Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property on the development market for $26 million

[Photo from March 2016]

In March 2016, there were reports that the building that once housed Lucky Cheng's on First Avenue and an adjacent property on Second Street were in the process of being divided by new landlord Carmar Development, LLC.

Now, though, Uri Marrache, a principal at Carmar Development, is putting the two-buidling parcel up for sale for development.

Here's a news release on the property that arrived in our inbox yesterday:

The adjoining, L-Shaped properties enjoy combined frontage of 60' spread across East 2nd Street & 1st Avenue; buildings are comprised of roughly a 14,000 SF structure and boast around 12,000 SF of unused air rights; located in a versatilely zoned area. The properties can be acquired for $26 Million.

Both buildings are also available for Net Lease.

24 1st Avenue & 99-101 East 2nd Street are strategically located along the vibrant 1st Avenue corridor in the East Village. The properties are located within four blocks from Peter Brant's illustrious exhibition space at the celebrated artist — Walter De Maria's historic home; which has nurtured and pioneered a new era of artistic progress within the region. The Notable Art Collector & Industrialist recently purchased the legendary property for $27 Million.

A flurry of progressive & chic development projects have transformed the nature of the immediate area, further characterizing the region as New York City's most desirable destination to live, shop, and play. The New Museum and world-renowned eateries like Katz's Deli, Daniel Boulud's DBGB, Russ and Daughters; the emergence of several prominent art galleries; have all fostered the majestic aroma of the neighborhood.

These factors, coupled with the pre-existing dynamism of the investment & residential sales markets have paved the way for unwavering cultural and economic growth in the East Village and Lower East Side. All the while, neighboring development projects such as 215 Chrystie Street by Ian Schrager have registered sales at unprecedented condominium prices, thus cementing the region's aesthetic appeal and establishing the East Village & Lower East Side as amongst the world's most magnetizing neighborhoods.

The properties are ripe for a user who is seeking to benefit from the unparalleled retail presence on both 1st Avenue and East 2nd Street. The acquirer will also be able to creatively utilize the curb cut (on 99-101 East 2nd Street) and the vast ceilings, coupled with unique layout; while capitalizing on the underlying development potential of the properties. The acquirer is also certain to benefit from the inevitable reallocation of retail value from the neighboring corridors in SoHo & NoHo.

Here's an aerial view of the properties...



Hayne Suthon, who owned and and operated Lucky Cheng's, the cross-dressing cabaret, also lived in the building. She died of cancer at age 57 in June 2014.

She had been in a legal fight with the operators behind Pride and Joy BBQ, who were renting the space to open a 220-seat honky tonk. (You can read more about this lawsuit here and here.)

The East Second Street space had been home to an array of short-lived concepts in recents years, including Bento Burger ... Marfa... and Waikiki Wally's...


[Photo from last March]

Suthon had owned the property since 1986, paying $800,000, city documents show. According to public records, the address changed hands to Carmar Development in February 2015 for a little more than $9.6 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Myron Mixon's Pride & Joy BBQ now in the works for the former Lucky Cheng's space

Fire reported at incoming Pride and Joy BBQ on East Second Street

Myron Mixon lawsuit puts opening of Pride and Joy BBQ in question at former Lucky Cheng's space

More alterations for the Pride and Joy space

Report: Pride and Joy BBQ partners suing landlord Hayne Suthon for $22 million

Pride and Joy's unpaid electric bill

[Updated] M2M is closing this weekend on 3rd Avenue

M2M, the Asian convenient store that opened in 2002 on Third Avenue at 11th Street, is closing tomorrow, workers confirmed.

The closure was expected at some point early this year after Wagamama, the London-based chain of Japanese restaurants, signed a lease last summer for a retail space here at 55 Third Ave., aka Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor, recently luxurified building.

In 2014, these commercial spaces hit the market for $25.5 million. The listing at the time noted that M2M's lease was up in 2017. (Next door, The Smith's lease is through 2027.)

