2 men indicted for fatal Tompkins Square Park shooting

Photo from July by Stacie Joy

Manhattan D.A. Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced the indictment of Rafael Macias and Angel Sardina for the fatal shooting of 74-year-old Fermin Brito and the wounding of a 44-year-old man in Tompkins Square Park this past July. 

Both men face charges including Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree, and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree. 

The indictment follows an investigation into the July 12 shooting, where Macias and Sardina allegedly planned and executed the attack in a drug-related dispute. According to court documents, Sardina scouted the park around 8:25 a.m. by 9:50 a.m., and after identifying the victims, Macias pointed them out to Sardina. 

Sardina then fired multiple shots at the chess tables inside the Avenue A and Seventh Street entrance, fatally wounding Brito and seriously injuring the other man. Brito was struck in the torso and died at the hospital. The second victim, struck four times, collapsed inside Avenue A Deli and Grill between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place after attempting to flee. 

Per the D.A.'s office, the suspects fled toward Stuyvesant Town, changing their clothes to avoid detection. They were arrested on July 25. 

The two men, both 63, were arraigned in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday. 

"Our city's parks should be safe spaces for all Manhattanites, and we will hold those accountable who endanger them with gun violence and illegal conduct," Bragg said in a statement. 

This was the third shooting in Tompkins Square Park this year. This past March, there were two daytime shootings (by the same suspect who was later arrested) in the Park. In the first shooting on March 16, a bullet struck an innocent bystander, a 53-year-old tourist, in her right hip, which had to be surgically replaced. 

As for the July shooting, the chess tables remain closed behind barricades, and the NYPD has been on patrol in and around the Park — both on foot and in vehicles. 

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Two men shot, 1 fatally, at the chess tables in Tompkins Square Park this morning, police say

Signage, signage — everywhere signage!

We have lots of new signage to round up, starting with Cuts & Slices. The Bed-Stuy pizzeria is coming soon to 321 E. Houston St. between Attorney and Ridge. (We covered this here.)

Next! A market offering a deli counter, salad bar, and juice bar is coming to the NE corner of Delancey and Clinton.

And the name: Delancey Bites. (Hope they will be selling T-shirts for everyone who dislikes Delancey!)

Another market with a healthy bent is in the works for the NW corner of Fourth Avenue and 12th Street, a storefront that has seen several delis and food concepts come and go in recent years.

The No Fork branding is up at 131 Avenue A. The quick-serve sandwich shop in the Bronx's Little Italy plans an outpost in the former Bad Habit space between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. (We covered this here.)

And there are three Schmucks painted on the plywood on the SW corner of First Avenue and Sixth Street, where a cocktail lounge-restaurant from former bartenders at Barcelona's Two Schmucks. (We wrote about this pending arrival at this link.)

Photos 1 and 2: Stacie Joy

Photo 3: EVG

Photos 4 and 5: Steven

Soft openings: Sake Bar Asoko on the Lower East Side

Shintaro Cho and Yuri Itakura, former managers of 31-year-old East Village standby Sake Bar Decibel on Ninth Street, have opened their own place on the Lower East Side. 

Sake Bar Asoko is now in soft-open mode at 127 E. Broadway between Essex and Pike. 

Here's more about the establishment: 

Sake Bar Asoko blends Cho and Yuri’s unique perception of sake with their adolescent experiences growing up in Heisei-era Japan and their passions for fashion, music, and analog cultures. Sake Bar Asoko aims to educate and reintroduce patrons to the world of sake and initiate newfound relationships with Japanese shochu and traditional otsumami plates with a twist. 

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight.

Image via @sakebarasoko

Thursday's parting shot

As seen outside Westside Market on Third Avenue at 12th Street... and only 3.5 months until Christmas!

Inside a historic Stuyvesant Street home for sale

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

We recently had the opportunity to tour 25 Stuyvesant St., a five-story Anglo-Italianate townhouse for sale on one of the best blocks in the East Village — and NYC. 

This corridor between Ninth Street and 10th Street features homes dating to the 1860s. The home, believed to be designed by James Renwick Jr. (the architect behind St. Patrick's Cathedral), has been on the market since the spring. 

Nina Munk, the writer and photographer, and her husband, artist Peter Soriano, and their three kids have lived in the townhome they bought and restored in 2013. The couple purchased the property from the estate of Jean Schoonover about a year after she died. 

