Taking in Alphabet Plaza on East Houston

Crews showed up shortly after Hurricane Sandy last fall to start work on Alphabet Plaza, a 12-story mixed-used apartment building for East Houston and Avenue D. According to the DOB, the building will be 108,953 total square feet, with 9,640 set aside for retail.

We've watched it grow these past 13 months... Here are some photos 13 months later... looks like the crews have made it to the top...


[Bonus shot to the left of the new Karl Fischer-designed rental on 3rd St.]





Per The Real Deal back in January 2012: "The building, which will include some affordable units as part of the 80/20 program, will have a doorman, rooftop terrace, gym and outdoor space."

Apartments were reported to be in the $2,500 to $3,600 range.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 12th-story 'Alphabet Plaza' in the works for Second Street and Avenue D

7-Eleven, expanding and contracting in the East Village

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

As we first noted on Sunday, the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place closed this past weekend. The Post has a piece on it today:

“I would rather go to St. Mark’s Market,” said Mike Romano, 26, a retail purchaser who lives in the East Village. “It’s always the tourists who go to the 7-Eleven. They don’t know you can go to the corner deli Gem Spa and buy everything.”

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Meanwhile! At the 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street... workers expanded the sign on the East 11th Street side of the store yesterday... perhaps clearing up the rumors that the remaining space (the former Angels & Kings!) would turn into a Subway or Starbucks...


[Photo by Anton van Dalen]

Looking at the 51 Astor Place lobby

Now with a security guard and Menorah, per this photo by an EVG reader … all ahead of any tenants, though some are on the way...

Searching for Comet ISON with East Village resident Felton Davis

East Village resident Felton Davis is well-known for his stargazing around the neighborhood, particularly on Second Avenue and East Third Street.

He shared some photos and a recap about his vigil for Comet ISON — once touted as the "comet of the century." (He did not get any takers to join him, seeing as he would need to search the skies starting around 4:30 a.m. in some freezing weather this past week.)

[Click to enlarge]

In the first photo (above) — from 1st Avenue and East 4th Street — Arcturus and Spica are hanging high, and in the second — outside the playground — there is a big swath of empty sky between Spica and the planet Mercury, just where Comet ISON was plunging toward its rendezvous with the Sun.



How something only a mile or so in diameter was supposed to be visible, and also supposed to survive a close brush with our star, I could never explain. And ISON has confounded the scientific world with its complex and unpredictable demise.

It disappeared on Thanksgiving Day, and then reappeared that evening, and now is said to be fading out. It did not "go gentle into that good night," but kept flaring up, its fatal burns a surprising display, just not one that we could get into position to share in the neighborhood.

Updated: Here's a feature on Davis The Wall Street Journal.

Claim: The Odessa Cafe and Bar reopens later this week

That's the word from multiple tipsters anyway. The Odessa Cafe and Bar at 117 Avenue A closed back on Aug. 31.

In late October, the Cafe and Bar was resurrected in the back of the Odessa next door at 119 Avenue A.

Now comes word that the whole thing will reopen, for at least the next year, in its former location as early as Thursday evening.

Paperwork filed ahead of the July CB3/SLA meeting showed that six people were part of a team who was leasing the space and buying the assets ... at least one of which was a "former owner and general manager" of Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs, according to public documents posted on the CB3 website.

There's no word on whatever happened to that project, though. Meanwhile, the Cafe and Bar space has sat untouched since the Aug. 31 closing. And the "thanks for your patronage" sign on the front window was recently removed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Is the end nearing for Odessa Cafe and Bar on Avenue A?

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe closes for good after Aug. 15

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

Cafe Rakka closes on B; Rakka Cafe reopens on St. Mark's Place

[Photo via @zmack]

As we previously mentioned, a "store for rent" sign arrived at Cafe Rakka on Avenue B near East Third Street. Turns out a rent hike to $6,000 is to blame for the closure.

Meanwhile, while the Avenue B location has now closed, the outpost on St. Mark's Place, now going by Rakka Cafe, has reopened after a renovation.

10-story building in the works for Suffolk and East Houston

We were walking by the long-vacant lot at the corner of East Houston Street and Suffolk Street… and saw the rendering on the plywood for what's coming next...



Turns out that the city approved plans for a 10-story building here back in July. According to the DOB, there will be 14 residential units here… Plans show 11,522 square feet for residential use … and 2,527 square feet for community facility space.

