The former Schnitz space is for rent

Shepard Fairey is wrapping up work on his mural on East 11th Street at First Avenue... above the space that housed Schnitz.

Several people said that they weren't aware that the sandwich specialists had closed.

We noted on Sept. 2 that the quick-serve restaurant hadn't been open in several weeks ... and that the storefront was listed for rent online.

The retail space for lease sign has been up for maybe two weeks now. According to the listing (PDF) at RKF, the asking rent is roughly $9,100 a month.

No one from Schnitz has responded about the closure via social media yet.

Schnitz, which served old-fashioned schnitzel sandwiches with unconventional toppings, opened here in March 2014. This was the first permanent retail space for Schnitz after gaining a following at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg and Dumbo.

Crossing East Houston

[Click to go big]

Although the East Houston Reconstruction project, already three years behind schedule, has been delayed again, there are some spots where work has mostly wrapped up... like at the East Houston/First Avenue/Allen Street intersection.

The markings are on the roadway for the crosswalks and bike lanes, as the above photo by Vinny & O shows.

The Department of Design and Construction has been replacing sewers, water mains, catch basins, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc., etc., along East Houston Street, from the Bowery to the FDR Drive. This work phase started in June 2010. Spring 2017 is the new completion date. Do I hear summer 2017?

[Updated] On today's grill menu: First deputy mayor Tony Shorris

First deputy mayor Tony Shorris is testifying today at a City Council hearing about the controversial sale of Rivington House on the Lower East Side to condo developers.

As Politico New York noted, this "will mark the highest-profile public airing of the controversy surrounding the sale of Rivington House"

Back in July, Shorris answered questions during an often contentious 2.5-hour interview with an investigator working on behalf of City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Through a Freedom of Information Law request, Politico obtained the 114-page transcript of that session.

Here's an excerpt from Politico's coverage:

It also seems clear, although Shorris never says so directly, that he did not have a particularly robust or effective mode of communicating with Stacey Cumberbatch, who was commissioner of DCAS until January of this year.

Cumberbatch informed Shorris through a routine memo about the potential sale of Rivington House, which had been a city-owned building before being sold to a nonprofit running an AIDS residence in the 1990s.

Shorris explained that he did not read the memo and that some time during the latter portion of his first year on the job, he stopped reading these memos in their entirety because they were too time-consuming.

Instead, he expected commissioners to use their judgment and inform him in person or over the phone of priorities and problems. But that evolution in communication strategy was never made clear to Cumberbatch, Shorris acknowledged during questioning.

And here's how the Post covered the July 27 Shorris meeting with investigators:

First Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris suffered numerous memory lapses about the Rivington Street nursing-home fiasco, telling investigators more than two dozen times that he couldn’t recall incidents, ­emails or details, records show.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s right-hand man claimed he couldn’t remember a meeting with Stacey Cumberbatch, a city commissioner, or the content of any conversations they had about Rivington in 2014.

When investigators tried to press Shorris over the memory lapse, his lawyer, G. Michael Bellinger, repeatedly intervened, the Post notes.

In February 2015, the Allure Group paid $28 million for the property, promising that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In November, a city agency lifted the the deed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city.

Earlier this year, Allure then reportedly sold the property for $116 million to the the Slate Property Group, a condo developer who plans to create 100 luxury residences in the building that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park.

Updated 9/30

Read more about what transpired during the six-hour hearing at DNAinfo... Daily News ... The New York Times...Politico... the Post...Village Voice ...

Meanwhile! As The Lo-Down reported, the de Blasio administration plans to create affordable senior housing on the Lower East Side to make up for the loss of Rivington House. The facility will be on Pike Street.

Clearing out the Edge

Workers quickly took down the Edge signage and cleared out the former bar space on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

As this photo via an EVG reader shows, bar stools and other items were up for grabs on the curb.

After 29 years, The Edge closed for good after service on Saturday. "We'll just say [the landlord, Thermald Realty Associates] found an opportunity to sue us for a bunch of money that we can't pay," a bar rep told us last month.

