Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo from 7th Street at 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg) ...

• Longtime East Village sewing shop Gizmo will be relocating in early 2024 (Wednesday) 

• 2024 marks the 50th year in business for Ray's Candy Store (Monday) 

 • The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed (Friday)

• 2 NYPD officers sustain minor injuries after line cutters cause skirmish at reticketing outpost for asylum seekers on 7th Street (Saturday) 

• 2024 development watch: 33-37 1st Ave. (Tuesday) ... 42-46 2nd Ave. (Wednesday) ... 50-64 3rd Ave. (Thursday)... 280 E. Houston St. (Friday) ... 

• Jen the bookseller closes the book on her Avenue A vending days (Thursday) 

• Le Dive owners looking to take over the Boiler Room space on 4th Street (Thursday)

• About those New Year's Eve fireworks (Monday) 

• Glizzy's has left St. Mark's Place (Tuesday) 

• Closings: Milk Burger on Houston (Tuesday) 

• Patis Bakery bringing the bread to Broadway (Tuesday) 

• Yuca Bar closed for renovations on 7th and A (Thursday) 

... and an EVG reader shared this photo from the dog run in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... titled Dogs Frolicking In 1st Snowfall of 2024...

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

Photos from new transformer day at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Yesterday saw the arrival of a new transformer at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A at Fifth Street... the second new one for the facility in the past year. 

The crews from Con Ed and Bay Crane worked quickly (and efficiently, TBH) to install the 180,000-pound transformer ahead of Winter Storm Ember, which ultimately brought snow flurries and season-appropriate Instagram posts.

The operation included the placement of the new transformer's radiator and cooling tank...

... and here's everything in place and waiting for the hookup...

And based on the street signage on Fifth Street and Avenue B, we look to be in for some more crane work next weekend... (and do they mean Jan. 12 and 13?)...

Saturday's parting shot

A moment late early this evening on Second Avenue and Fifth Street during the snow shower. 

Per the National Weather Service: "Rain and snow, becoming all rain after 10 pm. Low around 34. Wind chill values between 25 and 30. Breezy, with an east wind 16 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible."

2 NYPD officers sustain minor injuries after line cutters cause skirmish at reticketing outpost for asylum seekers on 7th Street

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Two police officers sustained minor injuries this morning after two asylum seekers tried to cut in line at the reticketing center on Seventh Street and Avenue B. 

According to police sources, two officers were stationed at the former St. Brigid School as usual. Trouble started when two men tried to cut in line... causing a fight among the others who had been waiting in the cold for hours. (Sources also said this isn't the first time people tried to cut in line.) 

Two officers in the immediate area from the 9th Precinct responded to the scene. Both officers were injured in the fight, one suffering a bloody nose and the other a hyperextended arm. Both were checked out at the station house on Fifth Street before returning to patrol. There wasn't any word of injuries to asylum seekers involved in the skirmish. 

Several residents noted a large NYPD presence at the site as more officers arrived following reports of injured officers.

Meanwhile, police officials also cautioned well-intended residents from leaving items near the property for asylum seekers, which has caused some pushing and shoving as they fight over several pieces of clothing or food.

Officials said plans are in place for a more extensive distribution to meet the needs of more asylum seekers. 

According to media reports and local elected officials, the line here has grown from a few hundred to several thousand each day "as the city is out of space to house migrants," per CBS 2. 

Adult asylum seekers come to the school for placement in city shelters after their 30-day limit expires. Many asylum seekers, carrying all their belongings, start lining up as early as 4 a.m. 

Read our previous coverage here.

Bay Crane watch 2024 underway at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A

Con Ed and Bay Crane (and likely others — Five Boroughs Flagging Corp.?) are teaming up today to deliver a new transformer (see photo below) at the Con Ed substation on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street...

(And no — EVG's Stacie Joy is NOT inside the transformer for photos!) 

Con Ed has been prepping (oh, have they ever) for months for this moment. 