Not sure what the fate is of 255 E. Houston St., which previously housed the day-care center Action For Progress. They were displaced in the spring of 2010 when construction next door destabilized the building.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Next for 255 E. Houston St.: Community facility/school/medical building?

84 Third Ave. continues to tease

Over at East 12th Street, the construction netting continues to inch down off the Karl Fischer-designed 9-story retail-residential complex... making for a agonizingly slow full reveal…




As previously reported, the former site of a parking lot and Nevada Smiths will also house a high-tech Westside Market, which is expected to open next summer.

And, as Off the Grid recently noted, 20 percent of the rental units will be reserved for low-income tenants.



[Top 2 photos by EVG contributor peter radley]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smiths

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

Former Nevada Smiths down to its last floor; city OKs work for new building

Bendy thing sighting as 84 Third Ave. eclipses the AMC Loews Village 7

Today in news about East Village laundromats and dry cleaners

As EV Grieve reader Brian Katz told us Saturday, Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry on East 11th Street is closing today. (Read the post here.)

As for other laundromat/dry cleaner news... the laundromat that Mimi ran at 204 E. 10th Street closed earlier this year due to a rent hike... and, at the time, we made the obligatory comment that we really need more dessert places around here, which we figured would come next to the space. Ha. Well! Check out the new dry cleaner/laundromat in the space — Le Pressing! (Thanks to Blue Glass for the tip.)



And over on East Third Street near Avenue A... several readers recently pointed out that the East Village Launderette has closed... we don't know too much else about what happened... or what might be next. (Likely not a bookstore.)

Adam Sandler's 'The Cobbler' comes to the East Village this week

"The Cobbler" has been filming on the Lower East Side in recent weeks (see The Lo-Down, BoweryBoogie and DNAinfo for photos).

And now signs for the production are up on Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street (and elsewhere) for today ...

And there are more signs on Avenue B, East Seventh Street along the Park and East Eighth Street, Avenue C (and probably elsewhere!) for a Wednesday shoot...



The film, described as a "dramatic comedy," finds Adam Sandler "as a shoe repairman who integrates himself into the lives of the people whose footwear he fixes."

The cast includes Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi; Tom McCarthy directs.

Week in Grieview

[East 3rd Street]

Local politicians ask Santaconners to "adopt good neighbor principles" (Tuesday)

Is this the new home for St. Mark's Bookshop? (Monday)

Building plans filed for part of the former Children's Magical Garden (Monday)

There goes 100 Avenue A (Monday)

Former Bleecker Bob's space back on the market (Wednesday)

RIP Saul Leiter (Friday)

Renovations ahead of New York Sports Club's arrival on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Out and About with Jenny Adams (Wednesday)

Richard Hell narrates this new video on the NYC music scene (Tuesday)

RIP East Village Shoe Repair (Tuesday)

Casa Gusto space for rent on Avenue A (Monday)

The former Max space is for rent on Avenue B (Monday)

Shop local (Tuesday)

Holiday trees! (Thursday)

[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed

A St. Mark's Place resident passes along word that the 7-Eleven here near Second Avenue has closed. Workers are currently removing various machines from inside the store this morning.


[Via EVG reader Robert]

There are three trucks lined up along St. Mark's Place. The reader says there isn't much, if any, merchandise left on the shelves.

No official confirmation from any 7-Eleven reps. (Updated: Workers on the scene confirmed this afternoon that the store has closed.) Perhaps that closed sign yesterday was more permanent that originally expected. Or maybe they are just renovating the place. Or there are some other issues that would cause workers to temporarily empty the store of every machine and food product.

This location opened in April 2012.

Looking at Centre-fuge Cycle 11

Just taking a look at the recently completed Centre-fuge Cycle 11 ... the rotating outdoor gallery on the construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...











Writer-blogger Jenny Adams (featured in this week's Out and About in the East Village) has more on one of this cycle's artists, Nicole Salgar, right here.

And as BoweryBoogie first reported, the Centre-fuge initiative has been renewed through 2014.

Find more info on the Centre-fuge Tumblr here.

Today's hawk; slightly stunned, but makes a recovery

Well, several people noted that this hawk had, earlier in the day, flown into the bus shelter on Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street… it looked pretty bad for a moment. The bird was lying on the sidewalk, apparently stunned, according to onlookers. But! The hawk recovered … and was spotted "eating a small rodent whole" in Tompkins Square Park a little later.

