The 24-floor building rising on 14th and C appears to be one-third of the way home

The new 24-floor residential building on the SW corner of 14th Street and Avenue C is rising quickly, and workers appear to be already on the eighth floor.

The 234-foot-tall building, going as 14+C, will include 197 residential units, "a state-of-the-art fitness room," a yoga studio, and a rooftop deck. Information about the number of "affordable" units included in 14+C, one of the stipulations for being allowed to build a more extensive (by nine floors) building, has not been made public. 

Madison Square Realty is the third owner of the long-empty lot (since 2009) in the past eight years. Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 from Brooklyn's Rabsky Group for $23 million. 

Plans for a 15-floor mixed-use building had already been approved, though no affordable units were attached to that version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing. Plans for the larger development were first unveiled in June 2022. 

The plywood rendering lists a February 2026 completion date. 

The status of 642 E. 14th St. next door seems to be in limbo. In July, the owner of No. 642 filed plans to demolish the currently vacant pre-war building. According to Crain's New York, Jeremy Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, filed the paperwork with the Department of Buildings (DOB) on July 10. 

Last November, as we first reported, No. 642's residents — many in rent-stabilized units — were abruptly vacated after excavation next door destabilized the building. 

According to the Department of Buildings, "Structural stability of building compromised due to construction operations at 644 E. 14th Street. Heavy cracks in the exterior and interior in addition to separation noted at door frames and floor from wall..." 

Lebewohl's attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, told Crain's that "multiple engineers have now said the building is dangerous and needs to be torn down entirely." 

According to a spokesperson in July, the DOB was reviewing the application but had yet to issue an emergency demolition order for the property, per Crain's. 

As of Friday, the request for a demolition permit remained "on hold," per DOB records. 

50-64 3rd Ave. wrapped for demolition

Last week, workers wrapped up the remaining six buildings at 50-64 along the west side of Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street with scaffolding and netting for demoliton.

The demo prep has escalated since TLK by Tigerlily Kitchen shut down after service on Aug. 11 at 58 Third Ave. The restaurant was the last tenant (retail or residential) in the six buildings at 50-64 along Third Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street. 

As PincusCo. first reported in May 2023, Kinsmen Property Group — a joint venture between State Building Group and another Toronto company, Madison Group — bought the walk-up buildings over several years, paying more than $60 million for the parcel. 

We also saw some demo prep work late last year (64 Third Ave., where the Ainsworth was, looks hollowed out), though the activity in the empty buildings tapered off this year. 

While various demolition permits are on file with the Department of Buildings, there is still no sign of paperwork for the new development. 

A rendering of the new building appeared on the State Building Group's website last September. It is listed under the company's "residential" portfolio. 

At first glance, the building looks more commercial/office. Here's the information included with the listing: 

50-64 3rd Avenue is a 6-building assemblage located at the nexus of the East Village, Greenwich Village and Astor Place. The site allows for 160,000 sq. ft. of new construction and has a land area of 16,500 sq. ft. Only one building will remain on the block after the demolition — 48 Third Ave., the four-story property owned by Isfahany Realty Corp. on the northwest corner of 10th Street, which has Healthy Greens Gourmet in the retail space.

The new development abuts the 13-story Moxy East Village on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. The hotel opened here five years ago this week. Workers demolished the five perfectly good residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

Upright Citizens Brigade NYC reopens this week with new 14th Street venue

After several months of previews, the new home of the Upright Citizens Brigade New York will officially open later this week at 242 E. 14th St., between Second Avenue and Third Avenue (see Instagram post below).

As previously noted, this marks a dual homecoming — first announced last summer — for the comedy brand.

UCB's East Village outpost, UCBeast, wrapped up its eight-plus-year run on Avenue A and Third Street in February 2019. At the time, UCB officials blamed the "extreme costs" of operating in the space for its closing. UCB then presented three nights of programming at SubCulture, a 130-seat venue on Bleecker Street.

Eventually, the whole empire — where Kate McKinnon, Donald Glover, Aubrey Plaza, and Broad City's Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, among many others — got their start, shut down. Amid ongoing financial difficulties made worse by the beginning of the pandemic, UCB closed all its remaining NYC locations in April 2020... and then in Los Angeles in December 2020.

