[Updated] Steeple watch

Multiple readers shared this dramatic view this morning from atop the steeple at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue at Seventh Street...

... the top three were from an anonymous reader... the next two are via Cecil Scheib...

... and by Jason Trucco...

Yesterday marked the first day of demolition at the fire-damage façade. 

As Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us, this is a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers will be sifting through the remains of the building, initially completed in 1892, to save any of the limestone and ironwork for use in the new sanctuary that will eventually rise on the property. 

The façade’s arch will reportedly remain untouched. 

The six-alarm fire that started in the empty apartment building next door early on Dec. 5, 2020, destroyed many of the church's historic elements, such as the Tiffany-stained glass windows. (The church's Liberty Bell was preserved and is temporarily at the New York Historical Society.)

Demolition work is expected to last two-to-three months.

Updated: 

And a look by the end of the day... via Jacob Ford...

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

Openings: Potenza Centrale on Avenue B

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Luigi Iasilli debuted Potenza Centrale, his pizza-focaccia takeout spot, last Tuesday at 38 Avenue B near Third Street (arrival first reported here). 

This is despite the fact Con Ed had to shut off gas to the building earlier this fall. Luigi says it will probably be months (lousy news for neighbor Asian Taste) before it's restored.

He explains that he's waiting on Con Ed and the fire department to sign off on the work so gas can be restored. In the interim, he's using electricity to cook.

Menu items include the unusual purple potato focaccia...

Coming soon: an eggplant parm dish and fresh pasta to make at home. 

Also, I have it on good authority that if you ask Luigi, he will sell you some of his famed, highly hydrated, and fermented dough so you can try your hand at pizza at home. 

Fresh mozzarella made in-house and housemade sauce are also available. 

Luigi was the owner of the well-liked Max restaurant, which closed 10 years ago at 51 Avenue B,

Hours: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, with a 1 a.m. close Friday and Saturday.

You can follow them on Instagram here.

Sharaku Japanese Restaurant emerges from plywood frozen in 2020 time

We continue to be curious about what's next for the empty storefronts at 8-14 Stuyvesant St. Workers have been renovating the spaces on this strip between Ninth Street and Third Avenue.

Now, the plywood is off the space at 14 Stuyvesant, and it almost looks as if the previous tenant, Sharaku Japanese Restaurant, was still here...as they were from 1984 to the early days of the pandemic in 2020...

As previously reported, Village Yokocho, Angel's Share and Panya closed in the other spaces in April 2022. Sunrise Mart also shut down in a separate building next door on the second floor.

This post has more background. 

Demolition underway on the fire-damaged Middle Church façade

The top 3 photos by Jacob Ford; the rest via Derek Berg 

Workers today began to remove the remains of Middle Collegiate Church's fire-damaged façade at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street... the first day of what is expected to be a two-to-three-month job...

This afternoon, around 3:30, church leaders and members of the Middle community gathered to mourn the sanctuary that they called home.

"This is a really important day," said the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (above and below in the red hat), the church's senior minister. "The beginning of something new but the end of something old."

As previously reported, church leaders said they must remove what remains on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by the church, the culmination of an 18-month review, there was too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property. 

The church structure was destroyed during a six-alarm fire early morning on Dec. 5, 2020. The fire reportedly started inside 48 E. Seventh St., the five-story residential building that once stood on this corner. FDNY officials blamed faulty wiring at the under-renovation No. 48 and said the fire had been deemed "non-suspicious." 

By December 2024, officials hope to create a new worshiping space for up to 225 people in a two-story structure adjacent to the church and their property at 50 E. Seventh St.

Previously on EV Grieve:

• Workers prepping to remove the remains of the fire-damaged façade at Middle Collegiate Church

• The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

Help for the family of Ommatt Cruz, who died Friday in the East Village

On Friday morning, 19-year-old Ommatt Cruz died in a construction accident at First Avenue and Seventh Street. He was struck by a mobile hydraulic lift operated by his father while attempting to guide him onto a flatbed truck in the busy intersection.

Cruz, from the West Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island, attended Susan E. Wagner High School. The school's Football Parents Club is now collecting funds to help the devastated family pay for funeral expenses.

