Not everyone wants landmark protection for the East Village

[Photo last week by Bobby Williams]

As you know, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) unanimously voted to create the East 10th Street Historic District* on Tuesday. (Perhaps we should include that name with an asterisk because of Ben Shaoul's last-second approval for a rooftop addition at 315 E. 10th St.)

Preservationists are now hoping that the LPC will give another swath of the East Village landmark status as well... an area that takes in some 330 buildings:

The LPC has not placed this item on their calendar just yet.

Today, in an article titled Preservation Push in Bohemian Home Stirs Fear of Hardship, The New York Times reports on the opposition to the landmark protection. Per the article by Joseph Berger:

Almost a dozen houses of worship, including the late-19th-century Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection and a crumbling century-old synagogue, argue that they are dependent on donations and that including them in a landmark district would make simple projects like repairing a window or fixing a roof more expensive and bureaucratically time-consuming.

Even worse, it would make their buildings and the valuable property on which they sit much less attractive since developers would be restricted in what they could do.

Now what?

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

A Queens property owner plucked down $21 million for a 130,000-square-foot development site at Avenue D and East Second Street, The Real Deal reported tonight.

Kahen Properties bought six lots at 5-9 Avenue D and 306-310 East Second Street, and plans to break ground on a 12-story luxury apartment building this spring that will feature apartments in the $2,500 to $3,600 range.

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

In addition, there are plans for a "national tenant" to take up all 10,000 square feet of retail at the building dubbed "Alphabet Plaza."

Plans for a development like this first surfaced two years ago during a CB3 committee meeting, as the Lo-Down first reported.

The original rendering looked something like this:


During the meeting, the developer's name wasn't disclosed. His reps only said that he was a "former beer distributor," per The Lo-Down.

According to The Real Deal, Kahen Properties bought the land in a Dec. 22 deal from Simon Bergson, president and CEO of Manhattan Beer Distributors, the largest single-market beer distributor in the United States.

While Bergson's plans never materialized, it sounds as if Kahen is keeping the spirit of his development intact.

Aside from Alphabet Plaza, expect developments coming to East Third Street near Avenue D ... and Houston at Ridge ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Will Avenue D finally turn into Avenue C?

Listing appears for Houston and Avenue D development

4 photos from Jan. 20, 2012

Photos by Bobby Williams.

Report: Man locks woman in bathroom, ransacks apartment

DNAinfo reports this afternoon that the NYPD is searching for a man they say locked an East Village woman in her bathroom and ransacked her apartment.

According to the report, the man — described as White or Hispanic in his mid-20s — followed the 31-year-old woman into her building's elevator about 1 a.m. on Monday.

The man then apparently broke into her apartment. He left without taking anything. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Police described the suspect as 5-feet-8-inches tall, 170 pounds, with brown eyes, wearing a three-quarter-length jacket, hooded sweatshirt, dark jeans and black-rim glasses.

No word on where this took place. DNAinfo has a brief video clip of the suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS

It was all whirlwind

Sonic Youth with "Disappearer" from 1990.

From the EV Grieve Weather Center

This just in from EV Grieve Weather Correspondent Shawn Chittle. See that roundish, blue blob hovering over what used to be Northern Illinois and Indiana? Yes, it's headed this way.

Per our sources at The Weather Channel (Woo! Jim Cantore!):

... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 4 PM EST SATURDAY...

* LOCATIONS... NEW YORK CITY... MOST ADJACENT SECTIONS OF NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY... AND MOST OF WESTERN LONG ISLAND.

* HAZARD TYPES... SNOW. PRECIPITATION MAY MIX WITH RAIN AND SLEET LATE SATURDAY MORNING AND INTO EARLY AFTERNOON BEFORE ENDING SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

* ACCUMULATIONS... 4 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW.

* WINDS... NORTHEAST 5 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 20 MPH.

* TEMPERATURES... IN THE UPPER 20S.

We calmly suggest that you start to panic.

We'll have live team coverage starting tomorrow. Whenever we wake up. (Noonish or so.)

What was inside the three wise men's treasure chest anyway?

Our friends at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop brought our attention to the candleholder in the nativity scene at St. Stanislaus on Seventh Street...

Heh. We didn't know that Fleshjack made candleholders too...

The work of a jokester? To save you searching "Fleshjack" on Google ... they sell quality sex toys and adult toys for men.

A farewell to Mars

Earlier today, we looked back at the Second Avenue of 1997, a photo journey that began with the Mars Bar.

Workers have demolished most of the block that included the Mars Bar. The last brick from 9 Second Ave. is likely being carted away right now. So it seems like a fitting time for a tribute. Goggla paid her final respects at the Gog Log yesterday.

She has stayed in touch with many of the former patrons, "but there has been nothing to replace that tiny, grungy room that brought everyone together and embodied such fun and chaos."

[Photo by Goggla]

She has hundreds of Mars Bar photos at Flickr documenting the bar right up until the very end.

[Photo by Goggla]

Let's take a walk along Second Avenue in the East Village in 1997

In 1997, EV Grieve reader Dave Buchwald worked on the cover art for 2600 Magazine, the publication that sponsored the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference at the Puck Building. As a favor, Buchwald walked around the neighborhood, taking pictures of the restaurants, bars and stores that a computer hacker might want to visit while in New York.

He sent us some of the photos from 1997. Last Thursday, we walked up First Avenue. Today, we'll heading up north on Second Avenue to 12th Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Let's take a walk along First Avenue in the East Village in 1997

An appreciation: Block Drug Stores

Here at Sixth Street. Block Drug Stores — AKA Second Ave Chemists, Inc., where they still use a mortar and pestles in the pharmacy. Anyway, seemed appropriate to note them today given that we were on Second Avenue in the post above ... Established in 1885, per the sign. Owned and operated by Carmine and Beth Palermo. (There's more history of the business at the store's website.)

Bobby Williams took this photo on Tuesday.