A depressing last look at Gem Spa

Workers finished dismantling the former Gem Spa space today on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place.

The work focused on removing the rolldown gates that East Village-based musician-artist Paul Kostabi painted last September ... Steven took these photos...









Parul Patel, who had been the running the shop that her father Ray has owned since 1986, said that she plans to auction the rolldown gates, splitting the proceeds with Paul Kostabi. (She will also continue to sell Gem Spa merchandise online.)

Workers also removed some Gem Spa ghost signage...





The iconic shop, home of the egg cream, officially closed on May 7 amid ongoing financial challenges worsened by the COVID-19 crisis.

That long-empty corner lot at 14th Street and Avenue C has a new owner

[EVG file photo]

The southwest corner of 14th Street at Avenue C — 644 E. 14th St. — remains an inactive development site.

And now it has yet another new owner. As Bisnow reported, Shulamit Prager’s Opal Holdings sold the property to Madison Realty Capital for $31.3 million.

Opal had plans for a 50-unit mixed-use building on the site.

There hasn't been any construction activity at this site since the end of 2017. However, there has been some behind-the-scenes wrangling. In May 2019, PincusCo examined city records to find that several developers have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the city for NYCHA air rights. (The latest listing noted that "additional FAR" is available.)

According to the PincusCo investigation, Madison Realty Capital hired one of the city’s most active government lobbying firms, Capalino+Company, to approach the NYCHA about the air rights at Campos Plaza II adjacent to this property.

This past November, a new listing for the property positioned the corner as a "unique build-to-suit opportunity." According to the listing at Lee & Associates, the site "can be developed as a residential/commercial mixed use building" that's "ideal for schools, health care/medical, not-for-profits, retail." There wasn't a mention of price.

Also: In January 2019, the Commercial Observer reported that Second Avenue Deli owner Jeremy Lebewohl filed a $10 million lawsuit alleging that his five-story residential building at 642 E. 14th St. sustained damages by the foundation work next door at No. 644.

As for the most-recent stalled development, here's what was in the works in September 2016: A 15-floor building with 50 residential units with 8,064 square feet of retail space and 21,575 square feet of community facility space."


[2016-era rendering of the development]

This corner property last housed the single-level R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 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

Rossy's Bakery & Café is back open after making repairs caused by construction next door

Rossy's Bakery & Café reopens this morning after the ongoing construction next door knocked them out of business for the past month and a half.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy spotted owner Rossy Caba at the family run café here at 242 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C the other day...



... where interior renovations were wrapping up...



Rossy's had been open for takeout and delivery in March. However, part of the restaurant suffered water damage from the ongoing construction next door, where a 7-floor, 20-unit residential building will stand. They had to close for repairs after service on March 31.

Moving forward, Rossy's will be open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

And you can expect to see Rossy along with other familiar faces — Norma Ortiz, her mother, and Gabriel Escalante, her brother. Among their offerings: boxed lunches, smoothies and cakes.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A visit to Rossy's Bakery & Café on 3rd Street

Construction next door causes Rossy's Bakery & Café to temporarily close on 3rd Street

How to get your Superiority Burger grab bag to go on Thursday

Superiority Burger is now offering up a grab bag of unique to-go vegan items — on Thursdays only here on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

But! You need to put in your order online here starting at noon today (Monday!). SB has an enthusiastic fanbase, and they sold out of pre-orders quickly this past week.

Let's go to their Instagram account for a narrative:

Thursday May 21 will be a whole new set menu based on what we find at Union Square. Ordering for this next one will start Monday May 18 at noon.

(And yes, we get it. The pre-ordering is annoying. The nebulous pre-ordering menu is annoying. The timed out pick-ups you unconditionally must be on time for are annoying. The goofy one day a week availability is annoying. Bear with us as this thing develops organically. Please please please 😇.)

We are building back purposively and methodically here. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll be saying “hey remember when SB was only open one day a week and they tried to make us eat beans what fuckers.” Thank you for your peace, love, and understanding!

But still!

Ok! No one wants us to return to multi-day service more than we do. But we are going to do this gradually. Safe staff, safe customers, right? So for now, only Thursdays. But we will make sure these Thursday bags of food are action packed, ok?

