Week in Grieview

[Photo from yesterday in Tompkins Square Park]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

After nearly 26 years, Three of Cups is closing on 1st Avenue; Emmy Squared arriving next? (Thursday)

Police searching for suspect in weekend attacks on Avenue B (Tuesday)

Report: Kushner Co. filed false paperwork with the city over number of rent-regulated tenants (Monday)

The Marshal takes possession of the Subway (sandwich shop) on 1st Avenue (Wednesday)

Goodbye Sudan (Tuesday)

Cocktail specialist looking to take over Double Wide on 12th Street (Monday)

EastVille Comedy Club space for rent on 4th Street (Tuesday)

Bookstore coming to the former St. Mark's Bookshop on 3rd Street (Wednesday)

A diner for the former Empire Biscuit space on Avenue A? (Tuesday)

The Brant Foundation's 6th Street outpost looks close to completion (Thursday)

Positive vibes: Aum Shanti on the move to larger space on 14th Street (Monday)

Vintage photobooth finds a new East Village home (Friday)

A few more details about the incoming Moxy East Village on 11th Street (Thursday)

Dim Sum Palace planned for 59 2nd Ave. (Monday)

Target is hiring on 14th Street and Avenue A (Monday)

24 2nd Ave. getting its limestone exoskeleton (Tuesday)

The former Sunshine Cinema will be demolished in 2 months (Thursday)

It snowed (Wednesday ... and here ... and here ... and here)


[Photo Wednesday by Derek Berg]

... and this past week workers removed a tree outside the former I-bar space on First Avenue between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place... apparently the tree was diseased and needed to come down...



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Report: Kushner Co. filed false paperwork with the city over number of rent-regulated tenants

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Jared Kushner’s Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring that it had zero rent-regulated tenants in buildings it owns when, in fact, they had hundreds.

A tenants' right watchdog group, Housing Rights Initiative, compiled the work-permit application documents and shared them with the AP.

In addition, the AP points out what has been previously covered in other outlets: In Kushner buildings across the city, records show frequent complaints about construction going on early in the morning or late at night against the rules, improper or illegal construction, and work without a permit.

Here's a passage about a tenant in 170-174 E. Second St.:

At a six-story walk-up in Manhattan’s East Village that was once home to the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, the Kushner Cos. filed an application to begin construction in late 2013 that, again, listed zero rent-regulated tenants. Tax records a few months later showed seven rent-regulated units.

"All of a sudden, there was drilling, drilling. ... You heard the drilling in the middle of night," said one of the rent-regulated tenants, Mary Ann Siwek, 67, who lives on Social Security payments and odd jobs. "There were rats coming in from the abandoned building next door. The hallways were always filled with lumber and sawdust and plaster."

A knock on the door came a few weeks later, and an offer of at least $10,000 if she agreed to leave the building.

"I know it's pretty horrible, but we can help you get out," Siwek recalls the man saying. "We can offer you money."

Siwek turned down the cash and sued instead. She said she won a year's worth of free rent and a new refrigerator.

Read the full AP piece here.

For their part, Kushner Cos. told the AP in a statement that it outsources the work-permit preparation to third parties that are reviewed by independent counsel, and "if mistakes or violations are identified, corrective action is taken immediately." The statement added: "Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights."

Kushner currently serves as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Trump.

Updated

Here's a statement from City Councilmember Carlina Rivera...

“As the representative of a district with one of the highest rates of Kushner-owned property in the city, I am outraged to see the Trump family’s continued alleged criminal abuse of working-class New Yorkers. These alleged false work permits may come from the biggest name in corrupt real estate in this city, but Kushner is certainly not the first to allegedly commit this kind of fraud. The lax enforcement by DOB and HPD of these illegal filings has allowed not only Kushner, but also names like Croman, Tolidano, and countless other bad actors to plague the residents of my district for decades with clear-faced harassment disguised as permitted construction.

I have fought alongside activists for hundreds of residents who have lost their lifelong homes to the Kushner family’s harassment, and the city must take action to punish those responsible. I look forward to participating in the Council’s investigation into Kushner Cos., and I expect to hear from city agencies as to why this abuse of power continued for so long.”

Updated 3/20

According to reports, AG Eric Schneiderman will meet with tenant representatives affected by the alleged tactics of Kushner Cos.

