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

Name: Jesus Picayo (and daughter Alina)
Occupation: Landlord (Miami)
Location: 5th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues
Time: 1:30 pm on Saturday, Oct. 13

We moved here in 1996. I was born in Cuba, but we were living in St. Thomas and we got hit by two hurricanes, so in ‘95 I just left for good. My mother was here; my brothers were here. I moved to Second and B. The price brought me here and the neighborhood was starting to change already.

I own some property in Miami, some row houses that I rent out. But I don’t like Miami. I just came from there and they stole my tailgate off my truck. I’ve had people break in and cause $100,000 in damage to the building for $500 in copper wire and pipes.

This was an area where at one point you couldn’t live. On the corner of B and 2nd they would sell like a million dollars in drugs a day. You’d find bodies in bags in the gardens. It was rough. By the time I got here you could still see some drug addicts and there was a lot of window breaking in cars. Around, Avenues A, B, C and D, all the way up to Tompkins Square Park it was mainly Puerto Ricans who lived there. Unfortunately, people have been driven out now.

Yesterday I had to kick the local drunk out of my building because he peed all over the entrance. He won’t move unless you hose him with cold water. And he hates water; he won’t take a shower, so you gotta hose him. And he says ‘ah, I’m gonna kill you,’ and so I sprayed him and he got up, but he can’t even really walk. This guy’s been here for over 40 years, between C and D, on the street. He will go to the check cashing place on Houston and open the door for people and he’ll make $50 in a few hours. So I deal with him. He has some interesting stories when he’s not drunk.

Almost everything is gone. The old Sidewalk used to be really good. It’s still there but it’s changed. There was a record store where Dunkin' Donuts is on Delancey, by the bridge, and it was really good because all they sold was Puerto Rican music, salsa. There was a lady that worked there and I used to go a lot and talk to her and she knew every song I was looking for. She was great; that was a good place. I also remember all of the little places that sold fried food on Clinton Street; they’re all gone. There were a lot of bakeries there. I mean, a lot of them were drug fronts, but they’re all gone now.

James Maher is a fine art and studio photographer based in the East Village. Find his website here.

Dollar Plus store opens below million-dollar condos

As we've noted (here and here), the East Side 99¢ shop was moving from East 14th Street to become the first retail tenant in the Copper Building.

And on Saturday, the Dollar Plus store opened here on Avenue B at East 13th Street ... where a handful of the 17 residences top the $1 million mark, according to Streeteasy.

... and last night, with the new sign above the front door...

Early renderings of the building do not show any discount stores in the retail space...

Finding the right retail tenant in upscale housing must be difficult. For instance, a 7-Eleven opened in the ground floor at 52E4 — the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery and East Fourth Street.

Regardless, the Dollar Plus store is a good one.

2 small shops out on East 14th Street, though 1 is moving into the Copper Building

EVG reader John passes along information about the friendly fellow named Ba, a Senegal native, who has a sliver of a shop next to East Side 99¢ on East 14th Street near Avenue B.

"He works very long hours selling socks, gloves, phone chargers, etc. — all kinds of stuff," John wrote. Unfortunately, the landlord is looking for a big rent hike, and both shops will be out.

John said that Ba is looking for a new space in the neighborhood, or perhaps elsewhere. "If anyone hears of anything, it would be nice to let him know."

As for the East Side 99¢ shop, it's our understanding that they are moving into the retail space in the Copper Building around the corner on Avenue B at East 13th Street. (Several readers noted this after our post on it here.)

The stock is piling up at the store (unless a Copper Building resident is hoarding personal toaster ovens and blenders) ...

We like this addition to this corner...

[October 2010]

7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?

[From August]

In recent years, when a business closes around here, it's inevitable that the Starbucks-7-Eleven-Subway rumor makes the rounds as a replacement.

