Ciala bringing 'Georgian and European cuisine' to 2nd Avenue

A new restaurant-cafe called Ciala is in the works for 77 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

According to the application on file (PDF) at the CB3 website ahead of Monday's SLA committee meeting, Ciala will serve "Georgian and European cuisine." (Ciala is seeking a beer-wine license.)

The layout shows 17 tables with a total of 49 seats ... and a five-seat service bar. The applicant, listed as David Kurtanidze, is proposing hours of 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, including for the outdoor seating.



The previous tenant here, Ballaro, which served Italian coffee and pastries during the day, and beer, wine and small plates in the evening hours, closed after seven years in February 2016. (Ballaro made headlines after drunken Taylor Swift fans apparently terrorized the staff by demanding they play more of the pop star's music on the house stereo in August 2015.)

The CB3-SLA meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the Thelma Burdick Community Room, 10 Stanton St. (corner of the Bowery).

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Sister Jane officially opens Friday on 13th Street

An EVG reader shared this photo from yesterday... showing workers putting up the signage for Sister Jane East Side Tavern on 13th Street west of First Avenue...

And just in time for a soft opening last evening ... before a grand opening tomorrow.

Later, EVG reader Samantha S. sent along a photo from inside...



Per Samantha: "Love it so far — the owner is so nice and the menu looks fantastic! Solid beer and wine selection. No cocktail menu (yet). Should be a good spot!"

Michael Stewart, a co-owner of Tavern on Jane at 31 Eighth Ave., is also behind this venture, a neighborhood bar/restaurant, in the former Redhead space.

Previously

Haile Bistro expected to reopen next week on Avenue B

We recently noted that Haile Bistro, the Ethiopian restaurant on Avenue B between 11th Street and 12th Street, had been closed of late without any explanation.

Now, though, there are "closed for renovations" signs posted on the front windows ... noting a reopening on March 14...



A comment on the previous post from a former owner states that another family member will now be running Haile, which opened in 2013.

Noted

Several readers passed along photos of these posters that went up overnight, such as here on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place...



The poster has quotes from audio recorded in 2005 and released last fall by The Washington Post, where Trump is heard talking to Billy Bush from "Access Hollywood."

No word at the moment about who plastered the neighborhood with these Thanks to the commenter — these are via Marilyn Minter ... coinciding with International Women's Day.

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: Merle Ratner
Occupation: Labor Rights Organizer at the International Commission for Labor Rights
Location: Avenue A Between 3rd Street and 4th Street
Date: Thursday, March 2 at 3 p.m.

I’m from the Bronx. I lived here in the early 1980s ... I moved back here about 30-something years ago because I wanted to live in a multiracial, working-class neighborhood.

It was not gentrified like it is now. There were a lot more working-class and poor people, and not as many restaurants. There were also not so many vacant stores. Every store was filled — there were more mom-and-pop places. I liked Bernstein’s on Essex. It was a kosher deli with Chinese waiters. They had the best pastrami. It was an interesting place.

Then and now it has been a politically active area – anti-gentrification struggles later, always anti-war struggles, anti-racism struggles, and LGBT struggles. It’s a traditionally immigrant area, from here down to the whole Lower East Side. It’s where my grandparents came when they came from Odessa in the early part of the 20th Century.

It’s a very diverse community culturally and politically – it’s very progressive. I went to the rally against Trump here in Tompkins Square Park, and every time there’s a demonstration in Washington or New York there’s a huge contingent from this area that go. So I like to be among working-class people, although that’s changing a little bit. But the projects are here. They’re not going anywhere. We’re going to fight to keep them here. It’s a neighborhood where I feel comfortable.

There’s also a long tradition with the labor movement. A lot of labor activists have been active here and still stay here, and Trump is trying to kill the labor movement. That’s a particular struggle, for unions and labor rights. I think that if we don’t organize as workers and fight, not only for labor union rights but for a different society, an alternative to capitalism, we’re all going to go down.

I work for the International Commission for Labor Rights, but I’m also on the board at the Laundry Workers Center, which organizes low-wage immigrant laundry and food service workers, and has a big struggle with B&H Photo Video, which is trying to move a lot of the jobs of the Union-organized shop to New Jersey. So that’s an important struggle.