[May 14] was a blast. It was fun to try to recognize everyone’s masked faces through the doorway. Folks showed up, picked up, and immediately scattered. A really encouraging shot of spaced out camaraderie. It felt....pretty good.

Thanks to Steven for these photos from this past Thursday...

Village Crêperie debuts on 9th Street

[Photo by Steven]

Village Crêperie opened last week along 441-445 E. Ninth St. (aka 145 Avenue A).


[Image via Instagram]

Here's a look at their menu, offering a variety of coffee and crêpes...



You can find them on Instagram here. No word on their hours moving forward.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Village Crêperie coming soon to 9th and A

ICYMI: Momofuku's Ssäm Bar moving from the East Village to the Seaport

ICYMI: Back on Wednesday, David Chang announced several changes/closures to his global restaurant empire as the fallout from COVID-19 hits the A-list ranks.

Among the coming changes: Chang is moving the nearly 15-year-old Ssäm Bar from Second Avenue and 13th Street into the space that houses Bar Wayō at the South Street Seaport.

Here's part of the message posted to the Momofuku website:

[W]e have decided to move Ssäm Bar from the East Village to Wayō’s much larger space at South Street Seaport and combine the teams of both restaurants. We loved what we created with Wayō, but we have to focus on our restaurants with the most potential. It would be hard to think of a better candidate than Ssäm Bar. Its lease expires in January 2021 and over the last fifteen years has probably changed more radically than any other restaurant of its kind—and thrived in the process.

With more space for guests, multiple entrances, and a new kitchen, Ssäm Bar at the Seaport is better suited to the new realities of restaurants. Not only that, we’re also excited to incorporate elements of Wayo’s menu and service into the new Ssäm Bar. With tabletop cooking and karaoke rooms, the new restaurant will carry on Ssäm Bar’s legacy and celebratory spirit. And don’t worry, John McEnroe is coming with. We are still working on sorting out the details and will share more as we develop the project.

The Ssäm Bar had a large footprint on this corner... curious to see who/what might take this space over one day...



Milk Bar had retail space on the 13th Street side before moving across the street in May 2011. The cocktail bar Booker & Dax was then here until October 2016 before Ssäm Bar expanded.

Meanwhile, Eater checked in with a think piece titled: "If Momofuku Is Closing Restaurants, What Does It Mean for Everyone Else?"

Dismantling the former Gem Spa

[Photo by David Sippel]

This afternoon, workers took down the Gem Spa signs from the now-closed corner shop-newsstand on Second Avenue and St Mark's Place (photos below by Steven)...









Parul Patel, who had been the running the shop that her father Ray has owned since 1986, told me that she intends to sell the Gem Spa signs, and has a few suitors already. She was at the scene overseeing the removal today...


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

She also plans to auction the rolldown gates that East Village-based musician-artist Paul Kostabi painted last September, splitting the proceeds with him. (She will also continue to sell Gem Spa merchandise online.)

The iconic shop, home of the egg cream, officially closed on May 7 amid ongoing financial challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis...


[Photo by Steven]

Updated:

A look at about 7:30...

Someone vandalized the COVID-19 memorial on 10th Street and Avenue A

The vandalism happened sometime overnight here on 10th Street and Avenue A... the mirror that kept a tally of the COVID-19 deaths worldwide was smashed ... and someone took one of the signs attached to the memorial... thanks to Rosella Tursi for sharing these photos...







The memorial was originally created back in March in honor of Edd Conboy, a licensed therapist and director of social services at Broad Street Ministry in Philadelphia, who died on March 20 of a stroke. He was 69. His brother Jim, an East Village artist, created this after his family was unable to hold a funeral in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The memorial continued to evolve to honor those who have died during the pandemic. This also marks the second time that someone has vandalized it.

Week in Grieview

[7th Street isolation by Rainer Turim]

Posts from this past week included...

