I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant

East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant. She will share some of the photos here for this ongoing EVG feature.



Photos and text by Susan Schiffman

Tenant: Raquel S., since 1983

When my parents came for the first visit, before I did all the renovations here, when the apartment still looked like hell, my father sat on the futon on the floor with tears streaming down his face and he said, You moved to America to live like a Bedouin?

When I picked them up at the airport I had to tell them that I had a bathtub in the kitchen. So I said, In America you can make coffee and take a shower at the same time. That is basically my story.

Why did you move to NYC?

I didn’t know the East Village existed. I came from a kibbutz in Israel. I just felt suffocated both in the kibbutz and in Israel. I used to be a dancer and I wanted to study acting and mime, and more dance.

I did do theater here. Mostly in the EV. I acted, directed and produced. I even had a theater for 5 minutes. On Ninth Street in 1986. The New York Theater Asylum with a partner Tri Garrity.

Immediately when I arrived to New York, the East Village became my place. It was an instant attraction. Why? Maybe because I was a bit marginal? And most everyone else seemed a bit marginal. I loved all the colorful people here.

I met my husband about a year and a half after I got here. We were married for 36 years till his death, last year. My beautiful gay husband.

I got the apartment through a friend. One day the landlord knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted the lease. First I thought it was a trick, but then I realized he was serious. He always treated me nicely. Though the building suffered — years and years without heat.

I love the East Village — the community, it is still a lovely community, and it was affordable.









What do you love about your apartment?

Well, at the end of the day, my apartment is my temple. I made it so. Before the renovations, you have no clue what it looked like. It was disgusting. And the roaches. The first time my parents came to visit, one night I came in at 11 and saw my parents on all fours chasing roaches. I told myself, That’s it, I’m gonna win the war.

And I did. But as I’m growing older, I want a real kitchen, a real bathroom, and a real bedroom. I really do want it.







If you're interested in inviting Susan in to photograph your apartment for an upcoming post, then you may contact her via this email.

The end is nearing for the Sunshine Cinema

[EVG photo from August]

It's getting closer for the end credits to roll at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema on East Houston.

As The Lo-Down first reported yesterday, the new owners of the building housing the theater have filed demolition permits to take down the three-level structure here between Eldridge and Forsyth.

Back in May, the Post reported that East End Capital and K Property Group bought the building for $31.5 million with plans to convert it to a mixed-use development with retail and upstairs office space. The site includes 20,000 square feet of air rights.

First sign of the impending new development came in August when workers were taking soil samples...


[EVG photo from Aug. 10]

Landmark reportedly had the opportunity to buy the property, but decided against it after CB3 voted down a proposal for a full liquor license for a cafe in the theater in 2012 for pre- and post-movie drinks and dinner.

Landmark instead decided to invest in a state-of-the-art theater (with an adjoining bar-cafe) that recently opened on West 57th Street.

The Sunshine is expected to close in early 2018. No date has been set. As of now, the Sunshine website lists midnight movies scheduled through Jan. 27 with a possible grand finale of "Dog Day Afternoon."

And a little history of the theater/building, via its website:

Opened December 21, 2001. Built in 1898, the Sunshine Cinema building was formerly the Houston Hippodrome motion picture theatre and a Yiddish vaudeville house but for over 50 years it had been shuttered serving as a hardware warehouse. Landmark has restored the theatre back to its artistic roots and now offers the art-house film lover five state-of-the-art screens dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film as well as non-traditional studio programming...

Given the numerous alterations through the years, the building was never deemed landmark-worthy by the city.

Anyway, I've been taking a few photos each time that I visited the theater in recent months, such as when I was the only person in the auditorium for a screening of "Wetlands" in September...













... and one day maybe...


[East End Capital]

The East End Capital website states that "ground breaking is expected in the second quarter of 2018."

For what?

While pursuing tenants interested in utilizing the structure in its current form, work is also underway for a new, best-in-class office building with retail at the base – a first in the rapidly evolving Lower East Side.

