7-Eleven, expanding and contracting in the East Village

[Photo yesterday by Bobby Williams]

As we first noted on Sunday, the 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place closed this past weekend. The Post has a piece on it today:

“I would rather go to St. Mark’s Market,” said Mike Romano, 26, a retail purchaser who lives in the East Village. “It’s always the tourists who go to the 7-Eleven. They don’t know you can go to the corner deli Gem Spa and buy everything.”

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Meanwhile! At the 7-Eleven on Avenue A and East 11th Street... workers expanded the sign on the East 11th Street side of the store yesterday... perhaps clearing up the rumors that the remaining space (the former Angels & Kings!) would turn into a Subway or Starbucks...


[Photo by Anton van Dalen]

Looking at the 51 Astor Place lobby

Now with a security guard and Menorah, per this photo by an EVG reader … all ahead of any tenants, though some are on the way...

Searching for Comet ISON with East Village resident Felton Davis

East Village resident Felton Davis is well-known for his stargazing around the neighborhood, particularly on Second Avenue and East Third Street.

He shared some photos and a recap about his vigil for Comet ISON — once touted as the "comet of the century." (He did not get any takers to join him, seeing as he would need to search the skies starting around 4:30 a.m. in some freezing weather this past week.)

[Click to enlarge]

In the first photo (above) — from 1st Avenue and East 4th Street — Arcturus and Spica are hanging high, and in the second — outside the playground — there is a big swath of empty sky between Spica and the planet Mercury, just where Comet ISON was plunging toward its rendezvous with the Sun.



How something only a mile or so in diameter was supposed to be visible, and also supposed to survive a close brush with our star, I could never explain. And ISON has confounded the scientific world with its complex and unpredictable demise.

It disappeared on Thanksgiving Day, and then reappeared that evening, and now is said to be fading out. It did not "go gentle into that good night," but kept flaring up, its fatal burns a surprising display, just not one that we could get into position to share in the neighborhood.

Updated: Here's a feature on Davis The Wall Street Journal.

Claim: The Odessa Cafe and Bar reopens later this week

That's the word from multiple tipsters anyway. The Odessa Cafe and Bar at 117 Avenue A closed back on Aug. 31.

In late October, the Cafe and Bar was resurrected in the back of the Odessa next door at 119 Avenue A.

Now comes word that the whole thing will reopen, for at least the next year, in its former location as early as Thursday evening.

Paperwork filed ahead of the July CB3/SLA meeting showed that six people were part of a team who was leasing the space and buying the assets ... at least one of which was a "former owner and general manager" of Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs, according to public documents posted on the CB3 website.

There's no word on whatever happened to that project, though. Meanwhile, the Cafe and Bar space has sat untouched since the Aug. 31 closing. And the "thanks for your patronage" sign on the front window was recently removed.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Building that houses Odessa Cafe and Bar for sale on Avenue A

Is the end nearing for Odessa Cafe and Bar on Avenue A?

Former GM from Tribeca's Tiny's & the Bar Upstairs part of team to buy the Odessa Cafe

Reader report: Odessa Cafe closes for good after Aug. 15

Reader report: Odessa Cafe and Bar will remain open through Sept. 6

Cafe Rakka closes on B; Rakka Cafe reopens on St. Mark's Place

[Photo via @zmack]

As we previously mentioned, a "store for rent" sign arrived at Cafe Rakka on Avenue B near East Third Street. Turns out a rent hike to $6,000 is to blame for the closure.

Meanwhile, while the Avenue B location has now closed, the outpost on St. Mark's Place, now going by Rakka Cafe, has reopened after a renovation.

10-story building in the works for Suffolk and East Houston

We were walking by the long-vacant lot at the corner of East Houston Street and Suffolk Street… and saw the rendering on the plywood for what's coming next...



Turns out that the city approved plans for a 10-story building here back in July. According to the DOB, there will be 14 residential units here… Plans show 11,522 square feet for residential use … and 2,527 square feet for community facility space.

Not sure what the fate is of 255 E. Houston St., which previously housed the day-care center Action For Progress. They were displaced in the spring of 2010 when construction next door destabilized the building.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Next for 255 E. Houston St.: Community facility/school/medical building?