Traffic will likely be stopped along the Avenue between Fourth Street and Sixth Street for part of the transformer liftoff and placement ...

Well-placed sources tell us that the majority of the Bay Craning will take place on the Fifth Street side of the substation...

You can relive last year's transformer delivery right here.

On the clock for MulchFest 2024

Photos yesterday by Steven 

As a reminder, MulchFest 2024 happens today and tomorrow (Jan. 6-7) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Tompkins Square Park is also a chipping site... which means! "We'll chip your tree and give you your very own bag of mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree."

Friday's parting shot

Which tree discarded at Village View is not from this past Christmas????????

Ringing in the New Year

 

Lower East Side-based band Rebounder started 2024 by releasing this cover version of "In the New Year" by The Walkmen ... it's gonna be a good year.

The remains of the fire-damaged Middle Church structure have been removed

Photo by Steven 

This morning, workers finished removing the rest of the sidewalk bridge from the SE corner of Seventh Street and Second Avenue, marking the end of the demolition on the Middle Collegiate Church property.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at Middle Collegiate Church, previously told us this was expected to be a two-to-three-month job. It turned out to be about a month and a half, as work started on Nov. 20.

Lewis also explained that it would be a combination demolition-salvage operation. Workers sifted 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. (We will post some of the in-progress photos next week.)

As previously reported, church leaders said they had to remove what remained 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

2024 development watch: 280 E. Houston St.

The corridor along the westbound lane of Houston Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is a full-on construction zone as work continues to pick up at the 12-story residential in the foundation stages. 

Here's some of the background about the all-new 280 E. Houston St.:

In the fall of 2021, workers demolished the one-level strip of storefronts here (Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins, Subway, China Town restaurant, etc.) adjacent to the 13-floor residential building formerly known as Red Square. 

In October 2022, as The Real Deal first reported, landlord Samy Mahfar and investors picked up the property from members of the Hirsch family for $36.8 million. Per TRD's report, "the Hirsch family obtained demolition permits and did enough foundation work to qualify the site for the 421a property tax abatement before it expired in June [2022]."

The site was originally going to yield a 6-story building. 

The new development will contain 224,809 square feet of space — for residential, commercial and community use. The residential portion will total 211,028 square feet for 157 apartments, per DOB records. The commercial section will feature 12,000 square feet while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.

We've heard from a few unhappy residents whose apartments on Second Street face the pit with the echo-y surround-sound noise.

The photo below is from July...

Stacie Joy took the below photo last October from 6 Avenue B...

The rendering lists a December 2024 completion date.

Friday's opening shot

New this week outside the Second Avenue F stop... MM by WizardSkull. 

Oh Mickey, you're so fine...

Thursday's parting shot

Wrapping up Christmas at Phebe's on Fourth Street and the Bowery... thanks to EVG reader Sarah for the photo today...

Today in parking feats on 7th Street

Photo by Derek Berg

Development watch: 50-64 3rd Ave. (and TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen is still open)

Demoliton prep continues on the west side of Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street, where six buildings will come down in the months ahead. 

As we first reported, a residential complex is expected to rise along this parcel — 50-64 Third Ave. (See the rendering here.) 

Per previous reports, Kinsmen Property Group — a joint venture between State Building Group and another Toronto company, Madison Group — bought the walk-up buildings over the past three years, paying more than $60 million for the parcel. 

Only one building will remain on the block after the demolition — 48 Third Ave., the 5-story property owned by Isfahany Realty Corp. on the northwest corner at 10th Street with Healthy Greens Gourmet in the retail space. 

On Tuesday, workers were spotted removing the fire escape from the corner building at 11th Street, where Ainsworth was the last retail tenant in the space ...  (thanks to Jacob Ford for these two shots)... 

Meanwhile, plywood now covers the other vacant storefronts and entrances on the block...  

... except for TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen at No. 58... which, despite the appearance of its neighbors, remains in business...

A TLK rep told us that they are open and serving as usual. At this point, the rep said it is not clear how long they will be able to do so.