A comeback started in March 2022 when longtime talent manager Jimmy Miller and former CEO/Owner of The Onion Mike McAvoy reportedly bought the brand.

Enough history... here's what to expect when UCB opens on Friday (find the schedule here)...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by UCB Theatre NY (@ucbtny)

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• The Upright Citizens Brigade is returning to NYC — and the East Village — with a new theater

Café Social 68 temporarily closes for renovations on Avenue A, reopening in 2 weeks

Café Social 68, located at 68 Avenue A between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, will be closed for the next two weeks.

The signage that arrived over the weekend notes that the temp closure is "due to some changes being made in our café. These adjustments will allow us to better serve our community and offer you all a better experience." (Thanks to Stacie Joy for the sign picture!)

Café Social 68 opened in August 2019, taking the space over from Croissanteria.

Sunday's parting shot

Photo by Derek Berg 

Lowriding on St. Mark's Place today...

Week in Grieview

Posts this past week included (with a photo by Steven of Jane Williams and Billy Lyles closing Katinka on 9th Street for the last time on Monday)... 

• A walk across the new Delancey Street pedestrian bridge (Tuesday) 

• Community-focused COZMOS calls it a day on 10th Street (Wednesday)

• A look at the new home of the Boiler Room on 2nd Avenue (Thursday) 

• The multipurpose courts/TF reopen in Tompkins Square Park in living color (Friday)

• King Geronimo and his queen at Ruby/Dakota (Tuesday) 

• About the LES Ecology Center's 'Stewarding Your Neighborhood' art show (Friday) 

• An end-of-summer appreciation (Monday) 

• All the buzz about the mosquito spraying in the East Village (and other parts of Manhattan) (Thursday) 

• No Fork bringing Balkan-inspired sandwiches and pizza to Avenue A (Thursday)

• Café at Atelier Jolie on Great Jones Street seeks beer-wine license (Tuesday) 

• Closings: Kuppi Coffee Company on St. Mark's Place (Wednesday) ... A corner-market closure on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday) 

• A coffee window at Café Maud on St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue (Wednesday) 

• Signage alert: Waiting on a Friend on Avenue A (Thursday) 

... and as the building-size ads turn on the SW corner of 7th Street and Avenue B (bye again for now to Peter Jarema)... photo yesterday by Stacie Joy...

Sunday's opening shots

As seen on the NW corner of Houston at Second Avenue...

The art, which arrived here late last month, is by fuck.with.love. (H/T @catscoffeecreativity)

EVG Etc.: A 4th Street building aims for landmark status; Max Fish returns for NYFW

Above: A reader-submitted photo from 11th and 3rd from the other day

• The Feds raid the homes of the Mayor's inner circle (Gothamist ... Politico ... The Associated Press)

The mayor insists that he regularly reminds his appointees to “follow the law.” It never seems to occur to Hizzoner that it might be better to hire aides who don’t need a daily reminder not to commit crimes. My take in ⁦@NYMag⁩ https://t.co/YFJSstqxNm

— Errol Louis (@errol.louis on Threads) (@errollouis) September 6, 2024

• Ten years after the city passed a Paid Sick Leave Act, some of the worst recent violators in NYC are major corporations and franchises like Starbucks, Shake Shack, Chipotle and Amazon (The City) 

• 82 E. Fourth St. just west of Second Avenue up for landmark designation (Village Preservation) 

• Carnitas Ramirez on Third Street in the battle for NYC's best tacos (Eater... previously on EVG) 

• Today and tomorrow (9/7-8), screenings of a largely obscure body of 16mm films from Andy Warhol (Anthology Film Archives) 

• "Goodfellas" in 35mm Monday at the Village East by Angelika on 12th Street and Second Avenue (Tickets) 

• The 1990s LES photos of Angela Cappetta (Dazed) 

• Vans recreates Max Fish for NYFW (Hypebeast)

• Emma Stern's "The Rabbit Hole" exhibit now at the Half Gallery on 4th and B (Official site... Interview)

A live look-in at the 10th Street Block Festival

Photos by Edmund John Dunn 

The annual 10th Street Block Festival is entering the afternoon session here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Weather permitting, it will continue until 6 p.m.