They said it was beautiful and kooky — they loved it right away — but it also desperately needed a total renovation. 

Let's take a look inside... starting with this parlor/den...

... the living room...

Original details of the house...

This bathroom has a greenhouse built into the window...

Peter's basement studio...

So why leave this home? 

Peter's gallery is in France, so the couple has decided to move there. The two are also now empty nesters. (Their youngest is starting freshman year in college.)

Nina told us the home is "beautiful, joyful, comfortable — a wonderful combination of a traditional, historic East Village townhouse yet also a comfortable and casual place to live, relax, raise kids, and have great dinner parties." 

Why hasn’t the home been snatched up immediately? Speculation runs from the location (despite Nina's assertion that the East Village is the best neighborhood); perhaps people are looking at townhomes in other areas like the Upper East Side or Brooklyn, rising mortgage rates, and uncertainty about the election. Also, two previous buyers fell through, one at the last minute. 

Last week, the price dropped from $7.25 million to $6.75 million. 

The family hopes that an artist, author, or playwright — someone who appreciates the East Village artistic community and the historic block — will buy the home they put so much love and attention into restoring.

Construction watch: 156 Rivington St., home of ABC No Rio

Foundation work continues at 156 Rivington St., where the new ABC No Rio building is being built at the site of its previous home between Suffolk and Clinton on the Lower East Side. 

On July 16, several city and local elected officials, along with a handful of activists and other members of the collectively run arts organization, took part in a ceremonial ground-breaking ceremony on the lot. 

The environmentally friendly new structure, designed by architect Paul Castrucci, will include a computer lab, print shop, dark room and a zine library, among other amenities. (Find more details here.) The City is contributing $21 million to the project through the Department of Cultural Affairs. 

According to an August feature at ArchPaper, "ABC No Rio's board hopes to complete construction across two phases, and construction is slated for completion in 2027." (Hyperallergic has a new article on the ABC No Rio here.)

Before the July groundbreaking, we had heard very little about the project since the summer of 2020, when DOB signage arrived on the plywood, showing an anticipated completion date of spring 2022. ABC No Rio first unveiled plans for a new home in March 2008. 

Its four-story building, said to be in disrepair, was demolished starting in March 2017, putting ABC No Rio's programming into "exile" at other arts organizations around the city.

Director Steve Englander shared a Facebook post in December 2019 addressing the latest setback at the site: "After excavating additional test pits to confirm existing conditions at one of the adjacent properties, we determined a redesign of our foundation and support of excavation plans was required." (Demolition of the Streit's Matzo Factory next door and the subsequent construction of the new condoplex on the site complicated ABC No Rio's plans.)

He also stated then: "We know that progress with the new building has seemed slow, but please be assured, we are moving forward. It's been tough, and we're glad that you've had our back."

Previously on EV Grieve:
• At ABC No Rio's last HardCore/Punk Matinee on Rivington Street (for now) 

D.A. Bragg announces sentencing of assistant in brutal 2020 Lower East Side murder of tech CEO

Photos from July 2020 by Stacie Joy 

A personal assistant who was convicted of murdering his former boss in his East Houston Street home after embezzling $400,000 from him was sentenced on Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison.

Manhattan D.A. Alvin L. Bragg Jr. announced the sentencing of Tyrese Haspil in the brutal July 2020 slaying of tech CEO Fahim Saleh in his condo on the SW corner of Houston and Suffolk. Haspil, 25, was also ordered to pay restitution for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Saleh's companies. 

Haspil was convicted on all charges, including Murder in the First Degree and two counts of Grand Larceny, in a New York State Supreme Court trial this past June. 

Beginning in May 2018, Haspil worked as Saleh's entrepreneurial assistant, handling financial tasks. Over the following months, he executed a series of elaborate embezzlement schemes. By creating fake accounts and entities, Haspil stole increasing amounts of money, eventually totaling nearly $400,000. 

Despite catching wind of one fraudulent scheme in early 2020, Saleh, showing mercy, offered Haspil a repayment plan instead of pursuing legal action. Haspil continued stealing and ultimately devised a plan to murder his boss to avoid facing criminal charges. (Press reports claimed that Haspil was worried his girlfriend would find out about the stolen money and leave him.) 

