For sale: 171 1st Ave., home of Momofuku and the only cast-iron building in the East Village

There's a new listing for 171 First Ave., the 5-story building between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

Here are the details via Avison Young: 

171 First Avenue, the only cast-iron property in the East Village, spans 10,674 gross square feet and consists of five total units across five stories. The ground floor space (and lower level) is occupied by Momofuku Noodle Bar, which is owned and operated by notorious restaurateur David Chang. There are four FM loft-style residential units across floors 2-5. 

Asking price: $10.59 million. 

Chang opened Noodle Bar here in 2004.

In 2019, a Miami real-estate investor bought both 169 and 171 First Ave. for $14 million, per the Post.

Image via Avison Young

Storefront reveal: Raf's at the former Parisi Bakery on Elizabeth Street

Workers have removed the plywood from outside 290 Elizabeth St. between Bleecker and Houston, where the owners of the Michelin-starred Musket Room down the street are opening a new café at the former home of Parisi Bakery. 

Raf's "aims to evoke the grand cafés of Europe and create an intimate space for café culture downtown," per Forbes. The new space will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Raf's will also be making use of Parisi's "immaculately preserved built-in bread ovens." Eater has a preview here. 

Reservations for Raf's start this week. 

ICYMI: Parisi Bakery, a sibling of the famed Mott Street institution, closed in the summer of 2021. The Elizabeth Street outpost had produced all of its bread for restaurants and groceries since 1974.

Monday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Tompkins Square Park views tonight (March 6!)...

Check out emerging bands this week at the New Colossus Festival

The fourth edition of the New Colossus Festival gets underway this Wednesday. 

This celebration of independent music takes (March 8-12) at East Village and LES venues — Pianos, Mercury Lounge, Berlin, Heaven Can Wait, Bowery Electric and Arlene's Grocery. (There's also a special show with A Place to Bury Strangers at the Bowery Ballroom on Sunday.)

Check out the venue lineup here... and the band/musician (100-plus) rundown here. 

As we've said in previous years, it's a great (and inexpensive way) to check out a lot of new/emerging bands. (Find badge info at this link.)

The New Colossus Festival started in 2019.

The historic 137 2nd Ave. — the former Stuyvesant Polyclinic — is now for sale

The landmarked building constructed in the 1880s at 137 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street can now be yours for just over $22.5 million.

In 2019, the three-level (plus) space became the headquarters of the female-focused co-working club The Wing. Per reports at the time, "the HQ is intended to riff off the building's original details, such as existing terracotta tile floors, decorative pillars, moldings and skylights."

According to Curbed, who first reported on this availability, "The Wing's furniture is still in the building and can be included in the sale."

Here's what you get via the Cushman & Wakefield listing:

The Property features 50’ of frontage along 2nd Avenue and is located steps from New York's most iconic destinations and landmarks. The Property is currently configured as a state-of-the-art, turnkey, elevator commercial building that will be delivered vacant, making it a rare blank canvas opportunity for future purchasers. 

Its previous tenant retrofitted every inch of the space into pristine, Class A office space with excellent ceiling heights, abundant light and air, ample outdoor space, and flexible floor layouts. The Property also benefits from its flexible zoning allowing residential, commercial, mixed-use, recreational or community facilities. 

This wide array of potential uses makes this a perfect opportunity for a future townhouse or residential redevelopment, or a future headquarters for an office user as well as a wide array of other users including religious organizations, governments, family offices, foundations, doctors ...

A future townhouse!

The neo-Italian Renaissance brick building is the former German Dispensary, which opened in 1884. (In 1905 it became the Stuyvesant Polyclinic.) 

Here's more about the building from 2008 New York Times feature:

Like the branch library next door, the Second Avenue building of the German Dispensary was the gift of Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer, who ran the German newspaper New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung. That journal had great influence in Little Germany, on the Lower East Side around First and Second Avenues below 14th Street. The 1886 edition of Appleton's Dictionary of New York described an area in which "lager-beer shops are numerous, and nearly all the signs are of German names."

And... 

In more recent years — until its sale [in 2008] — the old dispensary building was part of Cabrini Medical Center. Although hospitals are notoriously hard on historic architecture, the interior of the Schickel building was remarkably intact, if run-down, with intricate stairway ironwork and door enframements, red marble wainscoting and a highly colored tile floor. 

In 2008, a British consulting firm bought the building for $13 million. Following the sale, the firm hired architects David Mayerfield Associates to restore both the interior and exterior. 

Per a feature at Daytonian in Manhattan: 

When dropped ceilings in the main hall were removed, the 1884 skylights, blacked out in World War II, were rediscovered. Similarly, stained-glass panels in the ceiling of the staircase were uncovered. The colorful encaustic tile floors had been covered over with concrete which was meticulously scraped away. 