Last summer, an EVG reader said that an M2M worker divulged that the grocery would be moving when the lease was up. "The employee was very talkative about it. Said it was going to be within five blocks of the original store and probably going to be bigger. Still trying to figure out their likely spot because of limited spaces that size in the area."

So far, there aren't any signs up in the store about either a closure or relocation. A worker was noncommittal about a move, only saying that the store was closing.

As for Wagamama, there hasn't been any announcement about when they open in this location. (They were up for a beer-wine license via CB3 last fall.) The first NYC Wagamama — there are more than 140 worldwide — opened in November on Fifth Avenue at 26th Street.

H/T Steven!

Updated 2/19

Check out this post for news on where M2M is relocating.

Plywood arrives on 11th Street outside Danny Meyer's incoming restaurant Martina

While here on 11th Street at Third Avenue... workers yesterday erected the plywood on 11th Street outside the under-construction new restaurant from Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.

Martina is the working name for the space, which is in the former lobby of Eleventh and Third, the 12-floor residential building here.

The group applied for a beer-wine license last November (they were approved). The application (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website showed that the space will hold 13 tables with a sidewalk cafe with four tables. (The overall capacity was listed at 75 or below with nine employees.) The proposed hours were 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

In approving the applicant, the CB3 minutes refer to Martina as "a full-service pizza restaurant."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group planning Martina for 55 3rd Ave.

Musket love at McSorley's

Members of the McSorley's militia were out in full force outside the bar today on Seventh Street as it celebrated its 163 anniversary...



Photos by Derek Berg

Local businesses close their doors today in support of 'A Day Without Immigrants'

Businesses in cities across the country are closing today as part of the "A Day Without Immigrants" strike

As CNN reported, this is "a national grassroots movement seeking to protest President Trump's immigration reforms and highlight the contributions of the immigrant community in the United States."

La Sirena, the Mexican folk-art shop on Third Street, will be taking part today by remaining closed...

In solidarity with the "day without immigrants" Movement, La Sirena will be closed Thursday 2/16 and Will reopen Friday 2/17 12pm in celebration of Mexican art and culture. #paz #lasirena #lasirena_nyc #lasirenanyc #lasirenamexicanfolkart #nyc #bowery #eastvillage #eastvillagenyc #newyorkcity #daywithoutimmigrants #unity #insolitude #spreadthelove #spreadtheword #mexico #mexicanfolkart #les #iloveny #adaywithoutimmigrants

A post shared by Posts by La Sirena staff * (@lasirena_nyc) on Feb 15, 2017 at 6:43pm PST

A number of NYC restaurants will close today in support of the movement, including most in the Blue Ribbon family. However, their East Village fried-chicken outlet will remain open.

Please let me know of any other local businesses taking part...

Updated 1:30 p.m.

Thanks to the commenter for this tip... the Westville restaurants, including on Avenue A and 11th Street, are closed...

We will be closed today due to the nationwide strike. We will reopen tomorrow for regular business hours.

— Westville Restaurant (@WestvilleNYC) February 16, 2017

Updated 3:30 p.m.

Hecho en Dumbo is closed on the Bowery today...

Hecho will be CLOSED 2/16/2017 #adaywithoutimmigrants https://t.co/xDVe9u8vjn pic.twitter.com/mfImwSlLfM

— Hecho en Dumbo (@HechoEnDumbo) February 16, 2017

Raphael Toledano-owned 97 2nd Ave. is on the auction block

The 6-story, 10-unit building at 97 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Fifth Street was one of the first East Village properties purchased by Raphael Toledano.

Now the building, which has a complicated recent history (there was a lawsuit in 2014 involving Toledano and another broker), is on the auction block.

Here are the details:

On the 28th day of February, 2017 commencing at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, at Polsinelli PC, 600 Third Avenue, 42nd Fl., New York, NY 10016, Lefko Funding LLC (Secured Party) will sell the following property by public auction to the highest qualified bidder: 100% of the membership interests in 97 2nd LLC, a New York limited liability company, which owns real property consisting of apartments and a first floor commercial space, in New York, NY with an address of 97 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003.