My family has a history — my grandmother, when she came from Odessa, was the first woman business agent at the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, and my mother was a member of Local 1707 Day Care Workers. I have a picture in my house of my grandmother, it must have been in the 1920s, with a long skirt with a bustle, the very traditional thing that women wore, holding a picket sign with her friend that said, ‘Don’t be a scab.’

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

This looks to be the new residential building coming to 71 4th Ave.

[Not this, below]

Through the years we've seen a handful of renderings for the 10-story retail-residential complex coming to the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 10th Street (officially 71 Fourth Ave.).

It looks as if we finally have a winner ... CityRealty pointed out that the local architecture-development firm, NAVA, had this rendering on its site...


[Image via NAVA]

The building, says CityRealty, is "an energetic design of cantilevers, setbacks and cutaways."

We spotted another rendering of it last year...



To recap, there will be retail on the ground floor and 12 dwelling units above. The residential portion encompasses more than 24,000 square feet, so those units will presumably be condos. Floors 2-5 will each have two units while 6-8 will each have one unit while a two-level duplex to top things off. The plans also show a rooftop "recreation space" ... with more outdoor space on the ground level. Residential perks include a media room, an exercise room and storage for seven bikes, according to the permits.

Residents will also have views of the lines at neighbor Tim Ho Wan.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Demo permits filed to raze southeast corner of 4th Avenue and 10th Street

The 'tremendous retail potential' of East 10th Street and 4th Avenue

10 stories of condos in the works for the long-vacant corner of 4th Avenue and East 10th Street

With new building OK'd, corner of 4th Avenue and 10th Street finally ready for razing

The Stone is moving to the New School

Late last year, John Zorn announced that The Stone, his experimental performance space on Avenue C at Second Street, would close in its current location in February 2018.

Zorn told the Times that he hoped to find another venue. Now, as The Village Voice reports, Zorn and the Stone are taking up residence in the New School's Glass Box Theater on West 13th Street beginning in March 2018.

Here's the Voice with more:

In a physical sense, the move seems radical — from an unmarked windowless former Chinese restaurant at the far end of the East Village to a sleek climate-controlled space featuring a glass wall facing a busy Greenwich Village street.

“Nothing else will change,” Zorn said. He will continue as artistic director of the nonprofit venue, with musicians doing all the curating and volunteers providing support. Artists will continue to receive all revenue from tickets, which will remain priced at $20. The seating capacity — 74 — will stay the same. “And our aesthetic will not alter one bit,” Zorn said.

For Zorn, the move isn’t one of need, his club’s lease wasn’t up. “It was simply time for a change,” he said.

And via the news release on the move:

Beginning in March 2018, The Stone at The New School will operate five nights a week, presenting one show a night in The Glass Box Theater, a ground level performing arts space surrounded by windows to the street and Arnhold Hall lobby and designed as part of the gut renovation of much of Arnhold Hall, led by the architectural firm Deborah Berke Partners.

Starting this June, in anticipation of the formal move to The New School, The Stone at The New School will present two shows a week on Friday and Saturday evenings...

The news release includes a full listing of the weekend shows that will take place beginning in June.

The Stone opened in 2005, and has played hosted to an estimated 7,000 performances.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: The Stone said to be closing in 2018; new venue in the works

Report: Mount Sinai's Gilman Hall fetches $87 million for use as student housing

[Image via Griener-Maltz]

As previously reported, the Mount Sinai Health System is in the midst of its more than $500 million project to rebuild Mount Sinai Beth Israel ... which includes an expanded facility on 14th Street and Second Avenue.

Meanwhile, Mount Sinai will sell its current 16th Street property. Now one piece of that parcel has changed hands. Town & Village reports that asset manager CIM Group bought Gilman Hall, an apartment building the hospital uses to house medical residents on 17th Street at First Avenue, for $87 million.

Their plan for the 24-story building? Student housing.

“The Gilman Hall site represents an exceptional opportunity to reposition and modernize a significant property in an exciting location currently experiencing substantial public and private investment,” said Avi Shemesh, co-founder and principal of CIM Group.

According to the news release on the deal, the entire site is zoned for a total of approximately 225,000 square feet, including a combination of community facility, residential and commercial uses.

A CIM spokesperson "said the company wouldn’t be commenting further on the future of the property."