Remembering Kate Millett

Friends gathered yesterday afternoon at the Unitarian Universal Church on Central Park West to celebrate the life of Kate Millett, the pioneering feminist author who died on Sept. 6. She was 82.

Per PBS:

Millett championed the causes of feminism and mental health across a lifetime of work, and helped pioneer the field of gender studies and contemporary American conceptions of sexual freedom.

The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors shared the following yesterday via email:

Ms. Millett was also a long-time resident of the Bowery, residing at 295 Bowery, a building that had once housed the notorious McGurk's Suicide Hall, site of multiple suicides carried out by young female prostitutes.

Upon learning that the building was to be demolished, Millett led a valiant effort to have the building declared a NYC Landmark, and hoped to establish a museum memorial to women who had died there. Sadly, these efforts were unsuccessful, and the building was demolished.

When we were preparing an historic signage poster about 295 Bowery (see below), Kate was a very helpful adviser.

In 2004, the Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association helped Kate Millett and her spouse Sophie Keir relocate to a nearby spot just east of the Bowery.

A wonderful neighbor on many levels, Kate will be missed.

Old Monk offering a free meal this Thanksgiving

Via the EVG inbox...

This Thanksgiving, Avenue B’s contemporary Indian restaurant Old Monk will serve a complimentary Thanksgiving buffet to all patrons that visit.

To thank the neighborhood that has embraced the restaurant since it opened this past summer, as well as help those in need, Chef/Co-owner Navjot Arora has crafted Indian-inspired Thanksgiving dishes including Turkey Meatballs in a curry sauce, Tandoori Chicken Wings, Carrot & Green Bean Poriyal with coconut, Cumin Potatoes, House-Baked Naan Bread, Cranberry chutney with mango yogurt and more.

He hopes to feed more than 300 New York City residents who may not have an opportunity to celebrate the holiday with a warm meal.

WHEN: Thanksgiving, Thursday Nov. 23 from noon-3 p.m.

WHERE: 175 Avenue B at 11th Street

A rep for Old Monk told me that "Anyone who walks through the door will be welcomed. They just need to show up during the [noon-to-3 p.m.] time frame."

EVG file photo via Cheyenne

Report: Part of a man's leg discovered along the East River

There are published reports that part of a man's leg was found washed up along the East River near the FDR and Sixth Street.

Someone spotted the leg (from the knee down) around 11:30 a.m.

Per the Daily News:

It was not immediately disclosed if a foot was attached to the extremity, which was brought to the city Medical Examiner’s office. Further tests will be done to try to determine who the leg belonged to and how it became separated from the person’s body.

And via NBC 4:

Details remain scarce at this point, but an NYPD spokesperson said, "When you find a leg in the water, that's suspicious in itself."

Report: Arrest made in Avenue D murder

The Villager has an update on the murder of 23-year-old Malik Campbell last Friday outside 118 Avenue D at Eighth Street.

On Saturday, police arrested Rashawn Taylor, 18, a resident in the Smith Houses. He is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, The Villager reports.

The NYPD did not cite of motive in the shooting. However, a super who works nearby "blamed the shooting on rivalries between groups of young men living in different public-housing developments along the East River."

As for Campbell:

“Everyone is just sick about it,” said the victim’s grandmother Irma Campbell, who said she helped raise Malik and his identical twin brother, Eli, in Haven Plaza, a block of subsidized housing located off Avenue C at 12th St.

Malik grew up in Haven Plaza with his parents and attended the Earth School on Avenue B and East Side Community High School on E. 12th St.

His grandmother described him as a “good kid, very polite and caring,” though she conceded he had run afoul of the law recently. At the time of the shooting, he was on probation for a low-level drug offense — “pot and pills,” she said.

The packing peanuts are here! The packing peanuts are here!

To pack up the horse head? Or unless this is some kind of new dessert.

Photo on Seventh Street today by Derek Berg...

Happenings 1 month from today

Among the Good Santa-Bad Santa events taking place on Dec. 9 ...

The 9th Annual Cookie Walk is set for Dec. 9-10 at St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church on Avenue A and 10th Street (find more details here)...



--

Also on Dec. 9 — SantaCon... the location hasn't been disclosed yet, though the East Village is always a good possibility as the host...