Secured Party reserves the right to reject all bids and terminate or adjourn the sale to another time or place, or to effectuate a private sale instead of a public sale, without further publication, and further reserves the right to bid for the collateral at the sale and to credit bid by applying some or all of its secured debt to the purchase price. Interested parties who would like additional information concerning the items to be sold at the sale and the terms and conditions of the sale, including the eligibility requirements to be a qualified bidder.

Public records show that Toledano paid $4.95 million for it in April 2014.

In 2014, Douglas Pratt, whose family had operated the longtime laundromat here since the early 1970s as well as owned the building, said that they needed to sell "for a host of personal and business reasons."

The retail space is now home to Hou Yi Hot Pot. They have a lease through February 2030.

Earlier this month news broke that, facing foreclosure, Toledano was selling off most of his East Village properties.

Happy No. 163 McSorley's!

[Arthur King via McSorley's]

McSorley's is officially celebrating its 163rd birthday today over at its home of, uh, 163 years — 15 E. Seventh St. near Cooper Square. Expect a visit by Lincoln and some shots (so to speak) by the musket-toting McSorley's militia.

Related!

Quiet Lunch Magazine has created the "163rd McSorley’s Old Ale House 2017 Calendar" featuring never-before-published photos of the bar (like the one above) by designer Arthur King in the 1950s when he was studying at Pratt. The calendar is $12. More details here.



Meanwhile!

Whenever mentioning McSorley's and anniversaries... Someone brings this up. Per New York: "Though McSorley’s claims it opened its doors in 1854, NYC historian Richard McDermott used public records to prove it really opened in 1862."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Happy No. 162 McSorley's!

Report: 'An Evening With Martin Shkreli' no longer happening at Webster Hall Monday night

Martin Shkreli, the controversial pharmaceutical CEO who once raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750, is no longer scheduled to appear at Webster Hall on Monday.

The evening was billed this way:

Martin will discuss investing, healthcare and politics in a presentation/lecture format for one hour and will take questions. There will be a bar session after the Q&A where Shkreli will be available to chat and take photographs. He WILL play tracks from his unreleased music collection (Wu-Tang and more).

Shkreli, who was indicted for securities fraud, famously bought the sole copy of the Wu Tang Clan‘s "Once Upon A Time in Shaolin" in 2015 for $2 million. (He played several tracks in a livestream after Donald Trump won the presidency.)

A Webster Hall rep told Patch that the event has been cancelled without commenting further.

Shkreli confirmed the Webster Hall cancellation on Facebook...




However, tickets are still on sale for the event, with no venue listed...



Shkreli, 33, is awaiting trial for securities fraud. Prosecutors have accused him of looting the pharma company that he was heading of $11 million to pay off investors he was suspected of defrauding.

Last month, he was reportedly suspended from Twitter for harassing a writer from Teen Vogue.

Prepping for 2019: L train shutdown workshop rescheduled for March 9

Starting tonight in Williamsburg, the MTA and DOT are hosting interactive public workshops about the L-train service shutting down between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue for 18 months starting in January 2019.

Unfortunately, the snowstorm (#Niko) last Thursday prompted the cancellation of the workshop set for the East Village.

However, officials have announced a new date:

Thursday, March 9
7-9 p.m.
Town and Village Synagogue
334 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue

You can visit the Canarsie Tunnel Reconstruction microsite for more project details.

And a reminder of what to expect:

During the workshops, MTA and NYCDOT will provide information on the Canarsie Tunnel repairs and to solicit community feedback on possible alternate travel options during the planned 18-month closure.

Representatives from MTA and NYCDOT are also using the sessions to gain input for traffic modeling and analysis currently being conducted as service plans to minimize impacts are developed. Representatives will also be available to discuss construction impacts, ADA issues, and bus and subway service as it relates to the closure.

The public is strongly encouraged to participate in these workshops, which are expected to solicit meaningful input on alternate travel options for customers who will be affected by the repairs.

Here's a video the MTA released in May 2016 about the Canarsie Tunnel Reconstruction...