The hospital's downsizing from its campus on First Avenue and 16th Street is part of a $550 million plan by Beth Israel’s owner to adapt to a changing health care landscape where patients are using more outpatient care and spending less time in hospitals, as previously cut-n-pasted.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details on the incoming Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel

Tuesday's parting shot

Photo today in Tompkins Square Park by Grant Shaffer

Report: Jimmy McMillan announces his candidacy for City Council District 2

Jimmy McMillan, founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party who has run for a variety of offices, such as NYC mayor and New York State governor, is now turning his political attention to the local City Council race this year.

He is throwing his hat into the ring to replace City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, who is at her term limit.

The Observer has the story:

As a Republican, McMillan will face a steep uphill fight in the deep-blue district, which covers his home neighborhood of the East Village and the Lower East Side. Three Democrats are currently seeking the seat: Carlina Rivera, a local district leader and Mendez’s legislative director; community center director Jasmin Sanchez and attorney Mary Silver.

Here's a video interview with McMillan from yesterday...



Previously

Noted

Eighth Street and Avenue C earlier today via Peter D. The abandoned golf bag trend continues.

Report: MTA bus driver arrested after collision with pedestrian on Avenue D

A cancer-stricken woman visiting the city from Miami was hit by a MTA bus in an East Village crosswalk Monday night https://t.co/2DZpGWwbA4 pic.twitter.com/VjEyJgIc2W

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) March 7, 2017

Police arrested an MTA bus driver last night on Avenue D and East Houston after he struck a woman in the crosswalk.

Per ABC 7:

Just before 9 p.m. Monday, police said the M14D was traveling south on Avenue D and hit a 61-year-old woman while making a right turn to head east on Houston Street.

The pedestrian had been walking south within the crosswalk, according to the New York City Police Department.

Her left leg was trapped under the bus and was later freed by emergency workers.

The pedestrian, Aurora Beauchamp from Miami, was taken to Bellevue with a broken hip, pelvis and ribs and a bruised bladder, according to her daughter.

Per NBC 4:

[H]er daughter says she fears recent chemo treatment for her mother's cancer will complicate surgical efforts to repair the broken bones she suffered in the collision.

The driver, 41-year-old Eduard Khanimov, was arrested on a charge of failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Checking in on the 'completion project' at the Anthology Film Archives

[EVG photo from last week]

Back in January, the Anthology Film Archives announced plans to expand their current home at 32 Second Ave. at Second Street. There had been plans for a library and cafe at the space since co-founder Jonas Mekas bought the building in a city auction in 1979.

There's more information about the addition (or "completion project"), which will feature the Heaven and Earth Library & Cafe, in the Anthology's lobby...





Bone/Levine Architects filed permits with the city for the landmarked building in late January. (CityRealty first reported this.)

Here's more about the project, which includes a gallery and bookshop, via the Bone/Levine website:

Originally the Third District Magistrates Courthouse, this sturdy and imposing building was purchased by Anthology Film Archives in 1979 and adapted to reuse, opening its doors in 1989. The establishment of Anthology on Second Avenue was concurrent with the expansion of the East Village as a mecca for the avant-garde arts.

As a screening venue and repository of avant-garde, independent and classic cinema, Anthology Film Archives remains a key component of the artistic vitality of the East Village and for the greater film community. Indeed, nowhere else can scholars and connoisseurs of cinema find such a comprehensive collection of works.

But the restoration and renovation of the Anthology Film Archives is not completed. As designed by the late world-renowned architect Raimund Abraham, Anthology was planned to house two movie theaters, a film vault, a paper materials library, and a cafe. Anthology restored the building and built the film vault and two movie theaters. But the completion of the library, an essential part of Anthology Film Archives’ collection and its mission, and the cafe, an important component of its financial sustainability, were left for the future.

The completion of these essential components of Anthology Film Archives ... is critical for the mission of the Anthology and its long-term stability.

Here's a closer look at the one-level expansion via Bone/Levine...





The Anthology held an art auction last Thursday to help raise money for the addition. Guests included John Waters, Jim Jarmusch and Michael Stipe.

Anthology Film Archives first opened on Nov. 30, 1970, at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater. In 1974, it relocated to 80 Wooster St.

