EV Grieve

Monday, March 5, 2018

The for-real Target signage has arrived at EVGB

A tipster shared the above photo from Friday at 500 E. 14th St. at Avenue A ... the wraparound Target signage has arrived on the corner space (Previously just a small sign marked the location for construction workers.)

Now, though!

As reported last summer, the small-format Target will cover two levels here, selling men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, food (with grab-and-go sandwiches, salads, beverages), health and beauty and electronics. Etc.

The East Village Target has an expected July opening date.

Oh, and about EVGB. That's short for "East Village's Greatest Building," the nickname that Extell Development bestowed upon this retail-residential complex.

Former Artichoke Pizza space for rent on 14th Street

The for-rent signage has arrived atop the former Artichoke Basille's Pizza location on 14th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Kinda interesting that the high-end Nest Seekers International has the rather pedestrian property. Didn't spot the listing online just yet.

The storefront suffered damage last May during a two-alarm fire. According to the FDNY, the fire was accidental — "due to heat from the pizza oven flue."

At the time Artichoke was still the tenant, though they were nearly ready to relocate across the street... the growing pizzeria chainlet opened that spot in June...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Artichoke appears to be moving into a new space on 14th Street

Report of an early-morning fire at 328 E. 14th St., home of Artichoke Basille’s Pizza

Artichoke Basille's Pizza signage arrives at new 14th Street location

DOH temporarily closes Pinky's on 1st Street

An EVG reader, who says he's a fan of the new Pinky's Space on First Street, was disappointed to find the to-go shop closed in recent weeks.

There isn't any mention of a temporary closure on the Pinky's website or social media channels.

According to public records, the Health Department closed Pinky's following an inspection on Feb. 13. In total, there are 121 violation points ... the most serious, per the DOH website: "Food from unapproved or unknown source or home canned. Reduced oxygen packaged (ROP) fish not frozen before processing; or ROP foods prepared on premises transported to another site."

According to Pinky's crowdfunding campaign:

Pinky's will be a GRAB & GO food chain offering a 7 item menu with multiple locations located in small venues (approximately 150 sq/ft) next to high traffic NYC subway stations. We will offer healthy Southern American & French style cuisine served hot and packaged fresh in vibrant packaging creatively designed for easy commute and convenient dining.

Pinky's wants to keep life simple for everyone. Food operations will be streamlined by utilizing a central kitchen to prepare and cook all food with daily deliveries to each location. A limited menu will also keep the overall system simple and efficient for both customers and personnel. Each store will be simplistic and require minimal investment. They will require a steam table, refrigerator, sink, and countertop.

With all food prepared offsite, each location can swiftly serve customers with minimal time and effort as well as minimal staff (2 per store). There's no need for expensive real estate to house kitchen space or expensive equipment to outfit each restaurant. Additional locations can also be seamlessly integrated into network operations with minimal time and expense.

Looks as if there are a few issues to address to make this concept work within the Health Department's guidelines. (Other violations included "HACCP plan not approved or approved HACCP plan not maintained on premises.")

And the reader likely didn't know about the violations given that the DOH's yellow "closed" sticker was covered up on the front door...

Pinky's opened in early January, receiving coverage on UrbanDaddy and ABC 7.

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Sunday's parting shot

Photo on First Avenue late this afternoon via Raquel Shapira ...

Red-tailed hawk drama headed to local TV news

[Photo today by Steven]

Ali Bauman, a reporter for CBS 2, was in Tompkins Square Park today... for a red-tailed hawk segment expected to air tonight at 11.

Dora, pictured above, cooperated by catching and eating a pigeon.

And Dora later...

Photos by Steven!

Updated:

Here's the link to the CBS 2 feature.

Week in Grieview

[2nd Avenue surf via Derek Berg]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

650 E. 6th St.prepped for demolition; new condoplex on the way (Monday)

Report: Contractor charged in 2nd Avenue gas explosion illegally renovating Harlem apartments (Saturday)

The books of Felix Caro (Wednesday)

Dora returns home (Monday) ... Christo and Dora spotted building nest together (Wednesday)

Pastel Spa & Nails closes on 2nd Avenue; murals outside tanned over (Thursday)

CB3 OKs proposal for Union Square tech hub; calls for zoning protections (Thursday)

Residents voice concerns about quality-of-life issues on 14th Street and 1st Avenue (Monday)

A look at Stuy Town in 1947 (Tuesday)

[Fake tree toss on 1st Avenue this a.m.]