We heard this after Graceland closed ... when 34 Avenue A was looking for a new tenant ... when Kate's Joint closed on Avenue B ... when 219 First Avenue had retail space available; ditto for the Copper Building retail ground floor — and so on. Sometimes it turns out to be true, and other times, it's just a rumor. Or something people use merely as a threat.

So we heard the Starbucks-7-Eleven-Subway whispers about the recently shuttered Bar on A at East 11th Street. In part, these rumors surfaced because Ben Shaoul of Magnum Real Estate owns the building ... and two of his East Village properties are now home to a Starbucks (First Avenue at East Third Street) and a 7-Eleven (Broadway and East 12th Street). On Monday, one of the construction workers gutting 170 Avenue A told told a reporter from The Local that a 7-Eleven was taking over the former Bar on A space.

[Photos by Shawn Chittle]

However, in addition, workers have cleared out Angels & Kings, Pete Wentz's onetime emo hangout behind Bar on A at 500 E. 11th St. (aka 170 Avenue A). According to the work permits for No. 500: "REMODEL EXISTING STAIR CONNECTING CELLAR AND FIRST FLOOR. REMOVE INTERIOR NON-LOAD BEARING PARTITIONS AT FIRST FLOOR."

[Last evening via EVG reader Cheryl Pyle on Facebook]

An EVG regular who has been watching all this unfold thinks that the two spaces together are too big for just a 7-Eleven, and believes that the two spaces would yield both a 7-Eleven and a Subway. Or a Starbucks. This is only a theory. But plausible.

In January, the CB3/SLA gave the OK for the people behind Keybar on East 13th Street to take over the Angels & Kings space and open a bar-restaurant serving Hungarian food. No word on whatever happened to those plans.

However, there's nothing just yet on the DOB permits pointing specifically yet to a 7-Eleven, Starbucks or Subway. One connection: The applicant of record for both 500 E. 11th St. and 170 Avenue A is Bentonville, Ark.-based Harrison French & Associates, an architecture and engineering firm whose clients include 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Subway. (Harris French did the 7-Eleven on Broadway at East 12th Street and East 14th Street.)

In any event, nothing official has been released about the corner's future. But given NYC's current retail environment, you may want to get ready for the first national, non-bank chain/franchise on Avenue A. And probably not the last.

Is a 99-cent store going into the Copper Building retail space on Avenue B?

[October 2010]

We've been curious about what would take the corner retail space here at the Copper Building on Avenue B and East 13th Street ... home of million-dollar penthouses.

There was an a rumor about a 7-Eleven opening here... But that is simply not true — the retail-space-for-lease ad specified no delis or laundromats.

In recent weeks, workers have put up brown paper on the windows... and we finally got a look inside.... Let's see, packages of undershirts...

... and plastic toys for kids...

Looks like a 99-cent type of store ... like the ones remaining around the corner on East 14th Street. We asked a broker here last week for information on the new tenant, but never heard back.

Previously.

Avenue B is for Change

Let's put together all the recent changes on Avenue B that we've covered in recent months... We'll start on East Houston and head north ...

... where the liquor store remains closed after several years...

... and the hardware store next door is still on the market after closing last fall ...

At 14 Avenue B, another applicant is going before the CB3/SLA committee this month in hopes of opening some kind of bar-cafe-restaurant...

Across the street, The New World Order, a vintage boutique, closed in May... and the empty storefront offered up a photogenic night-time shot...

However, there is already paper over the windows... another business on the way in...?

On the corner, a well-placed tipster told us in April that Thomas DeGeest, founder of Wafels & Dinges, will open his first café based on the same concept as his popular food trucks in circulation around the city.

In late May, Zaitzeff abruptly closed... this space and the basement location next door of the former Dolphin Gym sit empty...

Next door, the former Croxley Ales Beer Garden is full of weeds ... while Croxley Ales plans to expand to the storefront to the north. (Not pictured)

Up on the southwest corner, a chunk of the ivy-covered building is empty after Mama's sudden departure...