File photo of 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Report: Jared Kushner buys $130 million portfolio of East Village rental buildings

Report: Jared Kushner paid $49 million for 7 more Ben Shaoul-owned properties in the East Village

More about Jared Kushner's East Village buying spree

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Holiday week recap

[Sledding in Tompkins Square Park Saturday via Derek Berg]

A few stories from last week...

• Out and About in the East Village 2017 recap and news about 2018 (Wednesday)

• Report: 9th Street resident battling with Kushner Cos. to clean up black mold infestation (Thursday)

• Pizza Rollio bringing its skinny slices to 9th Street (Tuesday)

• Residential conversion underway at 180 2nd Ave.; the Ninth Ward expected to return (Thursday)

• Neapolitan Express pulling into 29 2nd Ave. (Wednesday)

• The opossum of Tompkins Square Park — now on video (Thursday)

• The EVG 2017 recap (Friday ... Saturday)

• Remembering a few of our friends and neighbors who died in 2017 (Sunday)

• Classic Man Barber Lounge coming to 9th Street (Wednesday)

• Free scarves along the East River Promenade (Dec. 25)

• Crunch time at the Kellogg's NYC Café on Union Square (Wednesday)

• Malcriada morphing into Bar Taco on Avenue C (Tuesday)

• Report: The SBS15 has the worst on-time arrival in the MTA fleet (Tuesday)

• Thank you for 35 years of reheating leftovers and other microwaving activities (Friday)

• Former Wall 88 space for rent on 2nd Avenue (Tuesday)

• Window watch at 32 E. 1st St. (Tuesday)

Report: 9th Street resident battling with Kushner Cos. to clean up black mold infestation

The Daily News has an update on Uta Winkler's ongoing legal fight with Kushner Cos. to clean up a black mold infestation in her Ninth Street apartment. (DNAinfo previously reported on her legal battle in December 2016.)

Winkler, a rent-stabilized tenant, said in court papers that her kitchen was destroyed several days before Thanksgiving in 2013 by construction workers renovating an unoccupied unit above her apartment.

To the News:

During the past year she has been locked in a legal fight in Manhattan housing court to get [Jared] Kushner’s real estate firm, Kushner Cos., to remediate the mold.

Even though an inspector she hired detected the spores in March, Winkler said she had to go to court several times before Kushner Cos. agreed to conduct its own mold test in the fall.

It took more court dates to get Kushner to agree to pick a remediator who will actually get rid of the mold — which has been shown to cause respiratory problems and to inflame allergies.

It’s still unclear when the remediator will actually make the fix, Winkler said.

“It’s harassment to get me out,” she said. Kushner Cos. did not respond to requests for comment.

Winkler had to endure more mayhem when she came home in late 2013 to find that a construction worker carrying dirty water and debris on the floor above hers had crashed through her bedroom ceiling, landing on her bed, court document said.

The fall destroyed her bed and other furniture, but Kushner's management firm, Westminster, refused to reimburse her for the damage or even return her calls, court papers said.

Without a response, Winkler withheld her monthly rent, which reportedly prompted Kushner to sue her for the unpaid rent in 2015 in Manhattan Housing Court. DNAinfo previously reported that the company also sued tenants in two other units, include new market-rate residents, in the building for also withholding rent because of the disruptions from construction. (Those two other tenants then each filed counter-suits against Kushner.)

Winkler's "suffering with Kushner" reportedly started shortly after Kushner bought the five-building parcel on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue in 2013.

The Kushner Cos. now own some 30-plus apartment buildings in the East Village

Per the News:

Tenants in several of these buildings have accused Kushner Cos. in court records of trying to drive them out through harassment, construction and dilapidated conditions.

State records also show that, in the past five years, the agency that oversees rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments has penalized Kushner Cos. in at least 11 instances over diminished services or poor conditions at one of its buildings in the city.

In those cases, the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal has ordered the monthly rent reduced for one or multiple rent-regulated units in the building until the problems were fixed.

Now even the lawyers Kushner worked with are taking the company to court. Several weeks ago, the News reported that Cornicello, Tendler & Baumel-Cornicello, a law firm that represented Kushner Cos. in dozens of eviction and housing court cases, is now suing Kushner for unpaid bills totaling more than $100,000.