Reader report: manhole explosion on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday)

Lovecraft has not been open lately on Avenue B (Wednesday)

Matthew Kenney's PlantMade teams up with Pure Green on 2nd Avenue (Friday)

Joe and Pat's signage arrives on 1st Avenue (Friday)

Poke N' Roll debuts on 9th Street (Wednesday)

Natasha Lyonne filming Netflix series "Russian Doll" outside 7B (Wednesday)

More about the new venture from Pilotworks on the Bowery (Monday)

Tibetan speciality shop DöKham is now open on 1st Avenue (Friday)

Yet another opportunity to buy 114 E. 10th St. (Tuesday)

[Hay there on Avenue A yesterday via Bobby Williams]

Openings on Avenue A: Mama Fina's House of Filipino Sisig (Monday)

PokéVillage is the EV's first poke casualty (Friday)

IQ Decor closes on 14th Street (Wednesday)

Extra Place is all pretty much Momofuku Ko now (Tuesday)

Garbage bags now adorn the windows at Out East (Monday)

The Real Yellow Pages have arrived (Thursday)

... and my condolences to the friends and family of Amos Little Jr. The longtime doorman at Sophie's (and also Josie's) died suddenly last weekend. He was 60.

[Photo by Walter Wlodarczyk via Instagram]

Last month he moved back to Philadelphia to spend more time with his family.

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Noted

Lost art/found art on 11th Street and Avenue C... thanks to Shawn Chittle for the photo.

Post explores the complicated relationship of Dora, Christo and Nora/Not-Dora

Among the one-liners:

• "A cheep slut has come between a hawk and her hubby."

• "The three lovers met beak-to-beak in the center of the park, where the plumage hit the fan."

• "To some bird watchers, Nora is nothing more than a rust-colored nest-wrecker."

Here's the article, which includes quotes and photos from Goggla.

Updated 9 a.m.

Heh. The Post put this story on the cover...

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Saturday's parting shot

Photo by Bobby Williams...

[Updated] Tree casualty in Tompkins Square Park from yesterday's storm

One of the trees (a Pin Oak?) along the Ninth Street entrance and the ballfields became uprooted during yesterday's storm ... workers will need to remove this...

Thanks to Steven for the photos...

Updated 3/4

A crew is in the Park this morning to remove the tree...

Report: Contractor charged in 2nd Avenue gas explosion illegally renovating Harlem apartments

[The former 119-123 2nd Ave. from Feb. 15]

Dilber Kukic, the contractor charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the March 2015 gas explosion on Second Avenue, is gut renovating four apartments at 303 W. 154th St. without permits, according to the New York Daily News.

Per the News:

“We have rented to almost everyone currently living in these properties and I am concerned for their safety,” whistleblower Jerry Leazer said.

Leazer worked as a broker for the six-floor, 54-unit building through his company, Apartments Expert, until last month.

“It’s a dangerous situation,” he said, adding he’d become concerned about legal liabilities due to the off-the-books renovations.

Leazer’s complaint says Kukic, 42, and other workers have removed walls and rewired the apartments without permits.

Kukic’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told the paper: "His probation officer knows. He’s allowed to work. As long as the company is licensed, my understanding is he can work there as an employee."

In an unrelated case in 2015, Kukic pleaded guilty to bribery, a felony, according to published reports at the time.

Per the Daily News: "He admitted to handing off $600 to an undercover officer in the investigator's car in an effort to get violations cleared from a pair of buildings he owns on W. 173rd St. on an expedited basis."

As for the Second Avenue case, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's office charged Kukic, landlord Maria Hrynenko and her son, Michael Hrynenko Jr., along with plumber Jerry Ioannidis, with manslaughter in the second degree, criminally negligent homicide and assault in the second degree.. (The final defendant, licensed plumber Andrew Trombettas, was charged with offering a false instrument, for allegedly lending his name and license number to paperwork.)

Kukic is due back in court on March 23 — almost three years to the date since the explosion leveled 119-123 Second Ave.

Dora after yesterday's storm

The red-tailed hawk watchers were curious to see how Dora would fare in yesterday's nor'easter with her rehabbed wing... Steven spotted her this morning in her nest in Tompkins Square Park ...

...looking pretty relaxed...

In crane news today

There is crane action happening now on Avenue B between Third Street and Fourth Street.

B is closed here for now.

There were unconfirmed reports that this was to install a new vape-smoke sign. Wrong side of the Avenue though.

Anyway! A few different views via this Live Team Coverage...

In all likelihood, per the cranewatchers on the scene, workers are dropping off, so to speak, an air conditioner or HVAC atop 43-47 Avenue B.

According to the posted sign on Avenue B, this will only take 11 hours.

Report: A book of Lou Reed's unpublished poetry set for April release

In case you missed this news (via Pitchfork and The Guardian)... on what would have been Lou Reed's 76th birthday yesterday, Anthology Editions announced a new book of his unreleased poetry.