The video production was only $20 million over budget.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About '14th Street Peopleway'

Will a car-free 14th Street make life more bearable during (and after) the L train renovations? (35 comments)

Wednesday's parting shot

Crossing Second Avenue at 11th Street earlier today... photo via our Instagram friends @fuckkale

You'll know when you reach the 10th floor

The Christodora House has been wrapped in plastic in recent months during the exterior renovations on Avenue B at Ninth Street...



Never noticed this before ... looking up the building...



...at the 10th floor...



According to DOB records, there is an open violation here for "failure to safe guard all persons and property affected by construction operations" dated from October.

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

State attorney general sues David Barton Gyms following sudden closure in December

[Image from Dec. 21 via]

Back in December, the four David Barton Gym locations in Manhattan, including on Astor Place, shut down without any warning to its members or staff.

Now, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a lawsuit against Club Ventures Investments LLC d/b/a David Barton Gyms (DBG).

Here's more from a media advisory that Schneiderman's office shared today:

According to the lawsuit, over 5,000 members enrolled in these four New York City health club facilities, many of whom had paid hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in advance for membership and training packages. At least one consumer complained that he had paid in excess of $15,000. Although Defendants were well aware that the health clubs were in a financially precarious position, they continued to enroll new members and accept payments for future services up through early December 2016. The health clubs failed to provide any advance notice to members that they were going to close. The clubs subsequently filed for bankruptcy.

“As alleged in our complaint, David Barton Gyms acted irresponsibly and left their members without any recourse to recover lost payments, causing some to lose thousands of dollars,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Health clubs must own up to their responsibilities to their members. They cannot be open one day and closed the next without proper notice to their membership, and must provide refunds for services not provided.” During the early hours of December 21, a security company retained by DBG changed the locks on the doors at each facility and affixed a notice to the outside doors ... DBG was promoting itself on social media up to two days before it closed.

The Attorney General’s office is seeking full restitution and an accounting to determine to whom the health clubs owe money. The office will closely monitor the bankruptcy proceedings and take whatever actions are warranted to protect the interests of the consumers.

Club Ventures and the other corporate defendants purchased the facilities from David Barton, the original owner, in 2013.

Consumers who were DBG members and believe they are owed a refund are urged to file a complaint online or call 1-800-771-7755. Consumers who paid by credit card are also advised to contact their credit card company and dispute the charges due to the failure of the gyms to provide the contracted services.

The Astor Place location opened in 2009. The space was previously a Barnes & Noble.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] David Barton Gyms abruptly close

Holiday season is officially over on 9th Street

The Christmas holiday season anyway... workers were out this morning removing the lights from the light poles on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

And in case you need help spotting the lights in the back of the truck...



Thanks to Steven and EV Arrow

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: Delphine Blue
Occupation: Radio Host, DJ, Pilates Instructor
Location: St. Mark's Place between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue
Date: Thursday, Feb. 2 at 1:45 pm

I’m from Queens — Fresh Meadows. My dad had a store on Avenue C and 5th Street in the 1960s called Sol’s Hardware. I would go there sometimes when I was very young. I remember we walked out of the store one day and there was a guy wearing a fez and I was like, ‘Dad, what’s that,’ and he was like, ‘That’s a beatnik.’

He had that store for awhile but that was when the Lower East Side was dangerous. People were getting shot and killed and my mom told him, ‘You have to sell that store or I’m going to be a widow.’ Around that time there were some homeless guys who were going into various hardware stores on the Lower East Side and buying wood alcohol. It was cheaper than going to a liquor store and some of them died. They were alcoholics and drinking this stuff and dying in the street.

So the FBI started to investigate it and they asked one of the homeless people where they bought it and they pointed to my father’s store. At the time my grandfather was minding the store and they arrested him on the spot and charged him with murder and he was on the 6 o'clock news. He wasn’t charged with murder ultimately, but they kept this investigation on for years and years. When I was a little kid they used to come to my house, handcuff my father, and take him away to question him.

They left my father’s business unattended on the Lower East Side when they arrested my grandfather and we had the lawsuit against the city that they kept pushing back to try to get us to drop it, and we didn’t. And then we finally won and we had a huge award — and then the city reduced it to like $900.