As for Winkler: "For four years, they’re dragging me around, wasting money. I’m paying my lawyer constantly. It just makes no sense and it is so obnoxious."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Week in Grieview

[Someone tossed a P from Stomp on St. Mark’s Place]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

AG's office: Steve Croman agrees to pay $8 million to the tenants he harassed (Thursday)

Workers remove the sculpture fence and prep lot at 89 1st Ave. (Wednesday)

Paquito's Restaurant closing after 25 years on 1st Avenue; take out and delivery will remain (Tuesday)

Neighbor: East Village Cheese, closed now for 2 weeks, is starting to smell (Thursday) ... and a co-owner spotted clearing out the space (Friday)

Santa delivers sacks of coal to Madison Realty Capital, Rafael Toledano's lenders (Friday)

Hotel Tortuga, now with morning espresso service on 14th Street (Wednesday)

Partial vacate order and violations for sidewalk-collapse building on 4th Street (Monday)

Presenting Mercury East Presents, which brings together several local music venues (Tuesday)

How many East Village properties do the Kushner Cos. actually own? (Wednesday)

Pinky's Space bringing quick-serve food options to 1st Street (Monday)

Opossum action (Friday ... Wednesday)

GG's closes on Fifth Street (Friday)

The Ainsworth East Village debuts on 3rd Avenue (Tuesday)

Icon's 9th Street townhouse now available for $17 million (Tuesday)

Out East has not been open the last few days (Thursday)

Viking Waffles signage arrives on Avenue C (Monday)

Reader report: Beware the Amazon Fire TV Stick (Monday)

Westside Market opening in the former Met Foods space on 3rd Avenue and 17th Street (Tuesday)

Some Steiner East Village retail speculation (Monday)

... and several readers noted this bike-lock job on 10th Street and Third Avenue...


[Photo via EVG reader Doug]

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How many East Village properties do the Kushner Cos. actually own?

[Compilation of Kushner-owned EV buildings from 2013]

Bloomberg delves into the Manhattan properties owned by Kushner Cos., including a large number in the East Village. In an article published yesterday, Bloomberg finds that, in 60 percent of the properties, the Kushners own less than half of each; in nearly half, they own less than 20 percent.

One estimate puts the number of Kushner-owned East Village buildings at 31. (Only Steve Croman reportedly owns more East Village buildings.)

So who actually owns these properties?

[T]he vast majority of the money behind the purchases didn’t belong to [Jared] Kushner or his family. Rather, it came from an obscure Israel-based company called Gaia Investments Corp. and related entities. Gaia has almost no public profile in New York real estate. Its principals have held roles in enterprises owned by the diamond-trading Steinmetz family, with close ties to Raz Steinmetz, the nephew of billionaire Beny Steinmetz.

A 2015 deal for 16 apartment buildings had a similar structure. Again, the Kushners were publicly credited with the acquisition, and again, most of the money belonged to someone else. The investors in this case, not previously reported, were C-III Capital Partners, a Texas-based asset manager run by Andrew Farkas...

From 2012 to 2015, Kushner Cos. purchased more than 40 Manhattan apartment buildings that they still own. In at least 80 percent of them, they’re minority partners to well-heeled investors.

Bloomberg notes that it's not unusual for landlords/developers to be minority owners of their properties or projects, serving instead as the public face for behind-the-scenes investors.

However, there's some concern in this case for the company, previously run by current White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Per Bloomberg:

The finding that the company is most often a junior owner heightens concern over conflicts-of-interest a year after Kushner entered the White House. As his family has hunted for investors overseas in countries as far-flung as China and Saudi Arabia, many inside and outside of government worry about the potential for quid-pro-quos — public policy driven by private business. In the partnerships where the Kushner Cos. have minor stakes, there’s pressure to make returns for the investors who put up most of the money.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Inside a classic East Village tenement before the whole building is renovated

Jared Kushner not done buying every walk-up in the East Village

Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Report: Law firm files lawsuit against Jared Kushner for unpaid bills

Cornicello, Tendler & Baumel-Cornicello, a law firm that represented Jared Kushner’s real-estate company in dozens of eviction and housing court cases, is now suing him for unpaid bills, the Daily News reports.

