Free bed frame! Yours for the taking on Elizabeth at East Houston... Clean? Maybe not now. Been here long enough to be tagged...
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
In case you have a few loose screws
Free bed frame! Yours for the taking on Elizabeth at East Houston... Clean? Maybe not now. Been here long enough to be tagged...
East Village resident wants 'female hipster' to moon him for 3 seconds
Courtesy of Gawker, we learned about the existence of this real or fake Craigslist ad...
Mooned by female hipster
I know, I know. Strangest fetish ever. But I can't successfully talk myself out of it, so I'm hoping to craigslist it into enactment.
What I'm hoping (but not exactly expecting) to find is an attractive-ish female who is either a hipster or who possesses the wardrobe and willingness to fake it, who will consent to moon me for a fee.
I am able to host this encounter at my place in the East Village or willing to travel virtually anywhere else you'd prefer. Chaperones are perfectly welcome. The entire transaction would consist of me handing you cash in advance followed by you mooning me for approximately three seconds. The entire encounter needn't last more than five minutes, awkward introductions included. No photography, no commercial aspect, no contact whatsoever.
How green is Rite Aid's valley?
Wow. The mural on the East Fifth Street side of Rite Aid is nearly complete. (Maybe just a few more details left?)
This is today's view via EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla. The Royal Kingbee UW, a Bronx-born graffiti artist, has created this mural. Kingbee and Vase1, who specialize in urban and rural landscapes, will also be painting the exterior at the Avenue D Rite Aid...
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)
Rite Aid's enchanted forest
Today in randomish Katie Holmes sightings on Avenue B
Crews for "Mania Days" are filming along Avenue B near East Fourth Street today... And EVG reader Vinny spotted co-star Katie Holmes, the former East Village resident, wearing longer-than-average denim shorts on the street ...
"Mania Days" is about a manic depressive rapper (Luke Kirby) who gets involved with a manic depressive poet (Holmes) in a passionate affair that results in a pregnancy. And likely manic depressiveness. (Spike Lee is a producer.)
The production shot scenes on Avenue A and in Tompkins Square Park back in April.
Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village reeling over breakup of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
The Exterminator is Coming
A front hall from along East Second Street... from an apparently mice-infested building...
Out and About in the East Village
In this weekly feature, East Village-based photographer James Maher provides us with a quick snapshot of someone who lives and/or works in the East Village.
By James Maher
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
By James Maher
Name: Elizabeth Cunningham
Occupation: Paramedic
Location: 1st Avenue between St. Mark's and 9th Street
Time: 6 pm on Sunday, July 21
I’ve lived in New York for about 15 years and I’ve been in the East Village for a little over 2 and a half years. The art, diversity, culture, music and food brought me to New York. I grew up as an Army brat so we moved around a lot. I lived in Europe a little bit when I was a kid but I spent most of my formative years in the south, in Augusta, Georgia, home of James Brown and The Masters. James Brown was the better part. It was a pretty closed-minded place and didn’t have any of the things that New York had to offer.
I’m a paramedic. I’ve been doing that for about 17 years now. I work for the City, for 911. I primarily cover the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights. I work 60 to 70 hours a week, full time at Lenox Hill Hospital and then on the weekends I usually work a couple of shifts at New York Presbyterian/Cornell and we cover Midtown — east and west.
I respond to 911 calls and I work in advanced life support. We do everything from cardiac arrest, to heart emergencies, to people who can’t breath. We get the more critical calls. We get a lot of crazy people too ... people barricaded, a lot of violent crimes, although it’s not as much as it used to be. That’s further uptown. The subway accidents are pretty common. They’re more common than people think — it’s not always publicized how many people get run over by trains.
And then at Presbyterian they have a special ops division — it’s a hazardous materials emergency response team. I’m the only woman on the team of 50. If there’s some sort of radiological disaster or if there’s something like September 11 or a dirty bomb or anything with hazardous materials, we’re prepared for that. If something like that happens again we can team up with the FDNY. The training is a lot of fun. It’s definitely a high-adrenaline, Type-A personality type of thing.