Meet Fresh bringing teas and taro balls to Cooper Square

The second retail space in the base of the Marymount Manhattan College dorm has a new tenant.

Signage went up yesterday here on Cooper Square and Sixth Street for Meet Fresh, a Taiwan-based chain that serves teas and desserts. (Thanks to EVG reader Harry Weiner for the photos!)



The company, now 100 locations strong, was started by the Fu siblings. Here's their story via the Meet Fresh website:

Sister and Brother Fu grew up in a generational farming family in the Feng Yuan District of Taichung, Taiwan. Using traditional food materials and processes, they made chewy taro ball desserts, soft herbal jelly, and delicate traditional tofu pudding, as a continuation of traditional delicacies while integrating innovation!

This marks the first NYC location for the brand. It joins neighbor Pourt, the cafe-networking space, in the dorm storefronts.

The 13-story dorm opened for Marymount Manhattan College students in August 2015. The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building that dated to 1825.

Landlord accused of tenant harassment in Chelsea new owner of 7th Street building

[Image via Streeteasy]

A recent transaction to note: 61 E. Seventh St. changed hands for $8.3 million, according to public records dated from late October.

The Sabet Group is the new owner of the 20-unit walk-up between First Avenue and Second Avenue. The seller was listed as the Zimmerman Family Trust.

Streeteasy lists 20 units for the building, where the average rental was $2,400.

In the summer of 2016 the Sabet Group bought 92-94 Second Ave. between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. (Gut-renovated units there are now asking upwards of $7,000 a month, per Streeteasy.)

The Sabet Group has been accused of tenant harassment in the past.

Per Bedford + Bowery:

Tenants in two buildings on 25th Street even took their complaints, which included unmitigated construction, severed telecoms, bug infestations and gas leaks, all the way to the New York State Supreme Court last year. More recently, the company was criticized for dramatically raising the rents on several newly acquired tenants in the West Village, including the prestigious Joffrey ballet school.

As Curbed noted in June 2016, "Sabet Group's inflexible rents also forced famed drag lounge Boots & Saddle to relocate after more than four decades in the building."

Stuy Town to catch some major solar rays

[Rendering via]

Via the EVG inbox yesterday...

Blackstone and Ivanhoé Cambridge today announced plans to implement the largest private multi-family residential rooftop solar project in the United States. The project will be run by StuyTown Property Services (SPS), the property management company of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

This 3.8 Megawatt (DC) solar energy system will span across the property’s 22 acres of rooftops. Once completed, StuyTown will have tripled Manhattan’s capacity to generate solar power. NYC-based renewable energy developer Onyx Renewable Partners is project developer for the installation, which is expected to begin this winter and reach completion in 2019.

The installation will consist of 9,671 high efficiency solar panels and will generate enough energy to power over 1,000 New York City apartments annually. The project is expected to offset approximately 63,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, comparable to removing 12,000 cars from the road for a year.

StuyTown is the first multifamily building in NYC to have received an ENERGY STAR certification, which it has won three years in a row for its sophisticated energy management technologies ... The community has been particularly active and enthusiastic in supporting StuyTown’s compost waste pickup, averaging just over 10,000 pounds of organic material collected weekly – representing 17 percent of all residential compost waste collected in Manhattan. StuyTown has already reduced on-site greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent since 2007, and has now expanded into the solar sphere as part of its larger commitment to environmental sustainability.

StuyTown is the largest rental apartment complex in the U.S., with 11,200-plus multifamily units in 56 buildings across 80 acres in Manhattan’s East Village. It houses more than 27,000 New Yorkers and represents 1.7 percent of Manhattan’s population.

Wednesday's parting shot

Photo on Seventh Street today by Derek Berg...

Documentary filmmaker looking for archival photos-footage of Ray's Candy Store

A local filmmaker is working on a documentary about Ray and Ray's Candy Store. He’s looking for older photos or footage of Ray and the store on Avenue A near Seventh Street ... like the one above from the late 1970s by Michael Sean Edwards.