Per the report:

The law team Cornicello, Tendler & Baumel-Cornicello filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Dec. 7 against Kushner Cos. and 19 of its subsidiaries that own or manage properties. Cornicello seeks $102,000 for work it did between December 2014 and May 31, 2015.

In 2014 and 2015, Cornicello represented Kushner properties in at least 32 landlord-tenant cases, mostly involving apartments in the East Village, records show.

A Westminster rep told the News that they are "working to resolve the matter."

As the News notes, East Village tenants and local elected officials have accused Kushner Cos. and its property manager, Westminster, in lawsuits and in other complaints of using harassment-as-eviction tactics through the years.

In 2013, Kushner started buying up some 40-plus buildings in the East Village. According to the Cooper Square Committee, only Steve Croman owns more residential buildings in the East Village than Kushner does.

Kushner removed himself as the company’s CEO back in January to become a senior adviser to his father-in-law, President Trump.

Reader photo at 118 E. 4th St. from March 6.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tenants claim: Kushner and Westminster want to destroy this building's beautiful garden

Reports outline how Kushner Companies is aggressively trying to empty 170-174 E. 2nd St.

Local politicos join residents of 2 Jared Kushner-owned buildings to speak out about poor living conditions, alleged harassment

Jared Kushner's residents at 118 E. 4th St. would like gas for cooking and some heat

Jared Kushner's East Village tenants wish he'd resolve issues closer to home

Pizza in the mix for former Cock space on 2nd Avenue

Looks as if there's a retail tenant for the new-look 29 Second Ave.

The work permit on the front window notes the renovations are for a "pizza shop."



Not sure just who is behind the incoming pizzeria, but likely someone with some dough. (Sorry.) The retail space has been asking $23,000-plus change.

The previous tenant here, The Cock, moved a few blocks to the north in December 2015.

Earlier this year, Highpoint Property Group purchased the building for $4.55 million from Jared Kushner's Westminster Management, according to public records.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the new-look 29 Second Ave.

A barber shop coming to 4th Street

Signage is up for the incoming tenant at 199 E. Fourth St. — B&H Barber Shop.

The retail space here between Avenue A and Avenue B was previously the Eye Beauty Spa, which closed during the summer after 15 months in business. And before this, it was Salon Champu.

As previously noted, this building was one of six on Fourth Street that the Kushner Companies bought for $49 million from Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group and Meadow Partners back in 2013.

A celebration of tenant groups this weekend

On Saturday, the Middle Collegiate Church is hosting a Tenant Empowerment Conference.

Here are the details via the EVG inbox...

The goal of the conference is to celebrate all of the great work that's been done by tenant groups in New York City over the past few years.

We will also discuss the most effective means for tenants to assert their rights in the face of misbehaving landlords, rapacious developers and greedy banks.

In attendance will be tenants who have confronted predatory equity-practicing landlords (ie., Steve Croman, ICON Realty, Renaissance Properties, Jared Kushner, Samy Mahfar, Raphael Toledano, Madison Realty Capital etc.), as well as affordable housing advocates, local small business owners who are being threatened, local press, elected representatives and other interested parties from all over the city.

The conference will last from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. There will be a welcome address and a keynote speaker. There will be three panel discussions, run sequentially.

Tenant power packs, continental breakfast and lunchtime sandwiches will be provided to attendees.

The TTC (The Tenants Coalition, formerly the Toledano Tenants Coalition) and Cooper Square Committee are the co-hosts. The Middle Collegiate Church entrance is at 50 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Here's a slide show that that the groups put together ... showing some of what tenant organizations in the city have done in the past two years:

A new storefront for 2nd Street

The sign on the door at 201 E. Second St. currently reads C & R Construction & Renovation Inc. However, the landlord here (an LLC c/o the Kushner Companies) is installing a new storefront in the building here at Avenue B.

Here's a rendering via the listing at Eastern Consolidated...



The asking rent is $4,500 a month for 500 square feet.

Former Eye Beauty Spa for rent on 4th Street

The Eye Beauty Spa closed a few weeks ago at 199 E. Fourth St between Avenue A and Avenue B following nearly 15 months in business.

The Eastern Consolidated listing says that all uses will be considered for the 500-square-foot space, which has an asking rent of $4,500 per month. (The storefront previously housed Salon Champu until December 2014.)