I came to the East Village because I just felt more comfortable down here. I lived in a rent-controlled sublet on the Upper East Side for years and I hated it — it was so dry and so bland. It was horrible.
But it was a thousands bucks a month for rent, so it was really hard to give up. I’d ride my bike down here and I hung out down primarily and every time I’d ride back uptown I could see the architecture and the demographic changing and I’d just feel my spirit sinking. I didn’t want to go back up there.
So I finally got kicked out of the sublet. They wanted to tear the building down and then I figured, this was it — now or never. The first time in my new apartment I felt like this weight was off my shoulders. I slept like a baby. You don’t have to leave this neighborhood. Even if you’re broke you can walk to the Park and get free music. It’s perfect. I love it.
James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.
Your chance to buy an ice cream truck, maybe become 'Dairy Dan'
A reader sent along this Craigslist ad under the Manhattan/East Village section ... under for sale/business ...
I have a beautiful ice cream truck for sale, and ready to make money now! Its a 1978 ford step van Including : Taylor air pressure ice cream machine, 2 roof top AC units, Freezer for novelties, Topping unit, milk shake blender, new music box, and a 20 kw water cooled generator. for sale for $20,000.
Seems legit... though "Dairy Dan the Ice Cream Man" ...
...can mean something really different.
We asked Doug Quint, co-proprietor of the Big Gay Ice Cream shops and truck, about all this.
"My statement as a professional, and you can quote me, is 'what the fuck?'"
This 'historic East Village treasure' offered up as an investment or 'splendid personal home'
A listing for 75 E. Second St. arrived yesterday... and the historic building with 10 apartments is being touted as a "dream" single-family residence.
Per Brown Harris Stevens:
Located on one of the most picturesque blocks in the East Village Historic District, this 1868 Italianate brownstone offers both a very appealing opportunity for a savvy investor as well as a future homeowner looking to create the large-scale residence of their dreams in a highly coveted location.
75 East 2nd Street is built 25 feet wide and 55 feet deep with a backyard approximately 15 feet deep. Currently structured as 2- one bedroom floor-throughs per floor on five floors with a full basement with new mechanicals, 75 East 2nd Street maintains a wide and generous footprint and low annual taxes with incredibly attractive options and appeal. The building is currently comprised of 5 rent stabilized rentals along with 5 free-market rentals.
Eighteen large windows face north towards 2nd Street framing views of mature trees, and the elegant ironwork and carved stone of the New York City and National Register Designated Landmark Marble Cemetery, established in 1831.
The listing notes that the building has been "meticulously maintained by the same owners for decades." Perhaps it will "continue as a reliable investment" rather than "a splendid personal home for a fortunate new owner."
Asking price: $5.45 million.
Ben Shaoul plans to sell Bloom 62 'in a year or two'
We were watching "The Stoler Report" — the real-estate roundtable program on Channel 75 — the other evening... Developer Ben Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group, was one of the guests discussing the residential market in Manhattan and the boroughs... it was a fairly sobering discussion on everything from end loans for condos ... debt yields... capital gains...
At roughly the 20-minute mark, host Michael Stoler asked Shaoul about his preference for short-term lending ... Well, you know, it depends on the asset and who the partner is and what the plan is for the asset, etc.
While he didn't mention it by name (Bloom 62, the new luxury residences that replaced the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street and Avenue B), Shaoul mentioned his current "conversion of a nursing home."
And?
"We're going to look to sell the asset in a year or two," he said.
This type of property, he said, was attractive to the institutions who buy this caliber of asset.
In December 2011, Shaoul and company purchased Cabrini for $25.5 million from a family trust made up of the estates of Jacob W. Friedman and Sol Henkind. Negotiations to resell the building to a for-profit nursing home operator reportedly fell apart in early January 2012. Cabrini closed for good on June 30, 2012.
