EV Grieve

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Discount store opens today at 47 Avenue A

In recent weeks workers have stocked the vacant storefront at 47 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street (in one of the retail spaces of the Ageloff Towers) with a variety of housewares and toiletries.

One EVG reader says the shop will be called Essex 99-Cent Store and from the owners of Essex Card Shop at 39 Avenue A. (Of course, many of the items displayed in the front window look to cost a lot more than 99 cents.)

Anyway! Per the grand opening sign on the front window, the shop debuts today at 10 a.m.

For now, the name of the previous business, Avenue A Copy Center & Shipping Outlet, remains above the storefront. The Copy Center closed in late April after three-plus years in business.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

NYPD seeks info on this burglary suspect who entered an unlocked apartment

The NYPD is looking for the following suspect... info via the EVG inbox this morning...

It was reported to police that on Wednesday, June 19 at 10:30 a.m., inside a residential building located in the vicinity of East 6th Street and 1st Avenue, an unidentified individual entered an apartment on the third floor through an unlocked front door and removed a Dell Laptop and a Michael Kors watch before fleeing through the front door, to parts unknown.

The individual is described as a male Hispanic, medium build, 50 to 60-years-old with a light complexion and grey hair. He was last seen wearing a grey t-shirt, a grey hooded sweat jacket and dark colored pants.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). You may also submit tips online. All calls are confidential.

Looking at the new Avenue A L-train entrances; plus L repairs are reportedly ahead of schedule

Concerns over a long-term L-pocalypse may have been unfounded, a new published report says.

The Daily News reports that the Canarsie Tunnel rehabilitation is actually a month ahead of schedule — and the whole project may be finished by April 2020.

All the major demolition work on the East River tunnel should be done by the end of this month, said Wayne Faulkner of JMT, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s consultant on the project. That part of the job includes removing 6,800 feet of crumbling concrete duct bank that houses long-abandoned Con Ed power lines on each side of the tunnel’s tubes.

The broken-up concrete was taken to the MTA’s Linden Yard in Brownsville, Brooklyn via work trains, said the MTA’s head of capital construction, Janno Lieber.

“One of the advantages of the approach that was taken when the project adjusted means and methods was you didn’t have to take all that huge amount of debris out through the Avenue A exit [in the East Village],” Lieber said.

Work was expected to take roughly 15 to 18 months.

In late April, the MTA started its service reduction to repair the Sandy-damaged tubes between Manhattan and Brooklyn, ramping down L times to 20-minute waits starting at 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the week and around the clock on weekends.

The slowdown came about back on Jan. 3 when Gov. Cuomo made that surprise announcement that the L-train wouldn't be completely shut down as previously planned.

Meanwhile, seems like a good time to check in on the progress of the new L-train entrances — with elevators — that are coming to Avenue A and 14th Street...

... and the northern side of 14th Street...

The MTA shared this photo back in April showing an Avenue A entrance from below...

[Trent Reeves/MTA Capital Construction]

The work on a new entrance a block away from the First Avenue station started in July 2017 to help relieve congestion at the stop.

In late May, Town & Village reported that a Stuy Town resident first made a request for an Avenue A stop — in 1947!

A Stuy Town resident who moved into the complex when it opened in 1947 wrote a letter to the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation, which operated the L at the time, asking if the transit agency would expand the First Avenue station by building an entrance at Avenue A. Resident Reginald Gilbert of 625 East 14th Street argued that pressure on the station from the influx of new residents made the new entrance a necessity.

Not sure what will be open first — the new entrances or the Trader Joe's right there at 432 E. 14th St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
To L and back: Reactions and questions over Gov. Cuomo's surprise subway announcement

Report: MTA commits to a shorter work day for the 14th Street L-train rehab

Here are the rent increases for rent-stabilized apartment dwellers

[Image via 1010 WINS]

The nine-member Rent Guidelines Board voted last night on rent increases for residents living in the city's more than 1 million rent-stabilized apartments

This is what the board ultimately decided on at the Great Hall at Cooper Union, based on various published reports:

• For a one-year lease, tenants can expect a 1.5 percent hike.