The building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1976. Learn more about No. 137's history and architecture at Off the Grid here.

City and state officials continue cracking down on illegal smoke shops

Top 2 photos by Stacie Joy; others by EVG

Law enforcement officials returned to two East Village shops to slap them with restraining orders to prohibit them from selling unlicensed cannabis.

A restraining order now hangs on the storefront at Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop, 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. The retaining order notes that the "unlicensed sale of cannabis" is prohibited...

The shop remains in business, selling smoking accessories and exotic flavors of snacks.

Similar legal notices are affixed to the front of Runtz at 14 First Ave. between First Street and Second Street...

Here, though, there's a "partially closed" sign ... access is permitted to tenants, the landlord, employees, contractors, etc., "only for inspections, repairs, modifications, removal of personal property" ...

The shop appears to be permanently shuttered. (And it had been challenging for Runtz. Armed robbers reportedly took them for $5,400 shortly after opening this past August.)

Both businesses were the target of a multi-agency sweep on Feb. 9, a show of force after Mayor Adams and Manhattan DA Bragg announced that they had joined forces, cracking down on illegal storefront operations by targeting the landlords. 

In other cannabis-related news, the storefront for the cannabis lifestyle brand CannaCulture NYC has been closed for the past month at 118 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue. Someone covered the windows and painted over the façade at the shop, which opened last July...

Last Thursday, the Cannabis Control Board doubled the number of social equity licenses but didn't have an update on a timeline for opening up the broader licensing process for general retail outlets, Gothamist reported. 

Per Gothamist: "It could be several months before general business owners who don't qualify for a CAURD license get a chance to set up shop in the new legal cannabis market."

Avant Garden is on the move

Avant Garden, considered the crown jewel of the Overthrow Hospitality plant-based portfolio, will be relocating from 130 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue in the months ahead.

"After eight years in business, Avant Garden is still one of our busiest restaurants at Overthrow Hospitality," Ravi DeRossi, the owner of Overthrow Hospitality, told us in an email. "The 28-seat space with its tiny electric kitchen just isn't able to meet the demand anymore so we will be moving into a new and bigger space."

No details just yet where the new Avant Garden will live ... or the exact timing. 

"We do not expect there to be any lapse at all between the closure of the current location and the opening of the new location," he said.

The listing (PDF here) at Meridian Capital Group notes a June 1 possession date. The asking rent is $8,500 a month.

Michelin named Avant Garden one of NYC's five-best vegetarian restaurants, a list that includes Overthrow's Cadence and Soda Club.

During the first months of the pandemic in 2020, Avant Garden provided free plant-based meals to anyone in need. 

CJ Tattoo relocates from St. Mark's Place to Avenue C

Photos by Stacie Joy 

CJ Tattoo has a new home at 55 Avenue C at Fourth Street. 

EVG contributor Stacie Joy took these photos this past Thursday as workers were prepping the space...

The shop was up and running (with temp signage for now) on Saturday. 

CJ was previously at 103 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue these past nearly six years. No. 55 was last home to O'Flaherty's, the art gallery-performance space now at 44 Avenue A.

Oh my: Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast the latest concept to close at 36 St. Mark's Place

After less than a year on the block, Oh K-Dog & Egg Toast has closed its doors at 36 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

Workers cleared out the storefront late last week, and an employee confirmed the closure to EVG correspondent Steven.

The quick-serve establishment sold Korean-style snacks such as stuffed hot dogs and egg toast ... the space included a K-pop shop, selling music, books, calendars, stickers, etc., for a variety of South Korean bands. 

The Texas-based chain still has locations in the NYC metropolitan area, including on Ludlow Street.

This address has seen several concepts come and go without much success... the last business was Joe's Steam Rice Roll ... others included Cheers Cut, the Taiwanese mini-chain of fried foods ... Friterie Belgian Fries ... Fasta ("Pasta Your Way") ... and the $1.50 branch of 2 Bros. Pizza. 

Sunday's parting shot

From Avenue A, the Key side of the moon...

Farewell to the barricaded chair of 5th street

Top photo from last month by Steven 

For weeks, an office chair sat unused, surrounded by NYPD barricades on the NE corner of Fifth Street and Second Avenue (outside the still-closed Eros-Kitchen Sink).

The chair, which may or may not have been part of a statement on artistic freedom and its importance in developing vibrant democratic societies (or simply just a chair someone rolled in here as a gag), is no longer here...

However, the chair didn't go too far, becoming part of a pop-up office setup down the block alongside the Rite Aid (thanks to Stacie Joy for the photo!) ...

Sadly, that coworking space (this is how Adam Neumann got started!) has been discarded. No word on the fate of the chair.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo on St. Mark's Place by Derek Berg) ... 

