Is this home fit for James Bond?

Or at least an actor who has played the character in the movies...

Last Thursday, the Post noted that Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig were continuing their house hunting around town... and that Weisz, who previously lived on East 11th Street with ex-husband Darren Aronofsky, looked at 238 E. Fourth St. just west of Avenue B.

At the time, the listing for 6,500 square-foot condo (asking $8.5 million) was not yet online.

Now it is.

Let's take a look via Town:

Surrounded by charming cafes and the most beautifully tended gardens in Manhattan, discover a published, discreet home, stunning from the moment you pull into the garage and enter this gracious, four story residence. Enter this beautiful home, and enter another era where true artisanship is revered. From the ceramic tiled foyer, which guides you past the chic, whimsical powder room, and into an awe-inspiring great room, with dramatic 18 foot custom-crafted wood coffered ceilings, created by the millwork artisan of the Gramercy Hotel Rose Bar, this home enchants the spirit as well as the senses. The great room serves as a grand, yet comfortable living space, centered around the massive, Italian Renaissance-style wood burning fireplace, which graces a sleek, poured concrete epoxy-finished floor.

Oh lordy. Make it stop. There are actually four more overly descriptive paragraphs just like this one. But you get the idea.

Just look now...

And floor plans...

Previous 238. E. Fourth St. coverage here.

[Images via Town]

15-second cinema: Opening the hatches at Cooper Union

Yesterday, in our post on the most out-of-place new buildings in the neighborhood, several readers broke the rules and selected a building not on the list.

The picked the newish Cooper Union building, which still is NOT being sold to NYU.

Anyway, maybe this will change your minds... After all these few years, we finally witnessed the automated windows opening at 41 Cooper Square the other week. (Please turn off all cell phones and pagers during the performance.)

Various reports: Grad students will start paying tuition at Cooper Union

[Outside Cooper Union earlier this week. Photo by Bobby Williams]

As you may have heard, Cooper Union announced yesterday that it will begin charging graduate students next year. There will also be fees for other professional and continuing education programs and online courses.

Meanwhile, for now anyway, the school's no-tuition policy remains in place for undergraduates. (You can read more here in the Times ... or at Gothamist ... or the Journal ... take your pick — everyone has the story... )

Previously.

SLA approves liquor license for 200 Avenue A

[File photo of 200 Avenue A]

Finally, an end to the ongoing saga of 200 Avenue A, the corpse of Superdive... As you may recall, a group calling themselves Hospitality LLC with a concept for an "art gallery with a full-service restaurant" (smell machine!) concept had appeared before and been rejected by the CB3/SLA committee three times.

The group then decided to go directly to the State Liquor Authority for its license. Read the background here. Then they went back to the CB3/SLA committee in March. Rejected again.

And, they kept fighting. Today, the group went before the State Liquor Authority. According to an interested observer there, "When it became clear that things might not go Hospitality LLC's way, they more or less surprised everyone and at the last minute agreed to a midnight closing on weekends. Didn't see that one coming."

Ditto.

Anyway, they really want to open here regardless of what the neighbors might think.

Here is what we know about them based on their CB3 documents from the March CB3/SLA meeting:

The three principals are looking at business hours of 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday; until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The kitchen will be open to within one hour of closing. The application also shows that they'd be 19 tables seating 52 people, plus one bar with 12 additional seats. The gallery-restaurant would employ between 20-25 people. Lastly, there are proposed "promoted events, scheduled performances."

Noted

East 13th Street today. Now all brown. Waving, not drowning.

Photo via evilnyc.

Previously.

What does it take to become the 'super nanny' for an A-list celeb's daughter?

A little mid-afternoon entertainment via a reader... from Craigslist (whether it's real, you never know...):

**** DAUGHTER OF A-LIST CELEB SEEKS DREAM NANNY ! $1500 WKLY ****** (Greenwich Village)
Please DO NOT Apply if you do not ADHERE TO ALL REQUIREMENTS BELOW
DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT apply if you are not a resident of NEW YORK.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I CAN NOT REITERATE ENOUGH, PLEASE DO NOT APPLY UNLESS YOU MEET THESE VERY SPECIFIC GUIDELINES BELOW. PLEASE READ ALL and FOLLOW VERY STRICT INSTRUCTIONS OR YOUR RESUME WILL BE DELETED.

I am looking for my Dream Nanny. Immediate hire. Interviews beginning TODAY and TOMORROW $1500 on the books. I want you to be part of our family and for my kids to adore you until they go to college.

JOB DESCRIPTION:
This is a LONG TERM position (15 years + COMMITMENT) for someone who is LEGAL to WORK as a LIVE-IN NANNY.... NO EXCEPTIONS. THIS IS A STRUCTURED AND BUSY JOB WITH RULES, TO-DO LISTS, ETC. You will NOT be left to care for my children alone. I will always be present and I am an active stay-at-home mom. ***** I HAVE HOUSEKEEPER, your job is to be my SUPER NANNY, but of course clean up after the kids and do their laundry (rarely) if needed.