On the east side of the street between Third Street and Fourth Street, the stretch of storefronts that included the LeSouk empire are empty... Neighbors have been buzzing about that rumor that the building will receive a few extra floors during an upcoming renovation (only rumor for now) ...

Max, the 12-year-old Italian place near Fourth Street, will have a new location in Williamsburg ... when that opens, according to The Wall Street Journal, the Avenue B location will close...

On the northwest corner of Avenue B and East Fourth Street ... Kate's Joint closed in April ... word is an organic market will be opening here...

And at Fifth and B, the former Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation will become upscale housing...

Meanwhile, expect some dumpsters here in the coming weeks and months...

The Hare Krishnas moved out of their home at 96 Avenue B last summer, as BoweryBoogie first reported.

[BoweryBoogie]

At 98 Avenue B, Pizza Grupo will be moving into Layalay, the former B&T hookah hotspot, from its current home at 186 Avenue B...

[Ah the memories! 98 Avenue B a few years ago...]

And, of course, at Eight Street... St. Brigid's continues its restoration...

[Monday... by Bobby Williams]

Between East Ninth and East 10th ... the former pet shop is still for rent... it closed in May...

On the corner of East 10th Street, the sidewalk shed finally came down outside the former Life Cafe space after too long ... the 30-year-old Life closed last Sept. 11, as we first reported... (And Ninth Street Espresso will expand into part of the space...)

Next door, Lakeside Lounge closed on April 30. Workers have gutted the exterior in preparation for a new bar from some folks involved with Niagara...

An applicant is on the August CB3/SLA docket for the former Mercadito Cantina space that we hear will be a BBQ joint ...

On the east side of the Avenue, No. 165 was on the market... with promises of retail and two-more floors. The building is now in contract, per Streeteasy.



Up on the next block, we've been writing about 185-193 Avenue B, a former theater and, later, church... workers just started demolishing the place to make way for a 12-story apartment building that will include community space and the new home for the Elim Pentecostal Church...

What else... a space for rent near East 13th Street...

... and the Copper Building retail space has yet another broker...

And as we reported last November, an "artisanal cocktail bar" is opening upstairs from Bee Liquors (in the space that has been home to White Noise and Uncle Ming's). Yesterday, Paper noted that the space will be called Pouring Ribbons, and run by American Bartender of the Year Joaquín Simó, who worked the last five-plus years at Death & Co.

Lastly, maybe, you can rent the former Luca Lounge space for the low price of $19,995 per month.

If you made it this far without bursting into tears or something... I've counted 22 empty storefronts. (I didn't mention a few that have been closed for some time.) Still, for all these sweeping changes... there are some really good places on Avenue B, from bars (Mona's, Manitoba's, Vazac's, B-Side) to stores (Bee Liquors, Sunny & Annie's, Amor Bakery, Wendigo) to institutions (GOLES, Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union) to restaurants (Cafe Rakka, Y Cafe — you have your favorites ...) ... and just two franchises: one national (Subway); and one local (Duane Reade). Wonder how long that chain-free feeling will last...

Previously on EV Grieve:
There are more than 20 empty storefronts along Avenue B

A reader offers details about the restoration of St. Brigid's

[Yesterday]

A reader left this comment on our post Wednesday afternoon about St. Brigid's on Avenue B at East Eighth Street....

I’ll try and clear up a few misconceptions as I live near the Church and have been following the process since it began nearly 10 years ago.

1. The Church was never declared a NYC landmark. The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission ruled against the request for status by a group of individuals because: a) The Church had been modified too much over the years to determine what exactly was part of the requested status. b) It was in a horrible state of disrepair at the time and its very survival made it a huge risk. c) The Landmarks Commission rarely designates Churches because they change so often and the various entities that own the churches don't want to be designated because it makes it difficult for them to make significant changes. They have a very strong lobby in NYC.