We haven't heard just yet if there is anyone lined up for the storefront... or if the space will be put on the rental market.

Verdigreen vintage furnishings boutique leaves the East Village

The storefront that sold paint and DIY supplies at 122 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue is now empty.

The owners of Verdigreen — described on their website as "a vintage redesigned furnishings boutique and handmade haven" — decided to move back to their flagship store in Montclair, N.J.

Per their website:

[W]e have learned that our customers in the city prefer to order paint remotely and have it delivered, that most of NYC is unaware of the magic of Chalk Paint®, and that a storefront isn’t required to service those who are. We are offering next business day delivery for phone/online orders in order to continue to service our NYC customers.

We will miss the sense of community in the East Village and appreciate all of you who came to visit and patronize our small shop!

The shop opened here in the spring of 2015. This space was previously home to La Belle Crepe.

Tonkatsuya has apparently closed on 6th Street

Zerza isn't the only recent closure to note on East Sixth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Tonkatsuya has been dark all month at No. 328. The Japanese restaurant's webite has been taken down and the phone number isn't in service.

The restaurant just opened in March... taking over the space from Sri Lankan specialists Banana Leaf, which also only lasted a few months.

Shepard Fairey creating a mural on 11th Street at 1st Avenue

[Photo by EVG reader Annabelle]

Shepard Fairey started work today on a mural above the former Schnitz space on 11th Street at First Avenue...


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

The mural is his second collaboration with the L.I.S.A Project.

Back in the spring/summer of 2010, Fairey's May Day piece on the Bowery Mural wall was bombed and eventually destroyed.

The art of this 2nd Avenue plywood

EVG correspondent Steven checked out the recent arrival of some artwork on the plywood outside 136 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street...



XORS finished up her work yesterday...





The other artists are Acool Inibab ... Anna Laurini ...Ethan Armen ... Phoebe New York ... and raemann1.

As we understand it, the folks next door at Fresco Gelateria commissioned this... As for No. 136, the former Bar 82, a French restaurant is apparently in the works.

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: Boris Ryback
Occupation: Retired plumber
Location: First Avenue and Fifth Street
Time: 3 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 26

I’ve been here since the 1950s. I grew up here. These [Village View buildings] were all brownstones. This building came up in the 1960s. There was only one park, Tompkins Square Park and that was it.

I lived between Avenue B and C on 7th Street originally, and then we moved to 5th between Avenue A and B. When I grew up on Avenue C, everything was pushcarts. The only thing that did not come off a pushcart was the milk, which was sold in the store. Eggs and everything else came from a farm. There was a farmer who would come around and you would buy the eggs from him ... about once a week.

You stayed within your own neighborhood. You did not go out of your neighborhood. You had to belong in a group in your neighborhood – same ethnicity. Then you made alliances with other groups in order to move around. You had to stay within your own group or you’d get rearranged. I went to St. George’s. A lot of my friends went to St. Stan’s, and more went to St. Brigid’s. The only place we went to every once in awhile was over to 7th Street to McSorley’s. That’s about it. Nothing’s changed. It only got filthier.

I enjoyed it. There were no problems. You had more freedoms when you were a kid then you have now. There are more rules now. Then the yuppies moved in. When they moved in, the price of rent went up. My parents were living on 7th Street between Avenue B and C. They were paying for a cold-water flat, $35 a month rent. The toilet was out in the hallway. The bathtub was in the kitchen. The building had no heat. You had to generate your own heat. When you went to the bathroom, you went quickly.

It stayed the same [in the 1970s and 1980s]. The ones that were gonna die, died, and the ones that were not gonna die were not gonna die, no matter what you did. Most of my friends became cops. A lot of them became sanitation men. A lot of us became plumbers. You looked for a job that made the most money, other than having to shoot somebody. I was a plumber in New York for a long period of time, then I moved to New Jersey, and I stayed. [He was visiting family who lives in Village View.] I just retired out of Rutgers University after being there for 23 years as a plumber.

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

More details on the 14-story building coming to the long-empty lot on 14th and C

[Photo from last month]

There's finally some updates about 644 E. 14th St., the long-empty lot on the southwest corner of Avenue C.