Ommatt was also a dedicated and loving brother to his 14-year-old brother and 9-year-old sister. To our boys on the Wagner Falcons Football Team, he was a brother. To the parents and coaches, his family is our family. He was always there to help others; he was selfless. He was in his first year of college, and would still find time to come out on the field and help out with his younger brother on the JV team. We would like to help his family with unexpected expenses due to this horrific tragedy. 

You can find the GoFundMe at this link. 

Image via GoFundMe

At the grand opening of El Rinconcito on Avenue C

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

El Rinconcito opened Friday in its new home at 73-75 Avenue C between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.

The reasonably priced Latin American restaurant closed in the summer of 2021 at its home of 27 years at 408 E. 10th St. between Avenue C and Avenue D. (The building on 10th Street was undergoing a gut renovation.) 

And after some Con Ed-related delays, the new space was finally able to open. 

 

Owner Pedro Rodriguez and his family said that they were thrilled with the support from the community while waiting to open ...

The staff was happy to be up and running...

... as well as patrons who filled the space for dining in or taking out...

So far, the best-sellers are the (new) fettuccine a la vodka con camarones (shrimp) and Irma's mofongo ...

Hours of operation for now: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Closed on Sundays. 

If you're on Instagram, you can follow them there. Or the old-fashioned way: (212) 254-1381.

Apartment fire temporarily shutters Scarr's Pizza on the Lower East Side

A fire on Friday in an apartment directly above Scarr's Pizza has temporarily closed the popular pizzeria on Orchard Street.

Paper-plate signage on the front door breaks the news to patrons...

There weren't any reports of injuries (or the cause, for that matter) ... only one window in the building just below Hester is currently boarded up. There also weren't any posted vacant notices on the front door to the residences. So hopefully the damage isn't too extensive. 

You can keep tabs on the Scarr's Instagram account for updates. 

This past summer, Scarr Pimentel moved to this larger space from across Orchard. 

Scarr's is usually in the conversation for NYC's best pizza accolades (here and here)... in April, Pete Wells at the Times included Scarr's in his list of NYC's 100 best places to eat.

In 2024, Bank of America will be moving on up on 2nd Avenue

Bank of America will close its branch on the NE corner of Second Avenue and Fourth Street on March 11, 2024, ahead of a move to a new financial center three blocks away.

As we reported on Oct. 4, BoA will be the first retail tenant at the condoplex at 119 Second Ave. at Seventh Street... 

According to an email from the bank:

Come see us at our new location. We have ATMs, banking, lending and small business associates, as well as financial advisory specialists, ready to help you with your banking needs. Opening date: 03/11/2024.

The new building was ready for occupancy in mid-2021... six years after the deadly gas explosion destroyed this corner in March 2015 and took the lives of Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locón. 

As for 72 Second Ave., that retail space has served as a bank branch since the building went up in the late 1920s as the Industrial National Bank. 

Daytonian in Manhattan has more on the history of the address:

The new building at the corner of Second Avenue and East 4th Street was completed in 1929 — just before the onslaught of the Great Depression. The architects had produced a startlingly different structure. While the base reflected the solid architectural elements expected in a bank — Corinthian pilasters separating rows of arched openings and a substantial bronze entrance surmounted by a clock — the upper floors exploded in color and fancy.

While the overall style was vaguely Renaissance Revival, the green and beige terra cotta spandrel tiles and the rope-twist engaged columns added an exotic air.  The arcade-like topmost windows, surmounted by a hefty balustrade at the roof, added to the Mediterranean feel.

Hopefully, the storefront will become something other than a smoke shop. 

Incoming bagel shoppe on a roll with renovations

Photo by Steven

And on the opposite corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street... seems like a long time ago (Aug. 7!) that we first mentioned this pending arrival. 

Work picked up last week on the NE corner, where an outpost of Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shoppe is coming soon.

This will be the second location for the business, which opened in Prospect Heights in 2010. From their website: "Our bagels are hand-rolled, kettle boiled, and baked on premises — made the Olde fashioned way."

No word on an opening date.

The prime space has been empty since Sanshi Noodle House closed last summer after a year-plus in service.

Bar Virage closed here in December 2018 after 20-plus years.