I started coming to the East Village around the late 1970s. My best friend and I moved into a studio apartment at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. It was tiny and it was totally fine — we were as happy as could be. We started going to all the clubs then, down to the Mudd Club, Club 57, Max’s Kansas City to see Blondie and CBGBs to see Patti Smith.

The club scene was so creative and a melding of all these different things and all these different kinds of music. It was everything together. It seemed like everybody was doing something related to the arts or fashion or being in a band. You could get by and you could live. You could live creatively and everybody you knew was doing that.

The best thing about the East Village then was that there were gazillions of shops down here. There were loads of vintage stores where you could get great clothes. Many of the shops didn’t open till 5 or 6 in the afternoon and stayed open till midnight. Nighttime was when all the cool shops would open, so you would go hang out in the shops and record stores and then go to a club. I would describe it like a festival. That’s what it felt like. Didn’t get going till noon. The streets were deserted till noon. You could eat any kind of food, really good food for really cheap and buy anything you wanted anytime of the day or night, and be surrounded by creative people.

I was aspiring to be a ballet dancer. That was my dream. I went to ballet classes every day. Then a little bit of rock n’ roll life collided with that. They didn’t mix very well and rock n’ roll won. And you kind of have to be touched by the gods to be a ballet dancer, and I wasn’t going to get where I wanted to go, but I could have still had a dance career.

I started DJing at the Sheraton Hotel on 53rd Street and 7th Avenue. They had a dinner club and they only hired girls. We were supposed to be playing disco music and they were teaching me how to mix. It’s not that I had a prejudice toward the music, I liked it, I liked to go out dancing, but I tried to play some rock songs and I got fired.

Next week Delphine talks about her DJ career that took her from WLIR to WBAI to Little Water Radio.

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

The all-new 189 7th St. asking $6.25 million

[Photo from 2014]

The circa-1860 townhouse on Seventh Street between Avenue B and Avenue C has emerged from behind the scaffolding and construction netting following a full-on gut rehab...


[Photo by Dave on 7th]

And now the all-new No. 189 is available as a single-family home. Here are the details via Sotheby's:

Upon entering this beautiful townhouse, there are 22-foot-high ceilings. Located on the first floor is a Poggenpohls custom chefs kitchen with custom Statutori marble countertops. The kitchen offers a fully marble covered island, along with a Six Burner Wolf Range, Miele Dishwasher, Viking Fridge and modernized ez-touch cabinets.

The 2nd floor is an open library and living room. The 3rd floor presents a one-of-a-kind open master suite layout with a separate standing shower on a class of its own. The vanities are a combination of top pieces from Ferguson, Kohler, and Restoration Hardware. The 4th floor presents two additional bedrooms, each personalized with their own all-marbled bathrooms and Porcelanosa vanities. At the top of the home lies a private oasis, roof decked in custom Runnen Tiles, along with a Calcutta Stone front ledge and Statutori back ledge.

Here are a few interior pics...





Price: $6.25 million.

At the rally for the former PS 64 today at City Hall

As previously reported, local elected officials and other community leaders, organizations and residents held a rally and press conference on the steps of City Hall this afternoon to get Mayor De Blasio's attention on the former P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center on East Ninth Street. (You can read the background here. Or here.)

EVG regular Peter Brownscombe shared these photos...





"Developers and their lobbyists are looking for every loophole they can find to convert Lower East Side community resources into luxury real estate opportunities," said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. "After what happened to Rivington House, properties with deed restrictions like this one deserve the strictest scrutiny from city agencies. We are still waiting for answers from City Hall to our questions about this property and its status, and we think Lower East Side residents have a right to demand a true community facility in this building."

City Council member Rosie Mendez, who helped organize the rally, was unable to attend due to a family emergency. Her office shared this statement: "The Former PS 64 CHARAS/El Bohio was a school building and a cultural community center that cultivated the hopes and dreams of so many people in our community. Community activists laid the seeds and the foundation that created our community gardens and our urban homesteading buildings while sitting in a room at CHARAS. This Valentine’s Day my community and I want nothing more than to get our building back."