Per Anthology:

In August of 1970, a 28-year-old Lou Reed quit the Velvet Underground, moved home to Long Island, New York, and embarked on a fascinating alternate creative path: poetry. "Do Angels Need Haircuts?" is an extraordinary snapshot of this turning point in Reed’s career.

Gathering poems, photographs and ephemera from this era (including previously unreleased audio of the 1971 St. Mark’s Church reading), and featuring a new foreword by Anne Waldman and an afterword by Laurie Anderson, this book provides a window to a little-known chapter in the life of one of the most singular and uncompromising voices in American popular culture.

The book is due out next month.

Friday, March 2, 2018

Friday's parting shot

~~It was so windy today that the umbrellas were calling 911.~~

Photo on Second Avenue and Fourth Street by Lola Sāenz...

Wind claims part of the Avenue C Pharmacy awning

Today's high winds (#windmaggedon!) brought down the awning alongside the Avenue C Pharmacy between 11th Street and 12th Street. The awning fell in the grassy area to the south of the shopping complex where there weren't any pedestrians.

Thanks to @evan_kapitansky for sharing the photo.

Here on 'Earth'

Members of the Horrors, the Black Angels, Elephant Stone and the Earlies formed Mien ... the track here, "Earth Moon," is from their first record out on April 6.

Being the butt of something

Via a crime story in Town & Village today:

A man arrested for selling loosies in Union Square wound up facing far more serious charges when he didn’t do a good enough job hiding his stash and almost 60 envelopes of heroin fell from his butt crack when he bent over to be searched, police said.

Checking in on Winter Storm Riley undergoing bombogenesis

In other words, it's really windy. That's the weather forecast for now. Photo today on Second Avenue by Derek Berg.

Matthew Kenney's PlantMade teams up with Pure Green on 2nd Avenue

Pure Green is getting a new roommate in its space on Second Avenue between 9th Street and 10th Street.

PlantMade, a cafe via plant-based chef Matthew Kenney, whose bio says that he is "crafting the future of food®," will be serving "artisanal coffee and plant-based pastries" inside the Pure Green space.

The Pure Green-PlantMade combo debuts today after a week of renovations...

Pure Green, which has multiple NYC locations, sells cold-pressed juices, smoothies and various bowls of açaí, opened last March in this new storefront. They originally shared space with Greecologies, whose menu included a variety of grass-fed yogurts as well as desserts, coffees and teas.

Kenney is also involved with 00 + Co. and Bar Verde a few blocks to the south on Second Avenue.

H/T Steven!

Previously on EV Grieve:
152 2nd Ave. storefront to yield a combo Greek yogurt and smoothie shop

Joe and Pat's signage arrives on 1st Avenue (above the Lanza's)

Joe and Pat's, the Staten Island-based pizzeria, looks ever-so-close to opening... the signage recently arrived here on First Avenue between 10th Street and 11th Street.

The sign for Lanza's, the previous tenant here, remains intact above the doorway. And Jeremiah Moss recently noted that Lanza's antique murals seem to have survived the gut renovation.

Speaking of renovations, it has seemingly taken awhile to get the space in Joe-and-Pat's shape. (The coming soon sign arrived in April 2017.)

This location of Joe and Pat's, whose first branch opened on Staten Island in 1960, will serve their signature thin-crust pies as well as a variety of pastas and salads. No word on when they may open.

Lanza's closed for good back in July 2016. The Italian restaurant had been in the space since 1904.

PokéVillage is the EV's first poke casualty

A commenter mentioned this on the Poke N' Roll post from Wednesday... PokéVillage has closed on 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. A for rent sign hangs in the window. (Thanks to EVG reader Shiv for the photo!)

The Pokésters opened here in December 2016 toward the end of the Great Poké Rush of 2015-16. This marks the first closure of a poké-serving restaurant in the East Village during this time.

The address was previously home to Saving$ Paradise, which merged with I.Q. Decor in the spring of 2016. IQ Decor just went out of business following a rent increase.

Tibetan speciality shop DöKham is now open on 1st Avenue

After 29 years on Prince Street, DöKham relocated to 117 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place...

And the shop that specializes in clothing and accessories from Tibet had its grand opening last night ... featuring traditional Tibetan food as well as live music by Mongolian musicians Baagii Bayarjargal and Suvda Khereid ...

[Photo last night via @radicaldesi]

The shop is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Thursday's parting shot

Cosmo's Launderama on First Avenue by Chris Rowland (who just launched an Instagram account here).

The Real Yellow Pages have arrived

Reader reports are coming in from all over the neighborhood with news that the Yellow Pages have arrived. Or are arriving.

This year's cover features a shot of the Empire State Building under attack by a spacecraft a la "Independence Day" as well as an ad for Epic Security Corp. "Fully insured. Armed and unarmed guards." ~~The security guard pictured does have both arms.~~

While the directories are tightly wrapped in plastic, you may still want to bring them indoors before it really starts to rain...