"The time came that we cannot postpone anymore," Mekas told Bedford + Bowery in January. "Because we have so much material, we have so much paper, books, periodicals, documentation on cinema that we have to build a library and make those materials available to researchers, scholars, students."

Anthology in the 90s 😎

A post shared by Anthology Film Archives (@anthologyfilmarchives) on Mar 2, 2017 at 10:45am PST

120 E. 10th St. returns to the market

[Photo from 2010]

Back in 2015, 120 E. 10th St., "a well-preserved six-story Anglo Italianate townhouse" between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, hit the market for $7.5 million.

That home has arrived back on the market via a new broker, Halstead Property.

One of the Rarest, most desirable townhouses to be offered in over a decade, 120 East 10th Street is currently a 3-4 unit Anglo Italianate townhouse which has been preserved meticulously. 10th street is considered to be one of the most desirable blocks in the East Village. This is a one of a kind opportunity to own a quintessential Village townhouse. Whether It be a single family conversion, live with income or straight income property, this property checks the boxes for all of these opportunities.

OK, well, this was offered less than two years ago... anyway!

This stunning Anglo-Italianate row house was designed by James Renwick Jr.,in approximately 1860. James Renwick Jr. was one of the most successful architects of his time, having also designed the St. Patrick's Cathedral, Grace Church, and the Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) in Washington D.C.

And the configuration ...

The Garden apartment, is made up of the first floor and garden floor. 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and private garden access. This apartment also has a private entrance below the main stoop. The Second floor — The Original Parlor floor is currently configured as a one-bedroom apartment with the highest ceiling height in the building. The Third Floor - one-bedroom apartment with soaring ceilings, wood burning fireplace. The Top two floors — A two bedroom 2-bathroom duplex with a skylight, renovated eat in kitchen. Sun filled apartment with private internal stair case. Decked roof deck with impressive views North and South ...

The price now: $6.8 million

Previously on EV Grieve:
On the market: 120 E. 10th St., a single-family home or triplex with income

Hole watch 2017: Long-empty lot on 6th and C now waiting for 5-story building

Back on Friday, a section of the plywood that surrounds the empty lot on Avenue C at Sixth Street came down in the wind... providing a nice view of the 10-by-12-foot hole inside...





Seems like a good time to check in on the status of the lot, a former gas station, which has been empty since the early 1980s. There have been efforts to build on the corner dating to 2003.

There are amended plans on file with the city now for a five-story building with retail space on the ground floor and 9 residential units on the upper floors. According to the DOB, the city disapproved these plans last October. (Previous disapproved plans called for for a six-story, 14-unit building.)

As for the fallen piece of plywood, it was last seen Sunday waiting for garbage pickup...



Thanks to Steven for the photos!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Hole watch 2016: Still no sign of a new building on Avenue C and East 6th Street

[Updated] Police ID suspect in attempted LES rape

Police are looking for a suspect who is accused of shoving a woman into a door at her apartment on Norfolk Street near Rivington and attempted to rape her early Friday morning.

The NYPD ID'd the suspect as Robert Adams, 41.

Please help us locate this guy wanted for an attempted rape in the #les. If you have info please call 212-860-6857. pic.twitter.com/SDaiOSQbnE

— NYPD 7th Precinct (@NYPD7Pct) March 6, 2017

Updated 3/26

Police have arrested Adams.

Chef Sujan Sarkar bringing 'upscale modern Indian cuisine' to the Bowery

A noted chef is looking to serve "upscale modern Indian cuisine" at the current L'Apicio space on First Street in the Avalon Bowery Place complex between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

According to documents (PDF!) on file at the CB3 website for the March SLA meeting, chef Sujan Sarkar is applying for a new liquor license for the venture, which is currently unnamed.

The proposed hours are noon-midnight from Monday-Wednesday; noon to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday; and 11 a.m. to midnight on Sunday.

The bio that accompanies the questionnaire at the CB3 website notes that Sarkar is the chef partner at Ek Bar, "India's first Artisanal cocktail bar." He is also the chef of Rooh, a similar-sounding restaurant that just opened in San Francisco.

The questionnaire includes Rooh's menu, and states that this First Street restaurant will be similar. If that's the case, then here's more about Rooh via Eater San Francisco:

The culinary team includes a mix of professionally trained U.S. and Indian cooks, preparing dishes like foie gras pate with masala, pickled shallot, and taftan (a flatbread). Refreshingly, the menu is a healthy mix of both meat and vegetable-focused dishes, like a tandoori portobello mushroom served with polenta, morel crumble, and truffle.