HOURS: 6 FULL DAYS, OR 7 if you need a place to stay. ******You can choose EITHER TUESDAY OR WEDNESDAY as your DAY OFF. Summer days ( July & August Hamptons)

CHILDREN: 13 month old girl, 3 year old boy and newborn on the way (3 children)

YOU MUST BE Physically fit & Agile, energetic, active, have good intuition, be loving, engaging, and creative. Can you chase after 3 kids running in all 3 different directions? When my children are playing on the floor will you roll around with them? Can you crawl and jump? Can they climb on your back and hug and kiss you because they love you and think you are the best Nanny ever? I want someone who will stay with my children all while they are in grade school and high school until they leave for college.

1. PHOTO PHOTO PHOTO PHOTO! DO NOT EMAIL WITHOUT A PHOTO
2. List References NAME, and Contact NUMBER (All references will be contacted AFTER I talk to you first
3. Send RESUME
4. MUST have experience as a LIVE-IN NANNY (newborn- age 4 experience)
*** MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH MULTIPLES (twins, triplets a plus)
5. MUST have been with prior families LONG-TERM, ie, 3+ years
6. RESPOND with either TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY in the subject line (as your day off) to let me know you have READ THE ENTIRE POST. ALL RESUMES THAT DO NOT ADHERE WILL BE DELETED. I need someone who pays attention to detail. If you can not follow simple instructions here, I do not want you caring for my children.
7. MUST BE Fluent in English --- can read, write, speak.
8. NOT allergic to animals - We have a large strong dog who roams as he pleases
*** MUST BE NEAT FREAK, & Super Organized
9. SWIM is a MUST! We travel to Hamptons, take boat trips and go to beach and pool when weather is warm.

Celebrating 1 year of Fiction Addiction tonight at 2A

Fiction Addiction, the monthly reading series upstairs at 2A, turns 1 tonight, as the headline suggests. Tonight at 8: Ben Greenman, Mike Albo, Shelly Oria and Ryan Britt. Info here.

h/t The New Yorker

[Image via]

Checking in on the community center-supportive housing project on East Ninth Street

Here's a construction project that we haven't looked in on in some time. Over on East Ninth Street just east of Avenue C, workers are converting the former Henry Street Settlement Day Care #3 into a community facility space on the ground floor...

... the upper levels will house 46 units (28 studios and 12 one-bedroom apartments). The housing will serve homeless young adults and young adults aging out of the foster-care system. An additional 12 units will be set aside for young single adults with a child. The city OK'd plans to add an addition floor to the existing structure.

Here's how the renovations are going as of yesterday ... in these photos via Bobby Williams...

The project is a joint venture among Phipps Houses ... University Settlement/The Door ... and Loisaida, Inc. SLCE Architects created the plans... We're not sure of the timetable for completion...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Community center and supportive housing coming to East Ninth Street

How do you feel about the renovated Key Food?

Been meaning to follow up on this... the ongoing renovations at Key Food on Avenue A at East Fourth Street... We wrote about it here ... and here... but not here...

We haven't been by in about a month for some reason. (Been hitting Met Foods and Associated and Fine Fare... oh, and Food Emporium once recently...)

One reader emailed us with the following: "Had a trip to Key Foods ... and literally did not know where I was. A complete transformation ... Tons of fresh food, beautifully arranged – they should really have a grand re-opening."

We took a look.

And the beer is now near the front by the office. Didn't look to see if they raised the price of Pabst to help pay for the renovations...

Blinded by the 24-hour ATM light

Some residents who live on Avenue B just south of East Seventh Street are unhappy with Anwar Grocery for installing "an incredibly bright flashing 24-hour ATM sign better suited to Times Square."

Said one neighbor: "Residents ... now have their apartments lit in alternating shades of red and green throughout the night."

Requests by neighbors to turn the sign off at night have been rebuffed by the Anwar staff, according to EV Grieve reader Robert.

Which new building looks the most out of place in the East Village?

In the last month or so, we've posted items on the unveiling of several new buildings around the neighborhood... in three of the cases, we heard from people who thought the new buildings looked really out of place alongside their neighbors ... like when we mentioned 100 Third Ave. yesterday.

So... with that in mind... which of these new buildings that we've seen in the last month seem the most out of place to you (this has nothing to do with the amenities and what not on the inside... just purely from how they fit in the skyline) ...

So.

532 E. Fifth St.

219 First Ave.

[Via evilnyc]

100 Third Ave.

A little out of bounds and not quite as new as the first three ... but I'd toss in 290 Mulberry at the corner of Houston... as BoweryBoogie noted, workers recently replace the years-old plywood around the perimeter...

We could do one of those fancy widget poll things ... but if you just want to weigh in with an opinion in the comments... [Please note: "All of them" will be accepted as an answer.]

2 types of sidewalk seating on Avenue C

Near East 10th Street this afternoon.

Photo by Bobby Williams.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to NYC rent control

In case you missed this earlier ... The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of New York City’s rent regulations, the Times reported.

April showers bring... new trees along Tompkins Square Park

EV Grieve reader Robert notes the arrival of new trees this morning... which city workers planted along East 10th Street and Tompkins Square Park...