The info came in the form of a news release via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Madison Realty Capital (MRC), an institutionally-backed real estate investment firm focused on real estate equity and debt investments in the middle markets, provided a $52.0 million first mortgage loan for the acquisition of a development site in the East Village and construction of an approved 76,259 square foot mixed use development on the site.

The plans for 644 East 14th Street include 50 residential units, 8,064 square feet of retail space with 200 feet of frontage on 14th Street and Avenue C, and 21,575 square feet of community facility space.

The property is located at the corner of 14th Street and Avenue C, along the Northern border of the East Village and directly across the street from Stuyvesant Town. Residential units will offer contemporary finishes and large balconies with East River views. The borrower is currently finalizing a lease with a major New York hospital to occupy the entire community facility portion of the new building.

The East Village is now attracting young professionals and families, in addition to the artists, musicians, and students that established the neighborhood's cultural identity. The area has retained its strong character and remains a dynamic hub of popular bars, restaurants, and shops, with East 14th Street being one of the liveliest commercial corridors.

As previously reported, there are approved permits for a 14-story building.

A rendering via Real Estate Weekly shows a building looking like...



As for the "major New York hospital" taking the entire community facility portion, perhaps that's Mount Sinai Beth Israel, who's shutting down its campus on First Avenue and 16th Street in the coming years.

This corner property next to Campos Plaza and across from the Con Ed plant previously housed the single-level R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009.

[EVG photo from 2009]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Development back in play for East 14th Street and Avenue C

More details on the sale of 644 E. 14th St.

Here comes a 15-story retail-residential complex for East 14th Street and Avenue C

Prepping the former R&S Strauss auto parts store for demolition on East 14th Street and Avenue C

City OKs 15-story mixed-use retail-residential building on 14th and C

14th and C now waiting for the Karl Fischer-designed 15-story retail-residential complex

14th and C still waiting for its Karl Fischer-designed retail-residential complex

Report: New owners for the empty lot at 14th Street and Avenue C

Updated: Zerza closes then reopens on 6th Street

Zerza has closed at 320 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The signage has been removed from the space. Updated: Zerza is back open as of early November

Here's what ownership had to say via Facebook:



The Zerza website mentions that they are closed for renovations through the month of September.

Either way, Zerza is closed for now.

Meanwhile, a tipster claims that this space is being converted into a new restaurant called Merica NYC. There's a Facebook page for the restaurant that doesn't have too many particulars, such as a specific address (other than Sixth Street).

Via their Facebook page:

Our food is intended to free your spirit. It's not intended to be in anyway healthy. "We ain't gunna listen to those smart brained medical morons who think butter and bacon are bad!" We say, bring on the bacon! In the true rebellious spirit of America, our food laughs in the face of caution and holds two middle fingers way up high, cause guess what? This is America and we eat what we want!

All food names are intended as jokes and in no way affiliate us with any person or persona. This shit is fattening as all hell, eat at your own risk.

Items include:

THE C -CHRISTIE.
Get that New Jersey governors look with this sloppy mess of greasy fatty deliciousness. Mac and cheese, topped with a chopped up cheeseburger patty, topped with mash potatoes and gravy, topped with bacon, then broiled with melted cheddar cheese. $20

THE KANYE.
Fried breast of chicken tossed in a creamy rich Alfredo sause served over mashed potatoes, then drizzled with a balsamic glaze. This meal will make you into a famous rapper and a narcissistic asshole. Ask the public to loan you the money for it. $18

OSAMA BEEN EAT'N
Deep fried brownie bites drizzled with chocolate or strawberry sauce. $10

We have no idea of any of this is for real... Via Facebook, the folks behind Merica NYC say they are opening the first week of October.

Our tipster looked inside Zerza's open door from the sidewalk yesterday ... revealing some chairs adorned with the American flag...



Seems fitting with the Merica NYC motif...

Report: 123 2nd Ave. sells for $6 million

["Building sketch for illustration purposes only," via Compass]

Back in March, George Pasternak, the landlord of 123 Second Ave., put the vacant plot of land up for sale, asking $9.7 million.