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

At the Tompkins Square Greenmarket today...

Watch the video presentation for the 'City of Yes for Economic Opportunity' text amendment

Image via NYC Planning

Back on Wednesday evening, the Department of City Planning presented an informational presentation on the "City of Yes for Economic Opportunity" text amendment during Community Board 3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee. 

The amendment — revealed in June — is the second of three proposed zoning text amendments from Mayor Adams designed to address what his administration calls outdated zoning issues. (You can find an overview here.) 

The nine-month Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP!) started on Oct. 30 and will be heard at all 52 local community boards in the city. Then! It will then move to the borough presidents, City Planning and City Council, who are expected to vote on the final text amendment this spring.  

You can watch the session below or on YouTube here if you want to surf around during the dull moments.

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a sunrise-on-Seventh-Street shot from Thursday)... 

• 19-year-old worker killed by father in a construction accident on First Avenue (Friday) 

• Demoliton of the fire-damaged Middle Church façade starts on Monday (Thursday) 

• The unhoused residents living on 9th Street and First Avenue (Friday) 

• Community members speak out against a tactical gear pop-up shop on 9th Street (Monday) 

• Q&A with Colin Simpson, aka reggae artist Ras Redemption (Thursday) 

• CB3 committee to hear presentation on the proposed 'City of Yes for Economic Opportunity' text amendment (Tuesday) 

• Revisiting 305 E. 11th St. and 310 E. 12th St. (Thursday) 

• Five Guys coming to 12th and 2nd (Tuesday) 

• East Village resident pleads guilty to running a 'sophisticated ghost gun factory' (Friday) 

• This East Village lot is now home to this 60-foot-long photograph of a car cemetery in Ukraine (Tuesday) 

• ICYMI: Flaco is backo on the Upper East Side (Wednesday) 

• Openings: Red Onion on 10th Street (Wednesday) 

• Signage alert: Crêpe Master on 7th Street (Monday)

• Cookie Walk is now side-of-church-signage official (Tuesday) 

• Bench mark: A throwback to 1939 arrives on the Tompkins Square Park multipurpose courts (Monday)

• Ugh, SantaCon is on the way (Tuesday) 

• Everything's gone Green (Wednesday) 

... and for anyone keeping track, it appears the Whole Foods Market® Bowery was first to the market with (live) Christmas trees this year...

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Follow EVG on Instagram or Twitter for more frequent updates and pics.

Sunday's late-morning opening shot

Pinch shares this photo from your fave intersection of 14th Street and First Avenue... post milling and paving, the street now has its markings ... and all ready for inflatable Santa!

Giving thanks: Free turkey giveaway returns to the neighborhood for the 5th year

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

The fifth edition of this pre-Thanksgiving local turkey drive took place Friday afternoon on Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. (The giveaways in previous years took place at different locations around the neighborhood. Last year's event was at CLLCTV.NYC art space on Third Street.)

Dozens of turkeys were donated to area residents who might need a little extra help this holiday season.

As in the previous years, the sponsors included Joey Aponte and Dennis Aponte, owners of the Cabin NYC on Fourth Street, the NYPD Hispanic Society, Johnny Marines and local entrepreneur Freaky Frige... 

The volunteers distributed 150 turkeys, the ingredients for some side dishes as well as cooking supplies to help put it all together ...

Saturday's parting crane shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

As a follow-up to the earlier post today about crane work on the Bowery at Fourth Street...

'Here & Now' this weekend

Members of Women of the Pit are hosting an art and photography exhibit, titled "Here & Now," this weekend at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space/C-Squat on Avenue  C.

There's live music this afternoon featuring Kate Reddy (of the band 108) and tomorrow (2-6 p.m.) brings a live-painting event.

You can access the free show via MoRUS, 155 Avenue C between Ninth Street and 10th Street. 

Saturday at 360 Bowery

The Bowery is down to one lane along Fifth Street to Great Jones today... as crews are said to be working on HVAC installation at the going-up-quickly 21-floor office building at Fourth Street...

Anyway, another chance to look at the development, 360 Bowery, nearly all glassed up... more background on this in our last post (three whole months ago!)

H/T Garth J.!