab on 3rd Avenue

From late this afternoon... EVR reader @tedroden spotted this on Third Avenue at East Ninth Street. Abandoned. All alone.

Per Ted: "Nobody was around it even. No sign of driver. No cops. Nothing."

[Updated] Picturesque New York City Marble Cemetery getting a Citi Bike docking station out front

This is happening outside the historic cemetery founded in 1831, and located at 52-74 E. Second St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Perhaps the Cemetery organizers requested a docking station ... make it easier for people to visit during its Neighborhood Open Days... but nothing like a docking station to ruin a view.

Photo by EVG contributor James Maher

Updated 1:30 p.m.

A few readers believe this is temporary... because construction has temporarily displaced the docking station on Second Avenue and Second Street...

Updated 7/9

Cemetery officials did NOT request the docking station... They did not even receive any notice of the docking station's arrival. I'll do a separate post on this...

Today's weather is unbearable

EVG reader @laurab0401 spotted the above today on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

As for that weather... there are three alerts from the National Weather Service for NYC... there's a heat advisory, flash flood watch and air quality alert...



The city's cooling centers are open today.

Resident: July 4 collision highlights dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

An EVG reader, who lives near East Houston and Avenue B/Clinton Street, has again expressed concerned about the intersection following a collision on July 4.

According to the reader, a Zipcar heading north on Clinton Street ran a light ... a westbound cab hit the car, sending the rental up onto the curb, hitting a pedestrian and then crashing into the Banco Popular at 1 Avenue B.



The reader said that the pedestrian, a male in his early 30s, sustained a leg injury. The passengers in the rental — a man, woman and three children — were all taken to the hospital. It wasn't believed that their injuries were serious.

Given the holiday and demands on the NYPD, it took officers 75 minutes to respond. Several witnesses stayed to give statements, though the driver of the cab left the scene.





Per the reader:

"Only a handful of cars can make the right off the Williamsburg Bridge before the light changes ... and many try to run the light at Houston and Avenue B because they've been waiting 15 minutes to get from Delancey to Houston. On top of that, you've got people coming off the FDR westbound onto Houston still doing highway speeds.

This is an incredible dangerous intersection. [The city] should reverse the direction of Clinton Street."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reports: 73-year-old East Village woman struck and killed by van while crossing East Houston

More accidents on East Houston Street

Reader report: An assessment of the dangerous East Houston-Avenue B/Clinton Street intersection

This may have a chilling effect on the rat population in Tompkins Square Park

You may have noticed the red flags around areas of Tompkins Square Park. At first we thought it might be some kind of golf/scavenger hunt-themed drinking game.

EVG contributor Derek Berg points out that these are in place to note where Park workers have placed dry ice pellets into the burrows where rats live.

The city of Boston started employing this method of rat control back in the spring as a non-toxic alternative to poisons.

Here's more from William Christopher, commissioner of Boston's Inspectional Services Department, with an explanation in an article from the Globe this past April:

Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. As it melts, it turns into carbon dioxide gas, which fills the burrow, suffocating any rats inside.

Christopher said it is a more humane way of killing the rodents — and significantly cheaper than using rat poison.

He said his staff has used more than 400 pounds of dry ice over the past six weeks, and that altogether it cost just $225.

“The simplicity of this process is one of the things that most intrigues me,” he added. “And the success is what has me very excited.”

Using dry ice reduces the risk to other animals and children that poison can pose, he said.

Other cities, including New York, are also now experimenting with dry ice.

As previously reported, our very own Community District 3 ranked No. 1 in 2015, according to the Health Department, as having the worst rat problem in Manhattan. And apparently the city's rat complaint record set last year will fall in 2016.

Report: New owner for 92-94 2nd Ave.

The 6-story building at 92-94 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street has been sold

The Real Deal reported that the Sabet Group bought the 22-unit rental building from investment firm Emmes Group of Companies for $19 million.

In total, there are 20 apartments, including five rent-stabilized units, and two retail spaces — the restaurant Local 92 and the empty space that housed the bar Kabin until March 2015.

The Sabet Group has made headlines for alleged tenant harassment in the past.