Now, The Real Deal reports the lot has sold for $6 million. According to records filed with the city today, the new owner is traced to Ezra Wibowo under the LLC 123 Second Ave. Corp. (TRD was unable to track him down to ask about his possible plans for the site.)

123 Second Ave., which housed Pommes Frites and Sam's Deli, was destroyed along with two others on March 26, 2015, after a fatal gas explosion next door.

According to the marketing materials from the Compass brokerage firm that a tipster shared with us in March:

Vacant lot (25’ x 100’) for rental or condo development with commercial overlay offered for sale. 1031 exchange opportunity, in prime East Village location (2nd Ave and 7th Street), and currently zoned C1-5/R7A. FAR ranges from 3.45-4.6 subject to the DOB approval of proposed/planned build out, to be filed by potential purchaser post closing. Building sketch for illustration purposes only.

As Lois Weiss at the Post reported at the time:

[A]ll three properties were reclassified from apartments in Tax Class 2 to vacant land in Tax Class 4, which will bump their expected rates starting July 1.

While only Pasternak’s lot is for sale, each of the three lots, including the corner at 119 Second Ave., can host 10,000 buildable square feet for apartments, residential condominiums plus stores.

Only No. 123 had been on the sales market. (According to reports, the city charged Pasternak $350,000 to demolish his building.)

Maria Hrynenko, the owner of 119 and 121 Second Ave. faces various charges (along with four others), including involuntary manslaughter. There have not been any updates on when this case might go to trial.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Updated: 2nd Ave. explosion — landlord, 3 others charged with 2nd degree manslaughter; showed 'a blatant and callous disregard for human life'

Former residents talk about landlord Maria Hrynenko: 'it was clear she wanted to get rid of anyone with a rent-regulated apartment'

Report: 123 2nd Ave. is for sale

Selling 123 Second Ave.

Reader report: Cafe Silan space will become a French bakery

An EVG reader passes along some encouraging news: The former Cafe Silan space on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue will become a French bakery... and it will be run by the same owners. There's no other info right at the moment.

Cafe Silan, which served a variety of coffee and house-made pastries with natural sweeteners (like silan, a Middle-Eastern date paste), quiety closed back in July after nearly 18 months in business.

We'll update as soon as we learn more about the new venture.

September opening for the 2nd Avenue Tompkins Square Bagels zapped by an electrical issue

Christopher Pugliese hoped to have the Second Avenue location of Tompkins Square Bagels open by the end of this month.

Unfortunately, the building's main power line had other ideas.

Yesterday, Con Ed arrived to dig up the street and sidewalk in front of the storefront at 184 Second Ave. between 11th Street and 12th Street...





"There's an electrical problem with the main line to the building. Nothing to do with my work," Pugliese said last evening. "However, they will need to dig up my space to replace it. Hopefully it's quick."

He's now shooting for an Oct. 15 opening.

Previously on EV Grieve:
After 40-plus years, Open Pantry looks to be closing on 2nd Avenue

Rumor: Tompkins Square Bagels possibly opening a 2nd East Village location on 2nd Avenue

A 2nd Tompkins Square Bagels confirmed for former Open Pantry space on 2nd Avenue

Tompkins Square Bagels makes it official on 2nd Avenue

The new Tompkins Square Bagels will arrive before the 2nd Avenue subway

September opening expected for the 2nd Avenue location of Tompkins Square Bagels

The Lenin statue, safe for now on a Norfolk Street rooftop

[Lenin's descent last week. Photo by Peter Marciano via]

It has been a week now since workers removed the 18-foot statue of Lenin from atop Red Square on East Houston.

The New York Times yesterday reported that the statue would be on display again within about a month on a Norfolk Street building a 1/2 block from Red Square.

Per the Times:

A construction manager who supervised the removal of the statue from Red Square on Sept. 19 said it had spent that night in a crane yard in Jamaica, Queens. The manager, Peter Marciano, arranged for it to be brought the next day to its new location atop a walk-up on Norfolk Street because he thought it would be safer there.