Larry Luger's Quartet is providing the music...

And we can't say for sure if the giant martini glass is still there... would make for a lovely birdbath...

A morning view from Tompkins Square Park

Photo by Deborah Kadetsky

A misty early morning view of the main lawn in Tompkins Square Park... per the EVGcast™, the area will remain under clouds for the day, with a chance of rain starting around 5 p.m.

Saturday's opening shot

Someone welcomed the freshly painted multipurpose courts/TF last night in Tompkins Square Park ... previously.

Friday's parting shot

Today in discarded framed front newspaper pages ... Jackflashnyc, who shared this photo, also notes that the Chevy Bel Air station wagon in the background is for sale for $18k. Dibs! (And can anyone lend us $17,900?)

Home 'room'

 

Madrid-based indie rockers Hinds (now a duo) are back with a new album, Viva Hinds, which is out today. 

The video here is for a single off the release titled "The Bed, The Room, The Rain and You." 

Hinds will play Warsaw in Brooklyn this Oct. 29.

Today in discarded lip sofas

An EVG reader spotted this lip-shaped couch on Houston just east of Avenue B today.

Maybe a Bocca Sofa from Heller? Maybe not?

The multipurpose courts/TF reopen in Tompkins Square Park in living color

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

The multipurpose courts/TF reopened yesterday along 10th Street and Avenue A after a 10-plus-day closure so workers could repaint the surface. (More background is available here and here.) 

The Parks Department added color to the asphalt, including a walking track on the perimeter and markings for the basketball hoops at the eastern end. And the majority of the asphalt is painted green (no markings for kickball, though!).

The skaters also returned to this seminal, decades-long skate spot, and the various ramps and rails that were here previously are also back.

And the mood? "Elevated chill."

The 10th Street Block Festival is happening tomorrow (on 10th Street)

Photo by Steven 

The long-running East 10th Street Block Festival is back tomorrow on the lovely tree-lined stretch of the East Village between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., you will find, per organizers, "great vintage clothing, antiques, collectibles, jewelry, books, records, generally cool stuff." In addition, Larry Luger's Quartet will be in full swing, while Veselka will be on hand with pierogis and lemonade. 

St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is sponsoring the event with the 10th & Stuyvesant Streets Block Association.

About the LES Ecology Center's 'Stewarding Your Neighborhood' art show

Tonight is the opening of the "Community Care: Stewarding Your Neighborhood" art show, hosted by the LES Ecology Center and Lower Eastside Girls Club. 

Details! 

Opening reception: Sept. 6, 5-8 p.m. 

Location: Lower Eastside Girls Club Gallery, 402 E. Eighth St. at Avenue D 

Event description: The show aims to celebrate and inspire community engagement in environmental stewardship. This event will feature works from local artists highlighting the importance of caring for our shared spaces and the impact of community efforts in nurturing our neighborhoods. 

Hours after tonight's opening: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4-5 p.m.

Find more details here.

Friday's opening shot

Last night's moon as seen from the East Village... thanks to Cecil Scheib for the photo!

Thursday's parting shot

Photo by Stacie Joy 

Essex Card Shop owner Muhammad Aslam is ready for the back-to-school season. (Or he's starting a journal!)

The shop is at 47 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street...

All the buzz about the mosquito spraying tonight in the East Village (and other parts of Manhattan)

Photo by Stacie Joy 

The city is spraying parts of Manhattan, including the East Village, starting tonight "to reduce mosquito activity and the risk of West Nile virus." 

Per a release from the DOH: 

Trucks will spray pesticides in sections of Manhattan beginning on Thursday, Sept. 5, between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning. 

The Health Department will use very low concentrations of Anvil® 10+10, Duet® or MERUS® 30. The risks of pesticides applied by the Health Department for mosquito control are low for people and pets. Some people who are sensitive to spray ingredients may experience short-term eye or throat irritation, or a rash. People with respiratory conditions may also be affected.

According to the map, the city isn't spraying east of Avenue B...

Last month, officials detected West Nile in NYC for the first time in 2024. 

As of Aug. 30, no positive cases were found in zip codes 10009 or 10003. 

P.S. 

Here's a good (albeit obvious) starting point for your mosquito-spraying playlist.