• For a two-year lease, tenants can expect a 2.5 percent jump.

This year’s increases are identical to those approved last year.

The changes will go into effect on Oct. 1.

The Times had some background on the decades-old tradition:

The new increases are modest given the history of the board, which was formed 50 years ago.

The board allowed rent increases of up to 14 percent for certain two-year leases in 1980. Under the Bloomberg administration, yearly rent increases for one-year leases hovered at about 3.25 percent on average.

But rent caps have been considerably lower under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

During his first mayoral campaign, he pledged a temporary freeze on regulated rents, in order, he said, to protect low-income tenants from a roaring real estate market. A majority of rent-stabilized tenants pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

In 2015, the board approved a rent freeze on one-year leases for the first time in its history. It did so again in 2016, but the board approved modest increases in 2017.

This year, the board considered rent increases as high as 6.75 percent, rent decreases and another rent freeze, which tenant groups supported.

I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant in The New Yorker

[Photo from Sheila's apartment last October]

East Village resident Susan Schiffman has been photographing the apartments of rent-stabilized tenants living in the East Village for her Instagram account, I Am a Rent Stabilized Tenant.

She started sharing them with EVG in July 2017.

Susan's feature is the subject of a Talk of the Town piece in The New Yorker this week titled "Rent-Stabilized and Nervous in the East Village."

Here's an excerpt from the piece by Paige Williams:

On a recent Sunday, Schiffman walked over to a building near First Avenue. A woman named Jenny was waiting for her on the fourth floor, in yoga pants and a hoodie imprinted with the words “Locals Only.” Schiffman took in the incense and the wood carvings from India. Jenny, a chef and an astrologer, divulged that, in the sixties, she became a “militant vegetarian” after an acid trip during which God said, “What are you doing?” as she cooked a cube steak.

“Why did you move to the East Village?” Schiffman asked. Jenny answered with a story that involved 1971, Keith Haring, “a bunch of hippies,” aids, macrobiotics, Madonna, Oprah, and “Pluto going into Scorpio.” Jenny said that when she first moved in the apartment was “all brown and lime green. Two dancers from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ lived here.”

Schiffman plucked a Nikon from her backpack and started shooting — moody light at the bedroom windows, a bouquet of bodega roses. Jenny checked an astrology app and said, “Oh! Melania Trump’s gonna have Uranus on her sun.”

You can access all the I Am a Rent-Stabilized Tenant features — 29 with No. 30 coming soon — on EVG here.

A new nest for Amelia and Christo in Tompkins Square Park

Amelia and Christo have been busy working on a second nest in Tompkins Square Park. I spotted the resident red-tailed hawks this past weekend in this tree near Temperance Fountain (in what is called the Sandra Turner Garden)... right up there...

I asked Goggla about this second nest. Both of Amelia and Christo's 2019 chicks died in recent weeks in their nest near Eighth Street and Avenue B. (Cause is not yet known.)

Goggla says that this is a "frustration" or alternate nest... and in the same tree where Christo and Dora raised their 10th offspring in 2017.

Here's Goggla with more via a post from Monday:

Several people have asked me if this means the hawks will lay more eggs this year. Short answer: No. The breeding time for the hawks is generally February - May, so it is too late in the year to start again. The hawks undergo hormonal changes in the spring that lead up to egg-laying, and that time has passed.

However, nest-building is bonding activity, so it's a good sign. It shows Christo and Amelia are working together and maintaining their territory and partnership. Although I'm really sad not to have baby hawks playing in the park this summer, I'm happy to see the adults staying close to home and remaining visible.

And here's a photo from Steven of (we think) Amelia from late Monday afternoon watching planes atop Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street...

A new sign for Ray's Candy Store, and a visit by Kim Kardashian West

Here's a look at the almost completed new sign at Ray's Candy Store ... NYC-based illustrator Peach Tao (with help from Will DeNatale and Shreya Gupta) started work on Sunday.

Peach said she still has a few more details to add.

This version replaces the well-weathered facade that Chico created in July 2016. Chico's previous sign here was in part a tribute to neighborhood photographer Bob Arihood, who died in September 2011.