2. The central portion of the facade scaffolding was removed [Wednesday] because the contractor needs to start work on the front stairs. He is hoping his portion of the project (all the major interior and exterior construction) will be completed this summer. Significant work to do still on the two towers, roof, exterior fencing, the back, and the interior.

Once their work is done the "liturgical package" work begins: including all interior furnishings —pews, alter, and hopefully the original Keely carved organ. Keely was the original architect and when the Archdiocese tried to demolish the Church '04-'06, the City courts mandated the Archdiocese carefully remove and preserve all interior artifacts. Now no one seems to know where the organ and many other artifacts have gone. a tremendous pity and in contravention of Court orders. The organ was a beautiful piece of work.

Once the liturgical package is complete, the church has to go through a number of city inspections and approvals. My guess is that St. Brigid's might open up for "business" sometime in the early-mid fall. The new parish priest has already moved into the adjacent rectory.

3. The "anonymous" donor is still a mystery. No one has stepped forward to admit making the original $20 million donation, which most likely grew by an additional $10 million after work began and the architects realized they would have to completely redo the outside & foundation. Of the original $20 million, $10 million was dedicated to the restoration, $8 million was given to St. Brigid's school next door and $2 million was put in a church maintenance fund.

Some have speculated that it was Chuck Feeny, multimillionaire Irish-American philanthropist, who made his fortune with duty-free shops and started the Atlantic Philanthropies Foundation. Both he and the foundation have steadfastly denied this. Easy to see why. Others suggest that the Archdiocese itself anonymously "found" the money in order to stave off a confrontation with the New York State Supreme Court where a final case was pending back in 2006. If the Church lost that case it would have had tremendous implications for the ownership of Church property throughout the entire country.

4. There are many good things the current restoration architects, Acheson and Doyle, have done with their budget to bring the church back to the original vision and design of Keely, and execution by the Famine-Irish boat wrights from the local EV community who helped build it back in 1848. They have restored the original brownstone facade, re-made the original windows, made beautiful replacement stain-glass windows (after the Archdiocese willfully destroyed the original hand painted windows in the summer of 2006, in an effort to show its strength and disdain for the community and hasten the demolition process).

The courts issued an injunction stopping the demolition pending the outcome of the case back then. They have painstakingly restored the interior and replaced the old rotting roof with a batten seam, all-copper roof. But they have failed to add back the original 50-foot high steeples on each tower, which could easily be done. And they will not restore the cast-iron fencing around the church — the exact same fencing used and still surrounding Grace Church on Broadway and 10th st.

This will be replaced with an aluminum fence the contractor assures is quite elegant. They did a slap-dash job on the facade of the rectory, quite beautiful originally. But they have done wonderful work supporting the rear wall of the building, the cause of all the structural trouble. It began peeling away from the rest of the church about 30 years ago after an adjacent building was demolished. They have restored and refaced with copper the Crucifix atop the church, and they will replace the original pentacles that were on each corner of the towers. However, they don't seem to be adding back the carved details along the top front ridge of the peeked roof and no one knows if they are planning to return the huge bronze bell removed for "repair" over a year ago.

Hope this helps clarify things a bit.

Copper Building retail space back on the market

We've been keeping an eye on the retail space at the Copper Building on Avenue B at 13th Street... someone removed the for sale signs back in May...



At the time, Brian Meier, senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said via email that the space was sold to an investor, who has a contract out on the storefront...

Anyway, perhaps that original deal fell through... there is a new sign up now for the space...

Asking price is $6,000 per month... here's a look at the info... check out the restrictions (no delis or laundromats!...)

Waiting to hear about retail tenant for the Copper Building

As we noted last week, there looks to be activity in the retail space at the Copper Building on Avenue B at 13th Street.

Brian Meier, senior vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman, said via email that the space was sold to an investor, who has a contract out on the storefront. No word just yet on who the new tenant will be...

In any event, you can likely rule out a Subway sandwich shop here.