This building was one of six on Fourth Street that the Kushner Companies bought for $49 million from Ben Shaoul’s Magnum Real Estate Group and Meadow Partners back in 2013.

EV Grieve Etc.: An idea to save small businesses; a study on bicycle intersection safety

[Photo on the Bowery by Derek Berg]

How to save locally owned small businesses (CityLab)

Department of Transportation launches a study of bicycle intersection safety, including mixing zones like at First Avenue and Ninth Street where cyclist Kelly Hurley was killed by a truck (DNAinfo ... previously)

Rubie’s Costume Company, an affiliate of New York Costumes, buys the retail condominium at 808 Broadway and 108-110 Fourth Ave. that houses the shop (The Real Deal)

About the new wave of Vietnamese restaurants in the East Village (The New Yorker)

More about the Darkstar Coffee-In Living Stereo mashup (Patch ... previously)

And check out Flatbush, the rescued juvenile red-tailed hawk, go at it with a squirrel in Tompkins Square Park via Goggla...



Summer of Love '67 slideshow in Tompkins Square Park (The New York Times)

Details on a City Council District 2 Candidate Forum on Monday on Sixth Street (The Lo-Down)

Inside Kushner Companies’ murky relationship with rent stabilization (The Real Deal)

A revival of "Farrebique," Georges Rouquier's acclaimed 1940s documentary on farm life in France (Film Anthology Archives)

A wide-ranging interview with Jim Jarmusch, whose band has released a new EP (The Village Voice)

STIK’s 7-Story mural on Allen Street raised $12,500 for the Tenement Museum (BoweryBoogie)

The owners of Babeland, the sex-toy shop with several locations, including on Rivington, have sold the business to rivals Good Vibrations (DNAinfo)

French Roast closed after 24 years on Sixth Avenue and 11th Street (Grub Street)

Details on the new Frank Ape gallery show (Official site ... previously)

Looking at the new-look 29 Second Ave.

[The old-look No. 29]

You may have noticed that 29 Second Ave. between First Street and Second Street has a new look... outside...



... and inside as well.

The three-bedroom residence above the (two-floor) retail space recently arrived on the market via CitiHabitat:

Welcome to 29 Second Avenue, a building recreated with newly renovated interiors. The residences at 29 Second Avenue boast all of the essentials of new construction: central air conditioning and heating, washer and dryer in the unit, custom kitchens with luxury appliances, white shaker cabinetry, quartz counter tops and backsplashes, and porcelain tile-clad bathrooms with custom vanities and glass-enclosed showers. The apartment features extra wide white oak plank floors throughout, solid core wood doors with chrome hardware, LED dimmable lighting with smart technology capabilities, USB electrical outlets, an HD video intercom, exposed brick and ample closet space.

The custom Chef’s Kitchen features a coordinated LG stainless steel appliance package, complete with dishwasher, built-in microwave with vented hood, and garbage disposal. The countertops and backsplash are Calacatta Quartz with a luxurious book matched waterfall enhancing the shaker style solid wood cabinetry with soft closing hardware. The vast living space is perfect for home entertaining with a custom built-in bar, complete with a wine chiller and an ice maker.

The apartment includes three full bathrooms with radiant heated flooring, imported Italian tile, linear shower drains, rain shower with additional hand shower on slide bar, full glass enclosures, quartz counter tops with fully wrapped waterfall over custom vanities, and recessed medicine cabinets.

The asking rent is now $11,995 after a $1,505 price reduction earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the retail space has been asking $23,000-plus change ... the previous tenant here, The Cock, moved a few blocks to the north in December 2015.

Earlier this year, Highpoint Property Group purchased the building for $4.55 million from Jared Kushner's Westminster Management, according to public records.

Steve Cuozzo: 'A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live'

[Photo by Steven]

As we noted last week, various community groups and local shop owners from the East Village Independent Merchants Association (EVIMA) are planning a rally at the incoming Starbucks on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place on Thursday from 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Per the invite: "We don't need more chains in the East Village! We need retail diversity and independently owned local businesses!"

The rally notice caught the eye of New York Post columnist/critic Steve Cuozzo... who filed a piece published this past weekend titled "Why anti-Starbucks hipsters sound a lot like Trump supporters" ...