Dora – Nora

Dora - Nora

Dora - Nora, Nora - Dora,

Will Christo do what is honorable,

Nora - Dora, Dora - Nora,

Nesting, no time to squabble,

Dora - Nora, Nora - Dora,

Females, time to huddle,

Nora - Dora, Dora - Nora,

Only one hawk from this muddle,

Dora - Nora, Nora - Dora,

Open the envelope please, Ah cuddle,

Dora!

•

peter radley

Previously

Pastel Spa & Nails closes on 2nd Avenue; murals outside tanned over

Pastel Spa & Nails shut down after the business day on Sunday... management here on Second Avenue and 12th Street left a note thanking its customers ...

No word what was behind this departure. (And another EV spa closure.) There are approved permits on file with the DOB for interior renovations, though they don't mention anything about the next tenant (or offer clues such as "eating and drinking establishment").

Meanwhile, a worker painted over the murals on the 12th Street side yesterday, as this photo via EVG reader Charlie Chen shows...

[Photo by Charlie Chen]

Back in September, six artists painted murals on this space — dubbed the #212wall.

Report: CB3 OKs proposal for Union Square tech hub; calls for zoning protections

[Photo via GVSHP]

News out of the Community Board 3 meeting on Tuesday night: The full Board approved a land use application to create the tech hub on 14th Street. In doing so, CB3 also included an amendment in their resolution calling for zoning protection, per published reports:

“Consistent with previous board support for rezoning the Third and Fourth Avenue corridor, including the December 2017 board resolution, CB3 urges the city to commence the process of rezoning this area as well as incentivize affordable housing and exclude certain use groups such as hotels and big box stores.”

According to GlobeSt.com, more than 200 people turned out for the meeting at P.S. 20 on Essex to discuss the proposed 21-floor building that would rise on the current site of the now-former PC Richard complex on 14th Street at Irving Place.

As previously reported, the new building would house a digital skills training center, flex-office space for startups, market rate office space and a food hall. (You can read the city's official release on the project from 2017 here.) City officials say the hub itself would create 600 jobs.

CB3’s vote Tuesday night was the first step in the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Next stops for the application: Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer's office and the City Planning Commission ... before a vote by the New York City Council later this year.

Following the meeting, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who has led the efforts behind a rezoning of the area to enforce some height restrictions and affordable housing requirements, issued a statement:

"This sends an important message to Mayor de Blasio and developers that we do not want the East Village and Greenwich Village transformed into Silicon Alley or Midtown South. A Tech Hub on 14th Street which provides training and services to New Yorkers and small start-ups can be a valuable addition to our city; but it must be accompanied by zoning protections for the surrounding residential neighborhood which ensures that tech and other development doesn't push out longtime residents and businesses, or fundamentally change the character of these neighborhoods.

What we are proposing is a win-win – the Tech Hub proceeds on 14th Street, and the Mayor lives up to his rhetoric about preserving and promoting affordable housing by advancing this rezoning for the surrounding area that would prevent out of scale development and encourage affordable housing development and preservation. So far he has adamantly refused, only supporting the zoning changes for the Tech Hub, which is to be developed by his campaign donors. We hope he will now listen."

You can read a lot more via coverage at The Lo-Down ... Patch ... and GlobeSt.com.

Updated noon:

Here's a news release from RAL Development Services, one of the partners in the project, via the EVG inbox:

On Tuesday evening, Community Board 3 voted unanimously in favor of a resolution supporting site specific rezoning and a special permit to allow the development of the proposed tech training center at 124 East 14th Street, the former P.C. Richard site, by RAL Companies to proceed.

Community Board approval of the 124 East 14th Street development was not conditioned upon any broader rezoning being enacted. The final text of the Community Board resolution requested the City to consider a broader rezoning in the area, but did not connect that process to the approval of 124 East 14th Street.

“We’re thrilled to receive the Community Board’s unanimous support for our proposal, which is designed to fit within the City’s broader plan to expand and diversify the tech workforce,” said Josh Wein, Financial Director of RAL Companies. “We look forward to proceeding through the ULURP process and are thankful for the opportunity to develop this exciting project with its full community benefit intact.”

124 East 14th Street will be a training and education center for all New Yorkers regardless of race, gender, age, or immigration status. It will establish a new model for inclusive community and economic impact, one that embraces and interacts with its local community, and supports emerging and existing local entrepreneurs and industries, in the heart of New York City at Union Square. The 240,000 gross square foot, multi-level project will include a Public Food Hall, Civic Hall — a communal and collaborative workspace for social change-, an Event Space, a Digital Skills Training Center, Step Up Office Space, and Modern Class-A Office Space.