Steven took these photos yesterday afternoon.

Early last evening around 6:45, Kim Kardashian West stopped by the shop here on Avenue A near Seventh Street with friends (besties?) Simon Huck and Jonathan Cheban to celebrate La La Anthony's birthday (this info via Instagram).

The reality TV star and makeup mogul shared photos/clips in her Instagram Stories showing the group ordering milkshakes and deep-fried Oreos from Ray, who was working behind the counter...

In true Kardashian fashion, there were reports of "a mob scene" outside the shop during the brief stopover, as Ray's was plunged into the paparazzi world ... with black sedans and bodyguards on Avenue A...

[Bottom 2 photos via @RaysCandyStore]

Last week, it was Kendall Jenner's turn to stop by Ray's.

H/T Jon-Michael!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Kim Kardashian was in the East Village on Tuesday, ever so discreetly

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Tuesday's parting shot

A graduation scene on Astor Place today via Derek Berg...

Renovations underway at the (formerly) mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

The plywood recently arrived outside 84 Second Ave. ... marking the beginning of the renovation phase here between Fourth Street and Fifth Street.

There are now approved work permits on file with the city for this address, including "a horizontal enlargement at the rear of the building."

This 5-floor building has been the subject of much curiosity and speculation through the years.

Here's a quick recap of the permitting required to renovate the building.

Last July, the newish owners of the currently-empty building, reportedly Highpoint Property Group, a real-estate development company, appeared before CB3's Landmarks Committee for a proposal on a Certificate of Appropriateness for the address. (Landlords of buildings located within a designated New York City historic district must receive a permit from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for major work.)

According to the alteration permits filed with the city, the additions would take the building from its current 5,829 square feet to 8,439 total square feet with a rear-yard addition. The modified No. 84 would feature new retail space as well as four residences.

As for that July 2018 meeting, CB3 conditionally approved the front façade plan only if the trapezoidal storefront window could be retained. CB3 opposed the rear-yard addition. According to the minutes from that meeting, neighbors submitted a petition against the proposal containing 160 signatures.

In late October, the LPC voted to approve the proposal to modify and replace the storefront and construct additions out back and on the roof. Per the LPC: "[I]n voting to approve this proposal, the Commission stipulated that the applicant work with the Commission's staff to reduce the visibility of the rooftop work from public thoroughfares. No work may begin until a Certificate of Appropriateness has been issued. Upon receipt, review and approval of two signed and sealed sets of the final Department of Buildings filing drawings for the approved work, a Certificate of Appropriateness will be issued."

Apparently all this work received the proper blessing along the way, as the permits show.

This property has changed hands twice in recent years. Highpoint bought the building for $7.8 million in the spring of 2018. According to public records, the building sold in May 2016 for $5.1 million. Betty Sopolsky via an LLC was the seller, with the buyer listed as West 26th Street LLC.

As we've noted several times through the years, the address has a dark past, which includes the still-unsolved murder of Helen Sopolsky, proprietor of the family's tailor shop who was found bludgeoned to death in 1974, per an article at the time.

The storefront has remained empty since her death.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood and a petition at 84 2nd Ave.

Workers clearing out the mysterious 84 2nd Ave. storefront

Renovations proposed for mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

Mysterious 84 2nd Ave. sells again, this time for $7.8 million

There are new plans to expand the mysterious 84 2nd Ave.

Chong Qing Xiao Mian II has closed on 2nd Avenue

And while we're here on this part of Second Avenue between Fourth Street and Fifth Street ... Chong Qing Xiao Mian II recently closed at No. 82.

The Chinese restaurant, which opened in late 2017, was a sibling to Chong Qing Xiao Mian on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.

This has been a tough spot for restaurants. Casualties in the past seven years are Express Thali ... Golden Crepes ... 7 Spices ... and
Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine.

This documentary takes you inside Jay Maisel's move from the legendary 190 Bowery

[EVG photo from 2016]

The sale of 190 Bowery — the circa 1898 Germania Bank Building — was the biggest, and most interesting, downtown real-estate transaction in recent years (and maybe ever).