84 Third Ave. continues to tease

Over at East 12th Street, the construction netting continues to inch down off the Karl Fischer-designed 9-story retail-residential complex... making for a agonizingly slow full reveal…




As previously reported, the former site of a parking lot and Nevada Smiths will also house a high-tech Westside Market, which is expected to open next summer.

And, as Off the Grid recently noted, 20 percent of the rental units will be reserved for low-income tenants.



[Top 2 photos by EVG contributor peter radley]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Those persistent rumors about 74-76 Third Avenue and the future of Nevada Smiths

The East Village will lose a parking lot and gain an apartment building

Former Nevada Smiths down to its last floor; city OKs work for new building

Bendy thing sighting as 84 Third Ave. eclipses the AMC Loews Village 7

Today in news about East Village laundromats and dry cleaners

As EV Grieve reader Brian Katz told us Saturday, Lucky's Dry Cleaner and Laundry on East 11th Street is closing today. (Read the post here.)

As for other laundromat/dry cleaner news... the laundromat that Mimi ran at 204 E. 10th Street closed earlier this year due to a rent hike... and, at the time, we made the obligatory comment that we really need more dessert places around here, which we figured would come next to the space. Ha. Well! Check out the new dry cleaner/laundromat in the space — Le Pressing! (Thanks to Blue Glass for the tip.)



And over on East Third Street near Avenue A... several readers recently pointed out that the East Village Launderette has closed... we don't know too much else about what happened... or what might be next. (Likely not a bookstore.)

Adam Sandler's 'The Cobbler' comes to the East Village this week

"The Cobbler" has been filming on the Lower East Side in recent weeks (see The Lo-Down, BoweryBoogie and DNAinfo for photos).

And now signs for the production are up on Avenue B between East Third Street and East Fourth Street (and elsewhere) for today ...

And there are more signs on Avenue B, East Seventh Street along the Park and East Eighth Street, Avenue C (and probably elsewhere!) for a Wednesday shoot...



The film, described as a "dramatic comedy," finds Adam Sandler "as a shoe repairman who integrates himself into the lives of the people whose footwear he fixes."

The cast includes Dustin Hoffman and Steve Buscemi; Tom McCarthy directs.

Week in Grieview

[East 3rd Street]

Local politicians ask Santaconners to "adopt good neighbor principles" (Tuesday)

Is this the new home for St. Mark's Bookshop? (Monday)

Building plans filed for part of the former Children's Magical Garden (Monday)

There goes 100 Avenue A (Monday)

Former Bleecker Bob's space back on the market (Wednesday)

RIP Saul Leiter (Friday)

Renovations ahead of New York Sports Club's arrival on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Out and About with Jenny Adams (Wednesday)

Richard Hell narrates this new video on the NYC music scene (Tuesday)

RIP East Village Shoe Repair (Tuesday)

Casa Gusto space for rent on Avenue A (Monday)

The former Max space is for rent on Avenue B (Monday)

Shop local (Tuesday)

Holiday trees! (Thursday)

[Updated] Reader report: The 7-Eleven on St. Mark's Place has closed

A St. Mark's Place resident passes along word that the 7-Eleven here near Second Avenue has closed. Workers are currently removing various machines from inside the store this morning.


[Via EVG reader Robert]

There are three trucks lined up along St. Mark's Place. The reader says there isn't much, if any, merchandise left on the shelves.

No official confirmation from any 7-Eleven reps. (Updated: Workers on the scene confirmed this afternoon that the store has closed.) Perhaps that closed sign yesterday was more permanent that originally expected. Or maybe they are just renovating the place. Or there are some other issues that would cause workers to temporarily empty the store of every machine and food product.

This location opened in April 2012.

Looking at Centre-fuge Cycle 11

Just taking a look at the recently completed Centre-fuge Cycle 11 ... the rotating outdoor gallery on the construction trailer here along East First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...











Writer-blogger Jenny Adams (featured in this week's Out and About in the East Village) has more on one of this cycle's artists, Nicole Salgar, right here.

And as BoweryBoogie first reported, the Centre-fuge initiative has been renewed through 2014.

Find more info on the Centre-fuge Tumblr here.