• D.A. announces indictment in assault outside Ray's Candy Store (Thursday) 

• Report of a fire at 136 Avenue C (Monday) ... After the fire at 136 Avenue C; A&C Kitchen damaged (Wednesday) 

• Anyway Cafe is closing; staff hopes to open new establishment (Monday) ... At the last night of Anyway Cafe (Wednesday)

• Seasoned Vegan coming to the East Village (Thursday) 

• On 1st Avenue, New Double Dragon is closing and maybe reopening (Tuesday) ... Serenity Spa remains open on corner rumored for new development (Wednesday) 

• A community art project honors the resilience of Ukrainians; it will be on display at Veselka (Thursday) 

• The return of B-Side (Friday) 

• Potty on! Restrooms randomly back open in Tompkins Square Park after a 4-month closure (Sunday) 

• Closing the book for now at Short Stories on the Bowery (Wednesday) 

• Night market concept looks to be the life of the Partea on 14th Street (Thursday) 

• Virginia's eyes a March debut in new 3rd Street home (Tuesday) 

• Hello Dolly: Incoming dessert shop on 1st Avenue has a memorable name (Tuesday) 

• A notice to remove the sidewalk dining room at the now-closed Bait & Hook (Monday) 

• A look at 'Vital Impetus' at Azure Arts (Friday) 

• From Brix to Brick on Clinton (Monday) 

• Smoke shop! (Monday) 

... and is Saquon Barkley of the NY Giants enjoying his off-season in the neighborhood? As seen in a dry cleaners on Avenue A... 

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Potty on! Restrooms randomly back open in Tompkins Square Park after a 4-month closure

Top photo by Steven; others by Stacie Joy and EVG 

Updated 3/6: Well, the restrooms were closed again today. According to a Parks employee, new toilets were installed,  but the flange was faulty and leaking. Plumbers are expected to fix the problem tomorrow.

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To the amazement of some parkgoers yesterday, the public restrooms were back open at Tompkins Square Park for the first since early November... (the restrooms were open again today)...

Parks officials told us last November that a malfunctioning boiler and a broken pipe in the basement of the field house were to blame for the toilet closures. And the Parks Department decided to wait for the field house reconstruction — set to start this month — to make the repairs. 

So, despite a malfunctioning boiler and broken pipe, the restrooms were in the usual working order yesterday (even running water in the sinks!). However, the restrooms designated for boys and girls were still closed on the other side of the field house due to "mechanical issues."

Anyway! Enjoy while you can! The restrooms will be locked up again when the renovations start this month.

During the 18-month reconstruction project, parkgoers are expected to use restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School.

Sunday's opening shot

Spring-y in Tompkins Square Park this a.m.

Street Seats options for this corner of 13th Street outside the New School

New School students are working with the Department of Transportation to create a Street Seats space on 13th Street at 5th Avenue. 

The students are seeking community feedback for the space. You may take a brief survey online here.

Last weekend for a serving of gelitin at O'Flaherty's

Photos by Stacie Joy

Thursday night saw another full house at O'Flaherty's, the new gallery-performance space at 44 Avenue A and Third Street.

This evening (March 4) at 5 (it's free, but get there early) marks the fifth and last show in the inaugural exhibition, "O'Flaherty's gelitin O'Flattering," featuring the Vienna-based performance group gelitin. Each show is different, and something people seem to be talking about each one ... 

And tomorrow (Sunday!) is the last screening of the group's film, "Stinking Dawn," ... starting at 5 p.m.

'Ladies First' at the 188 Allen Street Gallery

Photos by Stacie Joy 

There's a new group show titled "Ladies First" celebrating Women's History Month at the 188 Allen Street Gallery (between Houston and Stanton)... curated by Isabelle Ewing and SacSix...

EVG contributor stopped by the opening on Thursday evening...

... @madebymiriamg....

... Crackhead Barney...

The show is up through March 12... (daily hours on the flyer up top,,,)

A month-long reprieve for the Avenue C Laundromat

Photos by Stacie Joy 

The Avenue C Laundromat, set to close after service on Feb. 28, will be in business for at least another month here at 69 Avenue C at Fifth Street. 

The closing notice has been updated to March 31...

As previously reported, the landlord (listed as D&K Plaza, Inc. in Rego Park) is selling (or has sold) the two-level building. There isn't any listing of a sale in public records just yet.

Friday's parting shot

Photo by Steven 

A visiting juvenile red-tailed hawk enjoys a squab lunch at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery on Second Avenue and 10th Street today...

'Bass' master

 

Legendary post-punk musician, artist and filmmaker Gina Birch has released her debut solo record, "I Play My Bass Loud."

Birch was a founding member of The Raincoats (🙌).

The video is for the title track, "I Play My Bass Loud." Birch has said, "The song is a celebration of the bass guitar as a voice, simple or layered, pounding or dancing or everything at once."