The 240-bed Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provided health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The center opened in 1993 and served 240 patients and employed nearly 300 employees.
Bloom 62 is currently renting — prices range from $3,450/month for a one-bedroom unit to $7,600 for a four-bedroom apartment. The listed amenities include 24-hour doorman, gym and exercise facility with weight room, secured landscaped courtyard entrance, deck with showers, Weber grills and teak sun-deck, and yoga room with music system.
You can watch this episode of "The Stoler Report," taped on May 30, right here.
Meanwhile in Italy: [TO]Bike of Turin
Given some ongoing interest about Citi Bikes... we've had readers share photos of the bike-share programs in London ... and Paris... Now, EVG reader Jennifer Kellow checks in with photos from a recent trip to Turin (Torino), Italy... [TO]Bike of Turin launched in June 2010... at its debut, the 1,200-bicycle and 116 station service was Italy's second-largest bike share behind Milan...
Per the Bike-Sharing Blog (from 2010):
In Turin, the annual subscription to the system is very reasonable at €20 ($24 USD). There is a weekly pass at €5 ($6 USD) and a daily at €2 ($2.40 USD). As with most bike-sharing systems, the first 1/2 hour of usage is at no charge and then each 1/2 hour thereafter escalates in price.
[TO]Bike is part of the Bicincittà , which has bike-sharing programs throughout Italy and Switzerland.
Jennifer notes that "it does look like a nice normal bike share" ... and without any noticeable corporate sponsors.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
If life gives you limes... oh, forget it...
East 11th Street and Avenue B late this afternoon. Photo by Andrew Adam Newman on Ave C.
Going... going...
Oh! That Cadillac that we've admired through the years on East Second Street is for sale, EVG contributor Derek Berg notes... Better hurry...
Friends and family remember teen shot and killed on Avenue D
"He was always happy and even if he was sad, you would never tell," said Moore's sister Janet Mejia, 22, who lives in Harlem.
"He was a great uncle and he loved his nephew," Mejia said. "He was love wherever he walked."
Mejia joked that Moore had been a "pain in the ass, like any little brother" who always had a practical joke up his sleeve to lighten the mood.
Moore was standing with friends on Avenue D near East Eighth Street Friday night around 10:45. The NYPD have said that gunmen on bicycles fired into the group, with one bullet striking Moore in the head.
[Photo by Serena Solomon via DNAinfo]
Big crane work at the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street
EVG reader Ron Z. shares photos from this morning... A crane has arrived for the second installment of pre-cast concrete floor planks for the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...
He notes that the planks are hoisted over 539-541 E. 11th St. and lowered onto the steel superstructure that workers have put into place.
"All residents on the 4th and 5th floors have to vacate their apartments until later this afternoon — in case a plank decides to land on top of the building," Ron says.
There were three trucks with planks waiting along Avenue A...
The Mary Spink Apartments will one day be home to eight stories — 46 units — of affordable housing for formerly homeless and mentally disabled East Villager residents.
Spink, a respected community activist, CB3 member and executive director of Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, died in January 2012 at age 64.
Previously on EV Grieve:
East 11th Street lot prepped for the Mary Spink Apartments
Empty East 11th Street lot will yield to 8 stories of affordable housing (49 comments)
Today's Rite Aid update
More progress here on First Avenue and East Fifth Street...
EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla notes that the mural is courtesy of The Royal Kingbee UW, a Bronx-born graffiti artist. Kingbee and Vase1, who specialize in urban and rural landscapes, will also be painting the exterior at the Avenue D Rite Aid...
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)
Rite Aid's enchanted forest
An East Village without rent regulations
[File photo via Bobby Williams]
The Times will have a piece in the magazine on Sunday on rent regulations... a version is now online titled "The Perverse Effects of Rent Regulation."