Some excerpts, including the lead...

East Village apocalypse! Starbucks is at the Tompkins Square Park gates! Sound the dirge for “retail diversity and independently owned local businesses!”

And!

Their tantrum would be funny if it didn’t reflect an obnoxious New York sociopolitical sensibility shared by “progressive” thinkers who quail at actual progress — whether it means reducing crime, investing in decayed neighborhoods or selling coffee that doesn’t taste like grounds at the bottom of a cup.

No neighborhood impulse is more illiberal than to keep out those who don’t conform to voluble locals’ sense of who belongs. We may assume that Starbucks-damning East Villagers did not vote for Donald Trump (whose son-in-law Jared Kushner controls a real-estate company that owns 50-odd Alphabet City buildings). Yet they sound ready to build walls to protect small shops and cafes from outside competition and perhaps to demand the interlopers pay for them.

But if the East Village’s colorful small shops and eateries face a threat, it isn’t Starbucks or drugstore chains. It’s landlords who raise rents to a level the market will bear, a phenomenon that stretches north, west and south of Tompkins Square Park.

And in the end...

A new Starbucks will make the thriving East Village an even better place to live. But it’ll disappoint those who perversely preferred the neighborhood of 30 years ago, when it was better known for crack than for coffee.

Today in photos of police-escorted charter buses on Avenue A

EVG reader Paul Dougherty shares this photo from 9:30 a.m. on Avenue A at Sixth Street... NYPD cruiser (one in front and one in back) escorting three charter buses with tinted windows. The first bus was marked District of Columbia.

Jared Kushner in town checking on his East Village properties? Potential homeowners coming from Steiner East Village? Attendees going to a post-post Met Gala party? Anyone?

EV Grieve Etc.: Christo & Dora's latest offspring; history of urban squatting

[Photo on 10th Street via Derek Berg]

Longtime LES resident John “DJ Apache” Mercado dies (The Lo-Down)

Another kid for Christo and Dora in Tompkins Square Park (Laura Goggin Photography)

Oxford University professor Alexander Vasudevan on "The Autonomous City: A History of Urban Squatting" (Curbed)

East Village landlord Jared Kushner didn't disclose various business ties or that he owes $1 billion in loans (Business Insider)

A look at Out East on Sixth Street (Eater ... Grub Street)

Multilevel Mexican Clubstaurant vying for former Preserve 24 space on East Houston at Allen (BoweryBoogie)

Some visitors to the bubble tea pop-up shop on the Bowery are disappointed by the experience (Gothamist)

How Target ended up at Essex Crossing (The Lo-Down)

Someone stole rose bushes from First Park (The Post)

The 13th annual New York Polish Film Festival runs tomorrow through Sunday at the Anthology (Official site)

A trip to Phil's Stationery on East 47th Street (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Coming this summer: "New York in the '70s" series (Film Forum)

EV Grieve Etc.: Origins of the Liz Christy Garden; Efforts to protect Chinatown

[Photo on 2nd Avenue by Derek Berg]

How the Liz Christy Garden on East Houston came to be (WNYC)

A member of one of Israel’s richest families is among the largest investors in the companies owned by Jared Kushner, whose real-estate empire includes 40-plus buildings in the East Village (Bloomberg)

"Despite a concerted and ongoing campaign, the fact remains that, in New York, few motorists involved in fatal crashes with pedestrians or cyclists are ever charged with even minor traffic infractions." (The Village Voice)

The effort to protect Chinatown (City Limits)

"Rivington Act" bill shot down (DNAinfo)

The 67-year-old Hotel 17 on Stuyvesant Square closes for now; city says it's an illegal SRO (Town & Village)

A review of Little Tong on 1st Avenue and 11th Street (Grub Street ... previously)

Recap of the rezoning rally on Broadway from Saturday afternoon (GVSHP ... NY City Lens)

A crowdfunding campaign is underway to help legally blind street photographer Flo Fox with health-care expenses (GoFundMe)

Seward Park Liquors is losing its home of 40 years on Grand Street (The Lo-Down)

Another boozy brawl at the DL (BoweryBoogie)

About "Tard Core: There Are No Safe Words," the new residency at Joe's Pub that, among other things, pokes fun at hyper-gentrification (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

The tragic end of a songwriter on the Bowery in the 1860s (Ephemeral New York)

...and the Uber-Lyft battle continues...