Here's the contact info: ray@rayscandystore.com

Someone vandalized the entrance to the Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy on 2nd Avenue

[Photo by Ryan John Lee]

Last night around 8:30, someone vandalized the front of the Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy (CHKA) on Second Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

A CHKA spokesperson said that they were giving their free women’s self-defense class when one of the building's residents notified them that someone had tossed a can of paint at the entrance.

"We did not see who did it," the spokesperson said. "We called 911 and the police came right away, spoke to the landlord on the phone and made a report."

Several witnesses as well as the CHKA spokesperson said that a group of travelers/crusties were congregating earlier under the scaffolding outside the building. (The landlord is putting in new storefront windows.)

Here's an account from CHKA:

At around 6 p.m., as our children were attempting to leave the building with their parents after class, a group of 10 or so people with off-leash dogs and open containers were camped out at the entrance under the construction scaffolding. When asked politely to move, they became hostile and violent, screaming and threatening our instructors who asked them to move. The children and families were forced to wait in the building until it was safe to leave.

At one point, one of the dogs lunged at people passing by. We called 911 and the officers who came told the group that they were violating regulations regarding leaning on or being under the construction scaffolding. They finally moved along at about 7:30 p.m. and then the vandalism occurred about an hour later.

[Photo from this morning]

This past summer, a group of travelers/crusties reportedly vandalized the First Ukrainian Assembly of God on Cooper Square at Seventh Street after church officials sprinkled bleach powder on the sidewalk to prevent camp outs.

CHKA, a 20-plus-year-old martial arts school offering classes in Kenpo karate and kickboxing for children and adults, moved here from Avenue A in June.

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 or Lower East Side.



By James Maher

Name: Margie Segal
Occupation: Teacher, Retired
Location: 4th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue
Date: Monday, Nov. 6

I’m a retired New York City school teacher. I came to college here from New Jersey many, many years ago. I came in the late 1960s. I was in NYU. That wasn’t this neighborhood then, now it is.

As a college kid it was fabulous — fun things happening all around, but the city itself was in pretty bad shape. It was crime ridden over here. But when you’re that age it doesn’t seem to bother you. There were neighborhoods you just didn’t want to go into and this was one of them. I stayed out of Tompkins Square Park. I didn’t really have any trouble, but as a woman I was on guard a lot, especially going near the park, the subways — just being out at night alone was not something you wanted to do, not that I didn’t do it.

My best and favorite memories are going to the Fillmore East every weekend and seeing all those bands — the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Jefferson Airplane. That was always a fun time. It was a lot of fun staying up and listening to music all night long. It was very cheap. The club scene wasn’t for me. We were just more out and about ... being out and being with friends. Basically it was just being out of the streets.

This neighborhood to me represents everything that New York was and should be. The diversity, and a place for people of all incomes and all walks of life. I hate to see that disappear. I do see that it’s changing. My friends and neighbors are affected by it and that bothers me. I like to live by all kinds of people.

Back then there was just a feeling of freedom and possibility. That’s what this was all about. Maybe if you talk to 18 year olds now they might feel the same way I felt then. You know, it was a horrible world. The Vietnam War was going on, we were protesting, but there was always a feeling of hope that we were going to change things and it would be a better place. We always just felt very free. We had nothing, like Janis Joplin said, ‘Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.’ We had nothing to lose, so we felt free.

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

Report: Judge dismisses Raphael Toledano suit over 97 2nd Ave.

During a hearing on Monday, a federal judge tossed a bankruptcy case filed by Raphael "I will bury you" Toledano, ending his bid to stop the sale of 97 Second Ave. to Michael Shah’s Delshah Capital, The Real Deal reports.

Both landlords were claiming ownership of the 11-unit building between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. It's a little complicated. Read the Real Deal piece here for the full blow by blow.

According to the documents filed by Shah, Toledano allegedly told him, "I will bury you, literally. I will bury this building and make sure of it."

The 6-story building was one of the first East Village properties purchased by Toledano. Public records show that Toledano paid $4.95 million for it in April 2014.

Toledano reportedly lost control of the property when he defaulted on a $2 million loan.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

Report: Threats made in ongoing battle over 97 2nd Ave.