The East Village plays a starring role as writer Adam Davidson, co-founder of NPR's Planet Money, presents some what ifs about the elimination of rent regulations and other forms of housing subsidies. He goes over the two rental markets in the city: "Roughly half the apartments are under rent regulation, public housing or some other government program. That leaves everyone else to compete for the half with rents determined by the market."
One East Village realtor estimated that there are between 20-30 available apartments for rent in a given month.
He goes on to point out how "an East Village where nobody makes less than $90,000 a year might actually damage the city's long-term prospects" ... because the neighborhood has always "served as an initial toehold into this chaotic mess" of Manhattan.
Christopher Mayer, a housing economist at Columbia Business School, contends that these programs actually make the city much less affordable ... he lays out one scenario:
Eliminating rent regulation would be such a huge windfall for landlords, Mayer says, that he could imagine a sort of grand bargain. The programs go away, but landlords have to pay higher property taxes. The extra city revenue could go to a fund to help poor people afford market-rate apartments. In theory, this could be designed to make the shift win-win-win. The city could stay socioeconomically diverse without any six-bedroom apartments renting for $225.
Otherwise?
Writes Davidson: "What happens if all the rich people are on one island and the poor but creative are somewhere else? "
Anyway, there's a lot to take in with the article... too much to quickly recap in a post. Go read the article here.
An 'especially dramatic' retail opportunity for Fourth Avenue
Last month, plans emerged about developing the long empty space on East 10th Street and Fourth Avenue. The Massey Knakal listing notes that "plans exist for a nine story mixed-use building with 8 floor through apartments and a bi-level retail space with double height ceilings."
And now the retail portion of the potential development is on the books. Per the Massey Knakal listing:
This prominient corner retail space will be located on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 10th Street. Currently, the site is under construction, and the anticipated possession date will be one and a half to two years from now. The site also provides an exceptional opportunity, which could accommodate a variety of uses. The space will house over 2,600 square feet of column-free space on the ground floor and over 3,500 square feet on the lower level. The lower level will also feature partial double-height ceilings, making the space especially dramatic.
No word on the asking rent for the retail space. But! The price for the lot is $24 million.
Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor opening Thursday on East 13th Street
[Image via @SembradoNYC]
Sembrado’s Tacos al Pastor, the new Mexican restaurant from Danny Mena, the chef and co-founder of Hecho en Dumbo, is apparently opening on Thursday. (This info comes via a news release published in The Epoch Times.)
Sembrado’s, opening July 25, will be one of the first in New York to use the classical Mexican technique of slowly cooking marinated pork on a vertical rotisserie — called the trompo.
Grilled meat tacos, made with hand pressed corn tortillas, will be a staple on the menu.
The pastry chef is Fany Gerson, who used to work for Eleven Madison and Rosa Mexicano.
Sembrado offers a “Make-Your-Own Mexican Sundae” dessert menu.
Sundae options will include rotating ice cream flavors such as Mexican Vanilla, Strawberries and Sour Cream, and Horchata.
Each is coated with a choice of sweet tomatillo sauce, Mexican hot fudge, and goat’s milk caramel.
The Sembrado website is live... and includes the menus...
[Click image to enlarge]
The space at 432 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue was previously home to Masak.
Meanwhile, at the Jefferson...
At the site of the former Mystery Lot. Where million condos are at the ready.
Previously on EV Grieve:
City approves new building for Mystery Lot
The last days of the Mystery Lot
Before it was the Mystery Lot
The Mystery Lot developers using famous dead comedians to sell condos at The Jefferson
The Jefferson reveals what '21st Century living in the heart of Olde New York' costs
The Jefferson loses its netting, gains its glass
Speaking of The Jefferson... EVG regular Katja notes that the construction netting is off the East 13th Street side...
... and the glass is going in...
The listings include a 536-square-foot studio for $850,000 up to a two-bedroom penthouse with a rooftop terrace for $2.49 million. In between, one-bedrooms range from $1.11 and $1.54 million.