[Avenue A the other day]

Week in Grieview

[After Thursday's rain in Tompkins Square Park. Photo by Ryan John Lee]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

RIP David Peel (Thursday)

Bike-truck collision on First Avenue at Ninth Street (Wednesday)

Remembering Glenn O'Brien (Friday)

A report of seven burglaries in the past month in these six East Village buildings (Tuesday ... Saturday)

A refurbished Quad Cinema reopens April 14 (Friday)

Out and About with Terry and Harmony (Wednesday)

A look at Jared Kushner's financial disclosure report (Monday)

An ode to Angelica Kitchen (Friday)

Bringing "the beauty of Japanese Tea Ceremony" to Seventh Street (Thursday)

Lanza's has returned — on 23rd Street (Tuesday)

Red Hook Lobster Pound closed for now in Extra Place (Monday)

Webster Hall has a new owner (Tuesday)

The new Carmen Pabon Garden is now open to the public on weekends (Friday)

Ummburger vying for the Mancora space on First Avenue (Wednesday)

Christo and Dora have more company in the city (Monday)

Slim dining options at the Hyatt Union Square for the time being (Tuesday)

Construction watch: 79 Avenue D (Friday)

About the for rent sign outside Somtum Der on Avenue A (Monday)

Up to 4 floors at the all-new 34 E. 13th St. (Wednesday)

Village Pourhouse makes closing official (Tuesday)

A quick look at the revamped Whole Foods Market® Bowery and its higher-profile bakery (Monday)

...and a scene from Tompkins Square Park yesterday via Derek Berg...







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A look at Jared Kushner's financial disclosure report

[EVG file photo]

Details of Jared Kushner's real-estate empire were made public in documents released late Friday night, according to published reports. As Bloomberg reported, Kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser to President Donald Trump, "held personal lines of credit of as much as $90 million to 10 financial institutions as of his Jan. 22 appointment to the White House."

The New York Times reports that Kushner resigned from more than 200 positions in the partnerships and limited liability companies that make up the family real-estate business, which has acquired $7 billion worth of commercial and residential property over the last decade.

The 54-page financial disclosure report shows, however, that "Kushner will remain a beneficiary of most of those same entities," worth at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Times on Saturday examined the "perilous legal and ethical ground" that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, are on now.

Unlike Mr. Trump, who is exempt from conflict of interest laws, both Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump — who took a formal White House position this past week — are forbidden under federal criminal and civic law to take any action that might benefit their particular financial holdings.

In 2013, the Kushner Companies started buying up some 40-plus buildings in the East Village. According to the Cooper Square Committee, only Steve Croman owns more residential buildings in the East Village than Kushner does. The properties are managed by Westminster Management, a division of Kushner Companies.

Meanwhile, Kushner will be keeping very busy. Last week, the President appointed him to lead the newly created White House Office of American Innovation. (Read the official White House memo on this here.)

Per The Washington Post:

Kushner’s ambitions for what the new office can achieve are grand. At least to start, the team plans to focus its attention on reimagining Veterans Affairs; modernizing the technology and data infrastructure of every federal department and agency; remodeling workforce-training programs; and developing “transformative projects” under the banner of Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, such as providing broadband Internet service to every American.

Already on Kushner's to-do list: brokering a peace pact between Israel and the Palestinians.

One last note... Elizabeth Spiers has a piece in The Washington Post about her time working as editor-in-chief of The New York Observer under Kushner's ownership.

I inherited an office and a desktop computer, both in fine but used condition. The computer was a recent-model Mac, but when I turned it on, it was inexplicably running Windows. I summoned our beleaguered IT guy to explain, and he informed me that it had belonged to Kushner, who liked the design of Apple products but preferred the Windows OS.

“So he was basically using a $2,500 desktop as a monitor?” I asked. The IT guy shrugged.

In retrospect, this tiny moment seems like a metaphor. Frankensteining two products you appreciate into one product you appreciate even more isn’t irrational; it’s even creative, in a way. On the other hand, why did the newspaper’s owner need a $2,500 monitor? How was it anything but a vanity object?