Free tonight in Tompkins Square Park: 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'

[EVG file photo of Dr. Frank-N-Furter]

Tonight's free film in Tompkins Square Park is 1975's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Another chance to see newlyweds Brad and Janet lost with a flat tire. (If only they had smartphones then!)



No word if toast and rice will be allowed into the Park. (And no cussing. And you have to wear a suit in the pool.)

There's pre-movie music from Hawthorne.

As always, this is weather permitting... If it's a Thursday in the summer, then it will rain. Or so it seems. And there's a 50 percent chance of thundershowers tonight, according to our sources at The Weather Channel.

Check the Films in Tompkins Facebook page for updates on tonight's screening.

And as a reminder of what's coming up...

A memorial for Alton Sterling on Avenue A

Spotted at Fifth Street.

Today, the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, by the Baton Rouge, La., police department. According to published reports, two officers, who are white, had Sterling pinned to the ground when at least one of them shot him. Officials have not said whether Sterling was armed at the time he was killed, CNN reported.

From Farm to Table, sort of

A summertime scene as a five-man assembly line took delivery of watermelons outside Village Farm Grocery on Second Avenue and Ninth Street...





These guys are pretty much a Dream Team and will be tough to beat in any watermelon tossing competition. They'll likely go undefeated this coming season.

Photos by Derek Berg.

Out and About in the East Village

In this ongoing 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: London
Occupation: Engineer (Music)
Location: 4th Street and 1st Avenue
Time: 4:30 pm on Thursday, June 30

I’m originally from the Bronx and grew up in Manhattan. I was raised in Brooklyn for half of my life, got into some trouble out there and my mom moved me to the Lower East Side. I lived by FDR Drive almost half my life. I lived over there in the Baruch Houses, grew up over there going to school.

It was pretty cool for me because you know, I was different. I learned how to play basketball. I met a lot of different people. Then after that the world started opening up for me, and as I got older things got rougher in the city. The Lower East Side used to be the city that never sleeps.

My mom, she was strung out on crack or whatever, so most of the time I was by myself. I raised myself out here. I’ve been raising myself until now, since I was young. Back then when I was out here, people used to walk around buying drugs and stuff on Avenue D. They would get ripped off; people would rob them, take their money. But they didn’t care because they wanted that fix. You know, I’ve seen a lot of stuff out there.

When I was around 22 or 23 ... I used to sell a lot of cocaine out there man. A lot of people used drugs. My friend [was selling] at the time and I used to sell weed. I was like damn; I used to see them make a lot of money.

Then this guy I used to know, he’d see me walking around all the time — this Dominican guy. He comes up to me, ‘Come here Papi.’ I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ He’s like, ‘I see you out here a lot, you want to make some money?’ I said, ‘Doing what?’ He said, ‘You know what this is?’ He showed me some coke. I was like, ‘that’s coke.’ He was like, ‘Well this is what I do.’ And then from there, I guess he just flooded me with cocaine. He gave me a job and I took advantage of it.

Instead of being out here hustling from hand to hand, you can get money smart. You can meet people that own businesses. A lot of these businesses out here, I used to go there and knock off coke for the staff, then leave that place and go to another spot. Half of these businesses out here, people use drugs. You would never know that. You could go in a restaurant and people would be sitting down eating. I used to walk in and it’s like, it’s candy time. It’s like a little kid walking in a candy store, and everybody’s like ‘oh shit.’ It’s like me walking in with a big bag of candy. I was making so much money through all these people.

A lot of my friends died. People are still doing the same shit. You know, sometimes people just gotta push themselves somewhere else, to the next level, and this ain’t it. I got my mom into rehab and then I bought her a house in Virginia, and I moved out there and I stayed away for 15 years, just to get away from all that shit that was out here.

I escaped everything. A lot of my friends were dying. I couldn’t take it no more, so I just left, took off. I started a new life. Now I’m into music, hip hop and R&B. I went back to school and all that, for engineering. But I’ve been doing [music] all my life.

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

Time for new socks, and a store: Sock Man sighting on St. Mark's Place

The Sock Man, aka Marty Rosen, has been busy prepping his new storefront at 99 1/2 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue for business.

As we first reported last Thursday, The Sock Man is returning to St. Mark's Place after a rent increase forced him to close his longtime home at No. 27 between Second Avenue and Third Avenue back in January.

Rosen hopes to be open in the new space by Aug. 1.