According to Streeteasy, six of the units are in contract...
Previously.
... and the glass is going in...
The listings include a 536-square-foot studio for $850,000 up to a two-bedroom penthouse with a rooftop terrace for $2.49 million. In between, one-bedrooms range from $1.11 and $1.54 million.
According to Streeteasy, six of the units are in contract...
Previously.
Tree pleads: 'I am alive'
Urban Tree Etiquette Sign on East 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
Not to mention Doritos.
Monday, July 22, 2013
See the forest for the Rite Aid
Quick update from EVG Senior First Avenue Rite Aid Correspondent Goggla ... who figures the RA outpost here at East Fifth Street is about another-day-of-painting away from completing its transformation from Big Box to Big Forest...
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] As the Rite Aid turns (colors)
Rite Aid's enchanted forest
Report: DA charges curb-crash driver with vehicular assault
[Photo via @JanSichermann]
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance charged the driver who plowed into East Village Farm and Grocery on Second Avenue last month with vehicular assault, Streetsblog reported on Friday.
As previously reported, the NYPD charged Shaun Martin, 32, of Bayside, Queens, with DWI.
Per Streetsblog:
He was also charged with possession of PCP, according to online court records.
Court records show multiple charges were added on July 5: two counts of first degree vehicular assault, two counts of felony assault with serious injury, a felony count of operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, felony driving while ability impaired, and felony DWAI by drugs and alcohol.
Possible sentences reportedly range from probation to 15 years in prison.
Just before 7 a.m. on June 19, Martin and a female passenger were reportedly speeding down Second Avenue when he lost control of his Nissan Altima ... jumping the curb around East Fourth Street and injuring four people, most critically 62-year-old Akkas Ali. He reportedly emerged from a coma 11 days after the crash.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Car smashes into East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue; 6 reported injured
Crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises nearly $19,000
Crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises nearly $19,000
The crowdsourcing campaign ended this past weekend for the family of gravely injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker Akkas Ali (pictured above). At the end of the campaign, 290 people contributed $18,579 for Ali's rehabilitation.
Community Board 3 member Chad Marlow organized the campaign. As he said in June in announcing the campaign:
"I went through this same thing with my father when he was just 4 years younger than Mr. Ali, and one of Mr. Ali's sons is the same age as I was when my father was stuck and seriously and permanently injured by a speeding, intoxicated driver. So I know how much this kind of support would help him and his family."
We asked Marlow for his reaction to the campaign results yesterday:
"The success of this effort is a wonderful testament to our community ... 290 contributors stepped forward to help this poor family. We have collectively done a great good and, in doing so, have revealed the great goodness lies at the center of the East Village's soul. I am enormously proud and grateful to be part of this community."
Marlow reports that Ali has been transferred to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey.
"Mr. Ali has been opening his eyes and has been exhibiting responsive eye movements, but now that he is at Kessler, which is one of the best rehabilitation facilities in the world — Christopher Reeve also went there — the real work of getting better can begin."
Marlow's father was also a patient at Kessler following his accident.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance reportedly charged the driver, Shaun Martin of Queens, with vehicular assault.
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Car smashes into East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue; 6 reported injured (62 comments)
Campaign launched to raise money for gravely injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker
1st week of crowdsourcing campaign for injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker raises $11k
An assault at Theatre 80
[EVG file photo]Lorcan Otway, who owns and operates Theatre 80 and William Barnacle Tavern on St. Mark's Place, shared the following with us... We first saw him post the details on Facebook.
Here is a slightly condensed version of the incident:
On Friday, just after 4 p.m., three young men attempted to extort $100 from the owner of the theatre, Lorcan Otway, to return a phone they had, which had been stolen from an employee. Mr Otway pocketed the phone and thanked them and said that we did not reward theft.