However, they are participating in the winter Restaurant Week (Jan. 16 – Feb. 4) with a special dinner prix fixe.

Hospitality veteran Michelle Morgan opened the restaurant featuring a healthy, Hong Kong-inspired menu in late 2021.

P.S.

Kotobuki closed in the fall at 56 Third Ave. ... the restaurant is still offering deliveries in the area and plans to open in a new space in the East Village. More here.  

Jen the bookseller closes the book on her Avenue A vending days

Photo from February 2020 by Steven 

After nearly a 9-year presence during warmer-weather months on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place, Jen the bookseller has announced that she is starting a new chapter in her life and will no longer be street vending here. 

She made the announcement yesterday on Instagram: 

I deeply loved and appreciated every conversation i had, every exchange of ideas, all the books that we shared, and the friendships and the projects that were born of Vortexity Books. i am forever grateful for all the spontaneous laughter, the tears, the love, the chaos, the rage, and the honesty that the streets revealed. We went through ALOT together ... if you ever stopped by the table — know that i loved you and that this community forever changed how i view the world, and has reconfirmed my belief in the power of books and their ability to unite people. 

And... 

Long live all of you who made this project exist by being with me on the street ... and in spirit around the world and who read and believe in books as much as i do. i hope to see you all again and work with you on other projects... 

Thanks to Jen for all the quality books at reasonable prices through the years... her arrival each year always marked the beginning of spring and warmer days ahead.

Le Dive owners looking to take over the Boiler Room space on 4th Street

File photo by Stacie Joy

Restaurateur Jon Neidich, under his Golden Age Hospitality brand that includes the scene-y Le Dive on Canal, is applying for a new liquor license for 86 E. Fourth St. just east of Second Avenue — and the current home of longtime dive the Boiler Room.

On Monday evening, the Golden Age Hospitality reps will appear before CB3's SLA committee.

As for the unnamed new concept for No. 86, there will be food service with various sandwiches (turkey club, BLT, croque monsieur, etc.) and cocktails, according to the sample menu on the questionnaire here. The configuration shows 21 tables for 42 guests (with plans to use the unenclosed roadway space from 5-10 p.m.) The proposed hours are daily from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m.

After a two-plus-year court battle over pandemic-related back rent payments, the Boiler Room announced last summer that it was leaving its home of 34 years ... ownership will be moving to 45 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street (previously home to the Moroccan specialty shop Timbuktu) later this year.

Monday's meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. Find the Zoom link here. This is a hybrid meeting, and there is limited seating available for the public — the first 15 people who show up at the Community Board 3 Office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.  

Yuca Bar closed for renovations on 7th and A

Photos by Steven

Yuca Bar is now closed for renovations on the NW corner of Seventh Street and Avenue A ... door signage points to a Jan. 25 reopening date for the restaurant offering Latin cuisine and weekend brunches ...

Wednesday's parting shot

The remains of the Kate's Joint flag above Avenue B at Fourth Street... the vegetarian restaurant closed here in April 2012 after 16 years in service.

The space has been home to the Half Gallery since early 2020.

A look back at today's sunrise — the best so far in 2024

Several readers mentioned today's spectacular sunrise... and thanks to Mike Dugan for this view from 14th Street and Avenue B...

Longtime East Village sewing shop Gizmo will be relocating in early 2024

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

Updated 2/26: Unfortunately, the deal for a new Gizmo space fell through, and Rosa and Hossein are searching again for a new space. Details here.

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After 32 years in business on First Avenue, Gizmo will relocate at the end of February. 

Owner Hossein Amid (below) said that his rent has increased at 160 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street to a point where he can no longer afford it.

Amid is considering two smaller spaces, either on 10th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue or 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

"Staying on the Avenue is too expensive," he said. "We are downsizing, a smaller store, but still in the neighborhood." 

Meanwhile, there are some sales at the shop packed with fabrics, notions and thread. They also offer sewing machine repair services.

Gizmo is usually open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and closed on Sundays. Phone: (212) 477-2773.