The interior is a polished mix of rich blues and gold, giving off a serious lounge vibe — the group also owns nightclubs in India. The dining room can be split into more intimate semi-private areas with gold mesh curtains that hang from the high ceilings, while a long marble bar gives ample space for snacking and drinking.

As for L'Apicio, there isn't any word of a closing date just yet for the Italian restaurant via chef Gabe Thompson. Sarkar's questionnaire at the CB3 website notes that this is a "sale of assets." Notice about the CB3-SLA meeting on March 13 is posted outside L'Apico ...



L'Apicio opened in 2012. Here's what Pete Wells at The New York Times had to say about it in a generally positive review from December 2012: "L'Apicio can deliver a very enjoyable night out if you don't ask too much of it."

This large space with outdoor seating (capacity inside/outside is 266) was previously home for four years to the Bowery Wine Company.

Edwin and Neal's Fish Bar gives way to Tableside on 6th Street

Back in December 2015, Shane Covey, along with Adam Elzer, operating partner at Sauce Restaurant, Supper, Lil Frankie's and Frank, opened Edward and Neal's Fish Bar on Sixth Street near First Avenue.

The idea was that Edward and Neal's would be an offshoot of Covey's Upstate, his popular craft beer and oyster outpost around the corner on First Avenue.

After 14 months, Covey has decided to switch up concepts... which explains the arrival late last week of Tableside, an Italian Cook Shoppe...





A sign on the door points to some spring cleaning...



We asked Covey more about the new venture.

"I needed to switch it up. I was never able to be there as much as I should. Running fresh fish places took all of my time," he said. "Also I thought the prices were too high. I have not raised Upstate's prices since we opened [in 2011]. So Edwin and Neal's had to compete with a fish place right around the corner with better price points."

And how was business?

"Financially, the place was doing better than fine. I was pleased with it. But I was tired, I needed something a little easier to run," he said. "I found a great young manager Anthony who comes from a restaurant family."

Despite the "shoppe" in the name, there won't be any retail at Tableside — "just good fresh and affordable pastas and wine." He also said that he is retaining the entire Edwin and Neal's staff, front and back of the house. "So all the same familiar faces, just instead of fish it's going to be Italian."

Covey said that he is using March to renovate.

"The [neighborhood] is a little slow and then — hopefully — we are back come April."

Thanks to Vinny & O for the photos!

2nd Avenue development makes 1st appearance above the plywood

Crews have been busy on the foundation of the 10-story residential building that will rise at 24 Second Ave. at First Street.

And this past week, the structure made its first appearance above the grade...





As previously noted, apartments will begin on the second floor, with four to five units per floor through the sixth story. The seventh and eighth floors will host two duplexes, and the ninth and tenth floors will hold one penthouse duplex with a private roof deck. Amenities include a shared terrace and recreation space on the second floor, and a fitness room, storage and bike storage in the cellar.

Permits show some 45,000 square feet for the 31 residences (rentals? condos?) … and another 5,700 square feet for the commercial space.

And the rendering...



The BP, which served a nice coffee, closed here in July 2014.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

The 2nd Avenue BP station has closed

Report: 50,000 square feet of condos coming to the former 2nd Avenue BP station

Permits filed to demolish former 2nd Avenue BP station

More about the 10-story building taking the place of the former BP station at 24 2nd Ave.

A look inside the last East Village gas station

Check out the new 10-story building for the former 2nd Avenue BP station

A ballerina for 2nd Avenue

2nd Avenue residential complex now complete with renderings on the plywood

New vendors for the Bowery Market this spring

The Bowery Market, the year-round open-air food market at 348 Bowery and Great Jones, is now down to two vendors.

The Market launched last July with five vendors... and since then, the mini outposts of Champion Coffee, The Butcher's Daughter and, most recently, Pulqueria have closed. The remaining spots are Alidoro and Sushi on Jones.

However, the sign out front notes that additional vendors will be arriving this spring...



Previously on EV Grieve:
A winterized Bowery Market, now down to 3 vendors

The Bowery Market opens today with 5 year-round food vendors