“I didn’t want him to be held hostage or kidnapped,” Mr. Marciano said. “Those stairs will deter all but the most severe fans of communism.”

The article is accompanied by two cool photos of the statue lying on the roof with Red Square in the background.

Updated 6/9

Lenin has returned. Photos here.

Previously.

1st meeting for the 11th Street Block Association is tomorrow (Wednesday!) night

There's a new block association in town... the 11th Street Block Association launches tomorrow evening at 7 with a kick-off meeting at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery.

As the sign shows, this is for residents who live on the street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Perhaps the group will be discussing what's transpiring a block away with the incoming Moxy hotel.

Community Board 3 has a listing of other block associations/community groups in the area right here.

Sales launch for Ben Shaoul's Katz's-dwarfing new condos

At the moment, the incoming 11-story condoplex on East Houston at Orchard is a foundation pit in progress...



In any event, sales got underway last week, as Curbed first noted.

Available condos, browsable on 196 Orchard’s website, range from a 551-square-foot studio asking $1.075 million to a 2,069-square-foot three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom apartment seeking $5.995 million. Prices were initially poised to start off at just shy of $1 million, but it appears that the base price has been upped. With that, the average price per square foot in the building becomes a robust $2,325.

The building’s distinct setback design, a creation of project architect Ismael Leyva, will allow for some apartments to have private terraces. New renderings for the development that came along with the listings show off expansive outdoor spaces that give way to well-appointed interiors designed by Incorporated and decked out in finishes like Nero Marquina marble for the backsplashes, concrete on the nine- to twelve-foot ceilings, and blackened nickel on the kitchen sink faucets and hoses. Heck, the kitchens even have Franke in-sink garbage disposals — the real dream.

And here are two renderings via Curbed...





The condoplex features 94 units... as well as a three-level Equinox (gym) in the retail space.



On Friday, The Real Deal reported that Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group secured a $195 million senior construction loan from SL Green Realty for this development.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Making way for Ben Shaoul's new retail-residential complex on East Houston

Katz's is now the last business on East Houston between Ludlow and Orchard

Send a salami to your boy next door in the condo

Side streets, milled and paved

Been meaning to note this. On Friday night, workers paved parts of Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue B, as the above photo by Dave on 7th shows.

With this, I believe, all the freshly milled side street have their new asphalt...

Except for Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, where Con Ed has been replacing gas mains...



...and an aerial view showing the work, which is expected to be completed some time this week, per a worker...


[Photo by John Iz]

And from earlier this month... a photo showing the eerily beautiful sight of a freshly milled East Fifth Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square....


[Photo by Louise on Fifth Street]

Watch the presidential debate tonight in the great outdoors at La Plaza Cultural

La Plaza Cultural will be showing the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tonight at 9 on a big screen.

The community garden is on the southwest corner of Avenue C and Ninth Street.

No charge. And the entertainment will be provided.

Part of a community garden reappears 16 years after it was bulldozed

Landscaping aside, work appears to be complete in the long-empty lot between Eastville Gardens and 115 Avenue C (between Eighth Street and Seventh Street)...





Eastville Gardens, the apartment complex whose official address is 342 E. Eighth St., is on the site once occupied by El Jardin de la Esperanza. The 22-year-old garden was bulldozed in February 2000 to make way for the new development, which includes 20 percent affordable housing. (The New York Times weighed in with an editorial on this here.)

The site was the scene of several protests in early 2000. Dozens of people were arrested, as the Times reported.

Some people have said that there was an agreement between the developer, Donald Capoccia of BFC Partners, and local residents that this plot of land would be returned for use as a community garden.

L+M Development Partners bought the 7-story building that includes the Associated for $44 million back in the spring.

In any event, this Sunrise Garden is named for Carmen Pabon... (You can watch a video biography of Pabon here.)



No word at the moment when (or if) this will actually be open to the public (or maybe just Eastville residents?) ... and who was ultimately responsible for making this happen. Capoccia? L+M Development Partners? Local elected officials?

Thanks to Dave on 7th for the photos!