• Owner of Taste Wine leaving the business to help save his young sons Benny and Josh (Monday)

• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis (Tuesday)

• The best carnitas in Los Angeles are coming to the East Village (Monday)

• This East Village resident discusses getting an antibody test (Thursday)

• Amelia and Christo's 2020 red-tailed offspring: Look at the babies! (Friday)

• Opinion: COVID-19 + Storm Surge = Catastrophe for the Lower East Side and East Village (Thursday)

• Partial Stop Work Order at the tech hub after worker rescued from scaffolding collapse (Monday)

• An art collaboration to help support the Sixth Street Community Center (Sunday)

• Revel quietly expands downtown with rideshare scooters now available in the East Village (Monday)

• Another new building permit filed for the long-empty lot at 89 1st Ave. (Wednesday)

• Avant Garden continuing to offer free meals to those in need (Wednesday)

• Steven Hirsch's CoronaLand (Friday)

• Jewel Bako is permanently closing (Tuesday)

• This week's NY See panel (Thursday)

• Checking in on Anyway Cafe (Wednesday)

• Challahlujah! B&H Dairy returns for takeout and delivery (Friday)

• Reopenings: Baji Baji, Factory Tamal, Ruffian x Black Emperor, Málà Project and more! (Friday)

• Vegan mainstay Caravan of Dreams is back open on 6th Street (Wednesday)

• Cafe Mogador is open now in the evenings for takeout and delivery (Tuesday)

• For the dogs: Shake and Tail now open on 11th Street (Wednesday)

• Construction watch: 94-96 Avenue A (Thursday)

• First ice cream truck sighting of 2020 (Wednesday)

• You now have 2 extra hours to shop at Trader Joe's (Monday)

... and the city's Social Distancing Ambassadors were out in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... handing out face masks ...




[Photos by Steven]

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Letting the days go by: A moment with the Talking Heads early this evening on 2nd Avenue near St. Mark’s Place. [Sound on!] Sadly, the man playing the music on the steps of Ottendorfer then stopped the song and put on ... the Bangles and “Walk Like an Egyptian.” #eastvillage #TalkingHeads #onceinalifetime

A post shared by EV Grieve (@evgrieve) on May 14, 2020 at 4:06pm PDT

You got love on your side

Queen Andrea completed this We ❤️ New York mural on Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street back on Thursday.

And on this topic, in case you haven't seen the marquee over at Webster Hall on 11th Street...



Headline H/T

Saturday's parting shot

The lawn in Tompkins Square Park today... photo by Derek Berg...

Care to dance online? The 14th annual Dance Parade is today

This year's Dance Parade — the 14th annual — lives on online. And it's happening today (Saturday!) from 1-3:30 p.m.

Details via the EVG inbox...

Anticipating 1,000 people dancing-in-place from around the world, parade organizers have lined up family-friendly fun and movement joy in DJ-lead dance rooms, free dance classes with top professionals, dance-offs between participants, flashmob, free dance classes, and will announce winners of Dare-to-Dance challenge. which invited house-bound choreographers to submit new work to win cash prizes. Register to participate at this link. Those wanting to watch can see the show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitch and YouTube Live!

In previous years, the Dance Parade sees St. Mark's Place as a main route while the subsequent Dancefest takes place in Tompkins Square Park.

Hot dog! Papaya Dog returns

We've been noting some restaurant-cafe reopenings these past few days... EVG Pinch regular shares another — Papaya Dog is back open on the northwest corner of 14th Street and First Avenue with their variety of $5.99 and $6.49 combo deals...

One use for discarded disposable gloves

Presenting the Pandemic Pee Glove.

As seen by Julius Klein on Second Avenue...

Friday's parting shot

Parked on Avenue A at Seventh Street late this afternoon via Derek Berg...

Breakfast club

Local trio cumgirl8 have a new EP out on Muddguts Records. The video here is for "Waffles." Bon appétit!

Amelia and Christo's 2020 red-tailed offspring: Look at the babies!

They start eating rats and grow so fast!

Amelia and Christo have three bouncing hawklets in the nest this season in Tompkins Square Park. (They are roughly 1 month old now.)

As always, Goggla has been documenting the activities of our resident red-tailed hawks... she shared these photos of the chicks, now more visible above the lip of the nest ...



So far, all three chicks look good and are getting bigger, she reports.

Here are a few more photos of the nest via Steven ...







Meanwhile, Goggla spotted Christo in action... this is from Tuesday night, as he snatched four rats in a row, and brought them to the nest...





And a good question: "So, I guess four rats can feed a family of five?"

One more piece of trivia: When was the last time Tompkins Square Park saw three hawk chicks? 2016!