Photo via Bobby Williams

Reader report: Last day for Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry

EV Grieve reader Brian Katz shares the following:

Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry on 11th St. (520 East 11th St.), between Avenues A and B, owned and operated by Linda, one of the kindest people and representative of all that is wonderful about our village, will be closing today at 6 p.m. She has been run out due to a variety of circumstances (chiefly, a landlord who wants to break her lease and raise her rent while she returns to China to care for a family member) and must shutter her little shop, for good, today.

Not only has she offered her obvious business services to our immediate neighborhood, but she accepted mail deliveries for ALL her neighbors and never, ever expected anything in return.

Updated: Per the comments.. she will remain open through tomorrow now.

Guess who's back in town?!

Yes! Finally! The iconic Trailer Park Santa is back on his familiar RV on East 14th Street and First Avenue… much to the delight of area children (and maybe one website blog person)…



Let the photos begin!



And what do you think he does in the off-season?

PS
The trees have arrived outside the St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery as well…

Yesterday's hawk — today

Photo from Tompkins Square Park yesterday by Bobby Williams

Noted

A reader noted that the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place was closed this morning… There was black plastic covering the windows… and a handwritten "closed" sign on the door offering no explanation… The reader said that it didn't appear to be anything noticeably, like broken, like a front window.

Striking a 'Nerve'

The Lines with "Nerve Pylon" from 1980.

Lights, action

Hanging holiday lights this afternoon outside Saifee Hardware on First Avenue and East Seventh Street...

Trees arrive ahead of Trailer Park Santa on East 14th Street

The trees have arrived at the stand on East 14th Street at First Avenue. But no sign yet of the familiar inflatable Santa, dubbed by no one in particular, Trailer Park Santa.

2012 flashback!

Meanwhile! As for other holiday tree options... you can actually find trees that will fit inside a normal apartment here at East Village Farm & Grocery on Second Avenue at East Fourth Street...



And expect trees soon on East Houston at Essex...



...and First Avenue and East 13th Street...



And the tree stand will arrive next week at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery.

Previously on EV Grieve:
In case you are looking to buy the ol' [insert your name here!] family holiday tree on Thanksgiving

RIP Saul Leiter

Longtime neighborhood resident Saul Leiter, "one of the first professionals to photograph New York City regularly in color," died on Tuesday. He was 89.

To the Times:

Where other New York photographers of the period were apt to document the city’s elements discretely — streets, people, buildings — Mr. Leiter captured the almost indefinable spaces where all three intersect, many of them within a two-block radius of the East Village apartment in which he had lived since the early 1950s.

Unplanned and unstaged, Mr. Leiter’s photographs are slices fleetingly glimpsed by a walker in the city. People are often in soft focus, shown only in part or absent altogether, though their presence is keenly implied. Sensitive to the city’s found geometry, he shot by design around the edges of things: vistas are often seen through rain, snow or misted windows.

There's a documentary about his life and work, "In No Great Hurry: 13 Lessons in Life With Saul Leiter," now on the film-festival circuit. (A DVD is forthcoming.) Meanwhile, check out the trailer here…

[Top image by Saul Leiter, via; H/T EVG reader Muzz]

Lucy's is on a holiday break

Oh! Stopped by Lucy's the other late afternoon only to discover… she is on holiday until next Friday. And these signs really do need a smiley face.

Introducing the Ramones guitar strap

From the EVG inbox...

Volume & Tone is pleased to announce the release of “The Ramone” guitar strap, created in collaboration with fan favorite, Richie Ramone of The Ramones. This Strap is the first in a series of Celebrity Strap collaborations that Volume & Tone is launching, with 30% of all proceeds going to one of our favorite charities “The Maxlove Project."

The Maxlove Project was Inspired by SuperMax Wilford, a six-year-old fighting brain cancer, MaxLove Project is a 100% volunteer-driven, grassroots nonprofit organization founded to help SuperKids thrive against cancer and life-threatening conditions. Their mission is to provide families fighting childhood cancers with accessible, practical, and kid-friendly whole-body wellness.

“The Ramone” was designed to look and feel like the Schott Perfecto, America’s finest and most symbolic leather motorcycle jacket. Outsiders and lone wolves like Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen wore early versions of the jacket, and later The Ramones wore it as their unofficial uniform, and cemented the jacket’s reputation as a symbol of Rebellion.

Price: $130.

Wish you were here, mostly

Happy Thanksgiving and all that.