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

[EVG photo from August]

Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved a proposal to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings at 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street.

This decision spared the buildings from demolition. As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel between 12th Street and 13th Street last summer for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights, which would be put to use for a 14-floor office building.

Back to the developer's plans in a minute.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) campaigned the past 18 months to help preserve these buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked.

Per Curbed:

The [LPC] vote represents an unusual kind of designation for the commission that takes into special account the cultural history of the site. (Similar designations include the Stonewall Inn and Tammany Hall.) "The building itself, regardless of the destination, is worthy of designation," said Commissioner Frederick Bland. "What happened in it, regardless of the building, is worthy of designation."

According to the GVSHP, the developers said that if the buildings were landmarked, they would return with a claim of "hardship" to get out of landmarking or a proposal for an addition.

On Monday night, Community Board 2's Landmarks Committee will hear the developer's new proposal (find it here) "to construct a multiple story setback addition on the roof."

And the rendering:



The addition, at first glance, looks as if it blew in from the set of "Geostorm." However, the reflective façade is meant to represent Willem de Kooning's rural and pastoral landscape phase as well as his urban landscapes.

In an email, the GVSHP stated: "[T]his proposed 4-story addition is overwhelming in comparison to the building, and would nearly double its height."

The CB2 meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m., NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Place, Room 207. The meeting is open to the public, who can ask questions and provide feedback on the proposal. CB2 will issue an advisory opinion and then the proposal will be scheduled for a hearing and vote with the LPC at a later date. Find more info here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

Report: PS 122 returns to the East Village in January

Performance Space 122 will return to its newly renovated home on First Avenue and Ninth Street in January.

As Playbill noted, PS 122 will inaugurate the refurbished space with the 13th Coil Festival from Jan. 10 to Feb. 4.

And the Times has a rundown on other 2018 highlights, including the debut of a semiannual themed series of performances:

It begins with an exhibition, marathon reading and more events inspired by the neighborhood’s punk culture of the 1970s and ’80s and in tribute to the postmodern punk writer Kathy Acker, who died in 1997. The space has also commissioned new works from the choreographers Sarah Michelson and Yve Laris Cohen, who will create a site-specific piece for the organization’s new theater.

Other performances include a revival of “Them,” which had its brazen debut at Performance Space 122 in 1986 in response to the AIDS crisis, featuring the choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones, the guitarist Chris Cochrane and the writer Dennis Cooper.

PS 122, which opened in the former school in 1980, has been presenting performances from other venues since gut renovations — including the addition of an elevator, new stairwells and full ADA compliance — started in February 2013 at the 122 Community Center. New amenities for PS 122 include two state-of-the-art theaters. They also have a new executive artistic director in Jenny Schlenzka.



The building will also house the Alliance for Positive Change, Mabou Mines, Painting Space 122, and a fifth tenant to be announced.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's the sidewalk bridge-free corner of 9th Street and 1st Avenue — and the 122 Community Center

Come along on a tour of the under-renovation 122 Community Center on 1st Avenue

Storm trooper

Photo in a rainy Tompkins Square Park today by Derek Berg...

The Peter Stuyvesant-PO-replacing residential building tops out on 14th Street

Workers have apparently reached the top at 432 E. 14th St., planting the flag at the retail-residential building at the site of the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Here's a comparison with the rendering in circulation...



To recap, the entrance to the nearly 23,000-square-foot Trader Joe's will be on the 14th Street side of the building while residents will access their rentals from the 13th Street side. The plans show 114 residential units with 20 percent designated as affordable housing.

And another recap: Reps for Benenson Capital Partners and Mack Real Estate previously sought a variance to build four more floors (to 12 from 8) than the zoning would allow to make up for the "extraordinary construction costs" from poor ground conditions here. They withdrew this request in March.





No word yet on when rentals may start here or if the building will have a name that pays homage to the previous tenant, the Post Office, maybe something like Next Window Please, Marked As Delivered But We Didn't Actually Deliver It or You Can Come Back Tomorrow If You Want.

You can find coverage about the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office here.