On July 13, 2020, Haspil ambushed Saleh in his apartment after a planned attack involving a Taser and a knife. After killing him, Haspil attempted to cover up the crime by dismembering the body and disposing of evidence. His actions were discovered when Saleh's cousin, concerned after not hearing from him for a day, entered his apartment and made the grisly discovery. 

Haspil was arrested four days later at an Airbnb, where he was celebrating his girlfriend's birthday. According to the DA's office, his PayPal embezzlement continued right up until his capture.

"While today’s sentence won't bring Mr. Saleh back, I hope it provides his family a sense of closure as they continue to mourn his painful loss," Bragg said in a statement.

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• Body of dismembered, decapitated man found inside residence on Houston and Suffolk

Wednesday's opening shot

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A post shared by Gary Hershorn (@garyhershorn)

Coming attractions: The Feast of San Gennaro starts on Thursday

The Feast of San Gennaro gets under on Thursday along Mulberry Street in Little Italy. 

This 98th edition runs through Sept. 22. The official site appears to be offline at the moment, so we can't list some of the times for the different events.

Why yes, the new building at 280 E. Houston St. does look quite enormous

We've heard from several readers about 280 E. Houston St., the in-progress 12-story mixed-use building on the north side between Avenue A and Avenue B that seems to get bigger by the day.

The comments are mainly of the "this building is enormous" variety, especially given the one-level strip of storefronts that was here for nearly 30 years (and a gas station before that). 

Here are a few views for you — from south on Suffolk Street...

As noted, the new building encompasses 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 retail section will feature 12,000 square feet, while the community facility is 1,300 square feet.

In July, Gothamist reported that the construction company, which has ties to Mayor Adams, illegally started work on the building before obtaining the essential permits. 

The parcel previously housed a single-level strip of storefronts that several years ago either relocated closer to the residential building at No. 250 E. Houston St. (Kapri Cleaners and the FedEx Office Print & Ship Center) or closed (Dunkin'/Baskin-Robbins, Subway, Mattress Firm and China Town).

The elongated trapezoidal lot housed a gas station until about 1987. This post from 2016 includes a photo of it.

Prep work (plywood, pedestrian barriers, etc.) started in February 2023. According to the rendering, the completion date is now February 2025.

This stretch of 2nd Avenue is now sidewalk-bridge free

Workers have removed the sidewalk bridge from outside 105 and 107 Second Ave. on the west side between Sixth Street and Seventh Street...

For now, this ends the encampment that had been here on and off all summer. The city would clear it out, and the inhabitants would move a block away for a day or so, then return (photo below by Derek Berg from Aug. 27).

No. 107 has remained vacant since the New Yorkers Foodmarket closed at the end of 2023. Apple Bank relocated to Fourth Avenue in March ... and on the corner, Mighty Quinn's closed in April, though another restaurant is in the works here.

Holy Cow! A burger joint for 14th and B

Top photo by Jake Bowling 

Holy Cow, a burger joint that got its start on the Lower East Side in 2018, is opening an outpost on the SE corner of 14th Street and Avenue B.

Several EVG readers passed along this tip. The TradedNY real-estate Instagram account confirmed the new lease.

The expanding chainlet, with over a dozen locations around the five boroughs and on Long Island, offers a select menu with vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options. The menu can be found here.

The business takes over the corner space from M & J Asian Cuisine, which quietly closed earlier in the summer after 10 years. Ghost signage for a previous tenant, AlphaBet Cafe, was recently revealed. (See the top photo.)

No word on an opening date... renovations haven't started inside the space yet...

From Jamaican patties to macarons at 440 E. 9th St.

Photo by Steven

The owners of Phivi Box, a dessert company offering subscription boxes for macarons and other desserts, are opening a retail space on Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Gene and Rebecca, the husband and wife team behind the business, made the announcement in an Instagram post last week:

On January 1, 2024, we officially moved into our 2,200 SF central kitchen at Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Fast forward to September 1, and we officially signed the lease to our first retail storefront in no other place than Manhattan. For the last four months, we've seen countless spaces and reviewed as many leases, none of which panned out. Thankfully, because you know it’s the one when you know. With every business venture comes risks and uncertainties, but we are so excited about this one. 

While not mentioning the address, their first storefront will be at 440 E. Ninth St., the former home of Murphy's, purveyors of Jamaican patties.

In 2019, the couple quit their corporate jobs and launched Phivi Marketplace, an e-commerce events platform, before pivoting to desserts during the pandemic.

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)...

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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)