Thanks to Steven and Michael Cummings for the photo!

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

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

The Sock Man is returning to St. Mark's Place

New 1st Avenue Ess-A-Bagel will have a TOASTER

[EVG photo from last week]

Ess-A-Bagel fans continue to wait for the new location to open at 324-326 First Ave. at East 19th Street in Stuy Town.

The opening date has ben pushed back several times, starting in February. The Ess-A-Bagel Facebook page shows a lot of progress, such as the arrival of tables and chairs as well as the deli case late last month. The opening date is "soon."

When this Ess-A-Bagel opens, there will be one noticeable difference... the presence of a TOASTER...


Uh-oh!

The shop, which never offered the toasted bagel option, shut down its home of nearly 40 years on First Avenue at East 21st Street in March 2015 … depending on who's telling the story, there was some sort of disagreement between the landlord and Ess-A-Bagel’s owners. At the time, the Ess-A-Folks vowed that they would open in a new storefront nearby.

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

Rose&Basil bringing truffles, breakfast jars and coffee to 7th Street

We noticed the other day that the for rent sign is down at 104 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue... looks like some food service is on the way...



And just like that the signage arrived for Rose&Basil ...



Here's a description of what's in store:

Rose&Basil offers a variety of products such as exquisite Chocolate Truffles, all-you-need in a Breakfast Jar and a carefully selected variety [of] coffee. All our products are 100% gluten free, organic and have no added sugars...

Owner Ioana Holt and her friend Will Wang plan to open the shop on July 24.

An all-American modeling moment

EVG reader Tyler spotted this friendly note with nice penmanship on a front door along East Fifth Street... anyone else want to see these photos?

On the campaign trail with East Village landlord Jared Kushner

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

Several readers passed along the link to the Page 1 feature today in The New York Times titled Quiet Fixer in Donald Trump’s Campaign: His Son-in-Law, Jared Kushner.

According to the Cooper Square Committee, only Steve Croman owns more residential buildings in the East Village than Kushner does.

And as we've noted in multiple posts, there haven't been any shortage of tenant horror stories since Kushner and his company, Westminster City Living, started buying up properties in the East Village in 2013. For instance, in March, tenants at 118 E. Fourth St. went to Manhattan Housing Court 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. (Kushner eventually settled with the tenants.)

Brandon Kielbasa at the Cooper Square Committee told Gothamist in March 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."

In July 2014, DNAinfo reported that "Kushner is using lawsuits, disruptive construction and neglect to force rent-stabilized tenants out of two buildings he owns in the East Village, as he converts them to high-end apartments, according to court documents and residents."

Meanwhile, around that same time, the Daily News filed a story with the headline Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner forcing residents out of East Village building so he can get higher rents: tenants

In any event, the feature in the Times does not mention any of Kushner's holdings in the neighborhood or his reported aggressive tactics... focusing on his role as a key Trump adviser.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

In a gradual but unmistakable fashion, Mr. Kushner has become involved in virtually every facet of the Trump presidential operation, so much so that many inside and out of it increasingly see him as a de facto campaign manager. Mr. Kushner, who is married to Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka ... oversaw the creation of an online fund-raising system and has had a hand in drafting Mr. Trump’s few policy speeches. And now that Mr. Trump has secured the Republican nomination, Mr. Kushner is counseling his father-in-law on the selection of a running mate.

It is a new and unlikely role for Mr. Kushner, a conspicuously polite Harvard graduate whose prominent New Jersey family bankrolled Democrats for decades and whose father’s reputation was destroyed, in a highly public and humiliating manner, by his involvement in electoral politics.

The article notes that given the hectic campaign trail, "Kushner is devoting far less time to his real estate empire."

Previously on EV Grieve:
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

[Updated] New installation on Astor Place that you can take for a spin

[Photo by Sparber]

Uh, sorry... not the Alamo ... workers today put in a Citi Bike docking station on the under-renovation Cooper Square-Astor Place...


[Photo by Vinny & O]


[V&O]

I believe they just relocated this one from in front of Kmart... (and wasn't there one in front of Cooper Union a few years back?)

Updated 7:55 p.m.

Citi Bike says that this is a temporary relocation... due to the construction outside the uptown 6 stop...