Prolific photographer and artist Jay Maisel bought 190 Bowery at Spring Street in 1966 for $102,000. He sold the six-story, 72-room building where he lived with his wife and daughter to Aby Rosen in early 2015 for $55 million.

According to legend, only a handful of people had ever been inside it while Maisel, whose photography credits include the Miles Davis Kind of Blue album cover, was still a resident.

On July 31, interested parties can learn more about Maisel's time in No. 190 and his subsequent move to Cobble Hill when the Film Forum debuts the documentary "Jay Myself" for a two-week run.

"Jay Myself" chronicles Maisel’s monumental move out of his 72-room home following its sale, the largest private real estate deal in NYC history. With humor and awe, Stephen Wilkes captures Maisel’s half-century of collecting – having had the room to save and exhibit every last thing he found beautiful, strange, or (potentially) useful.

And here's the official trailer...

Supreme is the temporary retail tenant on the ground floor of No. 190 these days... while the upper floors house a consortium of creative agencies.

East Village residents take exception with Nobletree Coffee's reason for closing

After five-plus months in business, Nobletree Coffee abruptly closed on May 30.

According to a note from Nobletree here on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place, they were forced to close "because of the slow foot traffic at this location."

Given the busy corridor here, that reason left some residents rolling their eyes.

And now someone has added their own note to the Nobletree storefront (thanks to EVG reader Todd O'Brien for the photo!) ...

"Please don't blame the neighborhood for slow foot traffic. Maybe it was your mediocre coffee and bad service?

Sincerely,
East Village Residents

Goodbye Sunshine

After sitting vacant for nearly 16 months, workers finally got around to starting the exterior demolition at the former Sunshine Cinema in late April.

Several EVG readers have pointed out that the circa-1898 building on Houston Street between Forsyth and Eldridge is shrinking into a pile of rubble now...

The property owners, East End Capital and K Property Group, have approved plans to erect a 9-story office building. Our previous post has more details on what's to come.

The five-screen Landmark Sunshine Theater closed Jan. 21, 2018, after 17 years in business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Sunshine Cinema-replacing office building moving forward; demolition watch back on

Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema

The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space

A celebratory ad on the purchase of 139 E. Houston St., current home of the Sunshine Cinema

The boutique office building replacing the Sunshine Cinema will be 'unbounded by walls' with an outdoor space called Houston Alley

Monday, June 24, 2019

Is this the real life? Watch a group singalong of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' on Astor Place at 3:30 a.m.

An EVG reader shared this video clip that was uploaded yesterday... showing a group singalong at the Sing for Hope piano on Astor Place. The description says this was at 3:30 a.m. Very, very frightening?

Christo looks as if he wants to kill a mockingbird

From earlier today... when a mockingbird was hassling Christo, the adult male red-tailed hawk of Tompkins Square Park ...

Thanks to Steven for the photos!

This mural on Avenue A is a passage from 'Call Me By Your Name' — in Braille

Here's a look at the mural that Jaye Moon, a Brooklyn-based Lego artist, created outside 50 Avenue A (the former Citi branch!) between Third Street and Fourth Street.

Per the sign, the piece, made partly with Legos, is an excerpt of the script — in Braille — from "Call Me By Your Name," the Oscar-Nominated film from 2017 ...

This piece is part of the WorldPride Mural Project initiative, a collaboration with The L.I.S.A. Project. Per Instagram: "Both local and international artists, 50 in total, were selected to create murals within the five boroughs of New York that reflect and honor the beauty, struggle, and strides of the LGBTQIA+ community."

The work, mounted in plywood, is temporarily covering the cowboy art here.

Permanent vacation now for the St. Brigid School

Classes ended for the summer last week at the St. Brigid School on Avenue B and Seventh Street.

As we first reported in early February, the Archdiocese of New York announced that St. Brigid School would cease operations at the end of the current academic year, a move that blindsided students, parents and faculty alike. According to one parent: "Kids sent home crying with a letter to their parent/guardian. School being closed by the Archdiocese without warning."

Founded in 1856, the Saint Brigid School was one of seven city Catholic schools marked for closure by the Archdiocese.