And here are a few more photos... via Scuba Diva...




[Chino Garcia, one of the five founding members of CHARAS]

Valentine's night at Sunny's

[Photo by @EdenBrower]

Sunny's Florist, operated by Sun "Sunny" Ja Hwang and her son Edward, on Sixth Street at Second Avenue is arguably the best place to buy flowers in this or any neighborhood ... no surprise then that there is always a line on Valentine's Day or Mother's Day for quality bouquets that start at $10.

Noted

[Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Derek Berg]

Streeteasy teamed up with Hinge, the relationship app, for a Valentine's Day survey about dating in NYC.

Here are a few places in which the East Village rated...

Residents of Murray Hill, Gramercy Park and the East Village in Manhattan are the most prone to conversation after connecting with someone on Hinge. However, it’s difficult to say whether these conversations will lead anywhere. After all, the goal of dating on an app – much like the goal of apartment hunting – is to eventually meet in person.

Hmmmk

And the 5 most-popular neighborhoods in Manhattan for dating:
1. West Village
2. Murray Hill
3. Flatiron
4. East Village
5. Chelsea

A mid-afternoon Valentine's break

Photo in Tompkins Square Park by Steven...

Clockwork Bar denounces weekend attack by reported white supremacist group

As you may have read, a group of men described as "neo Nazis" attacked twin brothers outside Clockwork Bar on Essex Street early Sunday morning.

The Post had the first report:

The beatdown happened when the brothers, both 27-year-old Columbia graduate students, noticed the large group of “skinheads” hanging inside one of their usual haunts called Clockwork on Essex Street and decided to head for the exits around 12:30 a.m.

On the way out the door, they ran into a group of smokers outside who noticed the sticker on one of their phones reading “New York City Anti-Fascists.”

“One of the guys … sees [my brother’s] phone, grabs it and starts screaming, ‘I know what the f— that means, I know what the f— that sticker is, you need to get the f— out of here,’” said one of the victims, who asked to remain anonymous.

“He throws the phone on the ground and they just start jumping us right in front of the bar.”

Six to seven men, all wearing matching vests with patches that read "211 Crew," reportedly took place in the fight.

Police arrested one of the group members, identified as John Young, 29, of Washington, D.C., according to DNAinfo. The charges against Young include two counts of assault as well as menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.

Gothamist has more details on the attack here.

Yesterday afternoon, the bar, which opened in 2013 at 21 Essex St. between Hester and Canal, released the following statement...

Clockwork Bar would like to express its concern for the victims of the attacks on Feb. 11 on Essex and Hester streets. Our hearts go out to them. And we pray for a speedy recovery.

We would also like to state clearly that Clockwork Bar does NOT endorse, sympathize, nor invite the views and beliefs of Neo-Nazi, supremacist hate groups. These groups and their views are not welcome at our establishment. They have never been, nor will ever be invited or allowed in our bar. We apologize for what happened and are taking steps to prevent future instances as well as working with the NYPD to increase awareness and security for our patrons.

Furthermore, it is fundamental to Clockwork Bar, its ownership and staff that we are not a Neo-Nazi, white supremacist or hate group association establishment. Clockwork is about music, friendship and good times. Anything else is hereby prohibited.

The two brothers reportedly suffered cuts and bruises to their faces and bodies and were taken to New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital. One brother required five staples to close a wound on his head.

ABC 7 had an interview last evening with one of the brothers:

"I'm completely shocked, and I'm appalled by it," the victim said. "I feel like these organizations are sort of being emboldened to come out of the woodwork now, just because of the general sentiment that's going on."

The Clockwork Bar also updated their profile photo last evening...


Updated — Gothamist has more today, reporting: "It turns out that Matt Restuccia, lead singer of the right-wing oi band Lonewolf and a 211 member, was DJing an after-party at Clockwork on the night of the attack. A flyer for the DJ set advertises it as an after-party for a concert by the legendary English punk band Cock Sparrer."