As the three advanced to take back the phone, Otway's wife, Eugenie Gilmore-Otway, a lawyer, snapped a photograph of the instigator of the event, "Mark." He then snatched her phone and the three ran for the door.
Lorcan pinned the three against the door, and as they pushed out onto the street, he wrestled away his wife's stolen phone. One of the three, coming up behind Otway, shoved him head first into the Citi Bike racks [across St. Mark's], causing him a head and knee injury."
Upon fleeing, the men allegedly hit Genie with their car. She sustained a broken ankle and four breaks to her shoulder as well as cuts to the face.
According to Otway, the police have the make and model of the car ... as well as the license plate number, a phone number for "Mark" ... "the staff and management of Theatre 80 hopes for a speedy arrest and settlement of this matter."
Witness a 7-story residential conversion on Avenue C
The 3,050-square-foot, two-story Kingdom Hall owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses at 67 Avenue C will soon yield a 7-story, 7-unit residential building, BuzzBuzzHome first reported on Friday.
Permits filed Wednesday at the DOB show plans for 1,843 square feet of commercial space and 7,451 square feet of residential space. As BuzzBuzz pointed out, the building just south of East Fifth Street will get five new levels, including "a penthouse vertical extension. The residences will be full-floor and half-floor, with a duplex penthouse on top." (As we understand it, the Jehovah's Witnesses will continue to use the adjacent space at 63 and 65 Avenue C.)
Developer Natan Vinbaytel is listed as the developer. (He's also currently putting up the new 6-floor building at 227 E. Seventh St.) The architect is Vikatos Architect PC.
We wrote about a potential sale back in August 2009 during a guest stint at Curbed. At the time the asking price was $2.2 million.
The space hit the market again in May 2012.
Previously on EV Grieve:
New world order for Avenue C?
Sarkozy-Olsen 'love nest' on the block
Last August, when reports surfaced that Olivier Sarkozy bought 123 E. 10th St., the Post described the historic 146-year-old home as a "love nest" he would share with girlfriend Mary-Kate Olsen.
Apparently there's a change in nesting, as the half-brother of the former French president has listed the single-family Anglo-Italianate townhouse for just less than $7 million. (The townhouse is one half of a 146-year-old set of homes. No. 125 is apparently not on the market.) Property records show that Sarkozy paid $6.25 million for the space.
Douglas Elliman has the listing. Here's a bit about the space:
Erected in 1854 by James Renwick, one of the most famous American Architects of his time, amongst Grace Church, St. Patricks Cathedral and other internationally acclaimed projects, 123 East 10th stands out as one of the most exquisite Row Houses built. This house remains to be as attractive and architecturally significant today as it was almost two centuries ago.
The home boasts at least five bedrooms and currently only four bathrooms but can easily accommodate more of each. An old world layout with a double parlor greets one with a lovely grand entrance and can accommodate multiple sitting rooms. A Garden Level which could be most appropriately used for a kitchen and casual dining area that leads out to a lovely garden with either an open plan for a casual entertaining room or a small room suitable for guest or staff.
No. 123 was on the market for nearly four years before Sarkozy bought it.
Standard East Village unveils 1st phase of reconfigured ground floor with garden lobby
[Bobby Williams]
Back in April 2012, The Standard East Village unveiled major plans to alter parts of its public space. Among other things, the Standarders were going to expand the lobby and take over part of garden space that lined East Fifth Street. If memory serves, then there will also be an outdoor cafe along the Cooper Square side.
Anyway, as the top photo shows, the new garden-lobby entrance is now in use ... and here's a view of the new garden wall along East Fifth Street ...
At first glance it appears to make better use of the space than the former Cooper Square Hotel ... who used the East Fifth Street side to house an array of dead shrubbery and nice cars...
[June 2009]... and later a fence made out of Popsicles... and that damn Pimm's Cup sidewalk chalkboard sign....
Work continues on the new restaurant and sidewalk cafe at the Standard. Eventually it will all look something like this ...
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