Despite the Archdiocese’s best efforts to maintain the operational and financial viability of the school, continuing to educate students in a building that is underutilized and in need significant improvements has proven unfeasible.

St. Brigid School students will have the opportunity to continue their Catholic education at another nearby Catholic School...

Stunned parents took action, launching a Twitter account and a Facebook group and petition ... as well as organizing a town hall to ask for more transparency about this decision.

Joseph Zwilling, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese, told the Post in an article on Feb. 9 that the school did have money left in its endowment fund — about $1.5 million. He also said the school was losing $850,000 a year. "It is a sad reality that it is nearly impossible to run a school with only 119 students in Grades K-8," he said.

We haven't heard anything else about the school's closure since late February. There aren't any updated messages (other than the initial announcement from February) on the school's website about the permanent closure ... and the social media accounts launched after news of the closing broke have been dormant since late February.

For now, no word on what the Archdiocese has planned for this prime corner real estate that overlooks Tompkins Square Park...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: What happened to the donated money earmarked for St. Brigid School?

Honoring the past with a theater performance at Mark Rothko's former studio on the Bowery

Starting on Thursday night (June 27), the Peculiar Works Project is presenting "Afterparty: The Rothko Studio," a theatrical performance in and around the former studio of painter Mark Rothko at the landmarked 222 Bowery.

First, here's more about No. 222 and "Afterparty" via the EVG inbox...

Built in 1884 for the YMCA as the Young Men’s Institute, 222 Bowery is renowned for the many now-famous artists who lived, worked and played in this landmarked gem. "Afterparty" will explore downtown artists, peeling back their stories to reveal multiple layers of NYC history before the former studio is converted into commercial space later this summer.

Lured by cheap rents and vast lofts, artists began populating the Bowery in the late 1950s. By 1965, there were over 100 painters living along the Bowery, among them Cy Twombly, Robert Indiana, Al Loving and Elizabeth Murray.

The building’s former gymnasium is significant for having been Rothko’s studio, where he painted the infamous Seagram Murals commissioned by The Four Seasons Restaurant in 1957.

Peculiar Works Project’s creative team is designing an intimate, promenade journey through the historic architecture and artistic legacy of the building. Along the way, multi-disciplinary performances will reinterpret the legendary art parties attended by art-world luminaries — Jasper Johns, John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Eve Hesse, Jonas Mekas, Roy Lichtenstein, LeRoi Jones, Diane DiPrima, Sol LeWitt, Andy Warhol and more — against the backdrop of Rothko’s struggle between achieving success and selling out.

Audiences and performers will sit around a table together in the paint-splattered space and experience a theatrical conjuring of artistic ghosts whose impact echoes till this day.

[Cast members from "Afterparty"]

Architectural Digest recently wrote about Rothko's studio (take a tour of it online here), which is reportedly in jeopardy.

The current owners of the space are seeking to rent it to anyone willing for the tune of $15,000 per month (for either residential or commercial use). The sum is shockingly substantial, particularly since the building does not have an elevator, while the roughly 800-square-foot studio has no kitchen, nor an updated shower or bathroom. But it does still have Rothko’s paint flung about the wooden floorboards (after the artist left, American-born Abstract Expressionist painter Michael Goldberg moved in to the space and applied coats of primer to the floor so that Rothko’s mark would always remain).

"Afterparty"'s director, Ralph Lewis, lives in the East Village. I asked him for his thoughts on putting together a production in this studio.

"Creating site-specific performances often feels like a game of chance. Really incredible spaces come along, and if you don't grab them, the wheel keeps spinning. You never get another chance," Lewis said. "Well, two months ago, we were offered the extraordinary opportunity to create a brand new performance [here]."

So just two months to put together "Afterparty"?

"We've never created an entire show, A-Z, in this short amount of time, but we couldn't pass it up," he said. "There are now over 30 artists and performers working on the very peculiar project: actors, dancers, singers, designers, projectionists, text adapters, caterers and more — all creating a 70-minute, historical fiction based on the legendary art parties that took place in the building back in 1958. Honoring the now-famous artists and writers who have lived and worked in 222 Bowery building has been too inspiring for words."

There are two shows nightly — 7 and 8:30 — Thursday through Saturday, with performances on Sunday (June 30) at 5 and 6:30. (Due to limited seating, advanced tickets are required.)

"If nothing else, it's a rare opportunity, and minimal gamble, to see where an important artist — the floor still splattered with his paint — once created important art before it becomes a high-end commercial space," Lewsis said.

--

Performances take place at 222 Bowery between Prince and Spring. Find ticket info here.

14th Street busway markings arrive; so does a lawsuit to try to stop it

The bus/truck markings have arrived on 14th Street ... where the busway launches on July 1...

A quickie recap of this "experimental new transit improvement" ... to help move people during the L-train slowdown, private through-traffic will be banned between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on 14th Street between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue. Buses, trucks and emergency vehicles will be given priority in the center lanes between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue. Cars will be allowed to make pickups and drop-offs as well as access local garages.

The busway also harkens the arrival of the new M14 Select Bus Service, which features off-board fare payments and all-door boarding, starting on July 1. To also help speed up travel times, the MTA is eliminating 16 stops (down from a proposed 22) along the M14A and M14D routes.

As you may have read back on Friday (Streetsblog had it first), a coalition of Manhattan landowners is using state environmental law is trying to stop the busway plans from moving forward with a lawsuit:

The 14th Street Coalition — which comprises property-owner groups in Tony Chelsea, the West Village and the Flatiron District — says that the Department of Transportation’s proposed “busway” violates state environmental law because the agency didn’t conduct a serious assessment of the impact that banning cars from 14th Street would have on neighboring residential streets.

“Closing 14th Street to vehicular traffic would not only cause horrific traffic jams on 12th Street, 13th Street, 15th Street, 16th Street, 17th Street, 18th Street (a street with an MTA bus depot at the corner of Sixth Avenue), 19th Street, and 20th Street, it would also cause traffic on north-south avenues including Eighth, Seventh, Sixth, Fifth, Fourth, and Third Avenue, and Broadway, and Park Avenue,” the suit, filed by lawyer Arthur Schwartz. “The traffic will bring with it air pollution and noise pollution.”

A spokesperson with the city's law department said that the claims don't have any merit.

"I think it’s pretty clear that this is bluster," Ben Fried with TransitCenter told Curbed. "It’s absurd to file a lawsuit on environmental grounds for a project that’s going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make transit more efficient."

Read the full story at Streetsblog here.

The Villager has a recap of the lawsuit too.

Here's the martial arts studio signage on 11th and C

Some closure on those previous posts about what's coming to the vacant storefront on the southwest corner of Avenue C and 11th Street... signage is now up for Champions Martial Arts, which has multiple locations in Brooklyn and Queens. (Little Tigers is a program for kids, in case you were wondering about that part of the signage.)

The space has been empty since August 2017, when the New York Health Choice (aka Eastside Market) closed after nearly five years in business.

The disappearing former P.C. Richard on 14th Street

Pinch and Steven have been keeping tabs on the demolition progress at the former P.C. Richard and Son complex on 14th Street at Irving Place...

Pinch was going to sift through the rubble to find a VCR or Commodore 128.

Anyway, as you likely know, workers are clearing the site for the eventual construction of the 22-story Union Square Tech Training Center (aka tech hub). Read all about that here and here. And here too.

Checking in on the BP-replacing condoplex of 2nd Avenue

Friday's post on how quickly the condoplex is going up at 32 E. Seventh St. (aka 119-121 Second Ave.) prompted a few readers to ask about 24 Second Ave. (aka 32 E. First St.) six blocks to the south.

There's slowish but steady progress on this 10-story condoplex on the site of the former BP station, the second-to-last-one in the neighborhood. We noted that the building reached the third floor in April 2017.

The top photo is from Saturday.

As previously reported, the building will house 30 condos, with homes ranging from $1.125 million to $10.5 million along with ground-floor retail. The building's website — "meticulous meets magnificence" — lists that seven units remain for purchase.