Changes afoot at North River

North River at 166 First Ave. just north of East 10th Street has been closed in recent evenings.

There isn't any mention of a closure on the restaurant's website or various social media properties.

Meanwhile, someone has removed the North River sign and menu … and painted over the gate.

And over at Open Table, the first reservations are available starting on April 16.



But apparently the place is just closed for renovations … according to the sign now on the front door…



In case you were wondering, Dead Drop is the name of the sorta hidden speakeasy in the basement.

North River's American-style comfort food, from chef Adam Starowicz, who worked at Momofuku Ko and Hearth, seemed to get positive notices (here and here, as an example), though some readers thought the prices were too steep.

Anyway, so no word yet on what these changes might be at North River, which opened on Dec. 19, 2013.

The Met Foods space is now for rent on 3rd Avenue

Earlier this month, we reported that the Met Foods on Third Avenue between East 16th Street and East 17th Street will be closing at a date to-be-determined this spring.

The for rent sign is now up at the space. We didn't spot a listing for it online just yet.

Meanwhile, the mood inside isn't so good. Said EVG reader Harry Weiner, who shared the above photo: "There is a subdued atmosphere of gloom in the store…"

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Met Foods on 3rd Avenue in Gramercy Park is closing (19 comments)

After 2 months, Matty's is closed for now on Avenue B

[Photo from last month]

Matty's took over the Idle Hands space at 25 Avenue B… opening here between East Second Street and East Third Street on Dec. 12.

Now, for the time being, the bar is closed.

There's a rent due notice now on the gate for the sum of $38,326.77 … "for rent from from January 2015 to February 2015."


[Photo via @Salim]

Matty's NYC is the sister bar to the Matty's on the Drive, a now-closed gay bar in Wilton Manors, Fla.

The Matty's NYC website is now out of commission as well. There isn't any mention of a closure on the Matty's Facebook page.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A bar called Matty's in the works for Idle Hands on Avenue B

Matty's makes it official on Avenue B

Bowery Coffee space for lease; plus The Mobile Spa for East Houston?

Bowery Coffee at 87 E. Houston just west of the Bowery closed for good after the business day back on Jan. 14. Word was that the landlord apparently refused to renew the shop's lease, per BoweryBoogie.

Anyway, a for rent sign is now up on the space. The listing via KVNY doesn't appear to be online just yet.

Meanwhile, next door to the east …



…there's a coming soon sign for The Mobile Spa, which, according to the store's website, is a "unique boutique for mobile phones, gadgets and accessories."



They currently have locations on Bleecker Street and in Nassau County.

SUVs now catching on fire outside the Con Ed plant

A scene on East 14th Street at Avenue C around 4 p.m. … outside the Con Ed plant, which likely had nothing to do with this SUV fire.

Thanks to @soaperynyc for the photo!

NYU expansion opponents will get another day in court

"Opponents of New York University's massive expansion in Greenwich Village will get a final chance to try to block the school's plan, after the state's highest court agreed on Tuesday to hear their case." (Read the story at DNAinfo here)

Updated 3:03 p.m.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation has more about today's news here.

Report: Why the subway is late and crowded a lot

An EVG reader passed along this photo from Union Square last evening showing more Hellish than usual lines for the L. (Gothamist has more on what happened here — rail conditions! signal problems! status quo!)

Meanwhile, the Post today examines new MTA stats and finds!

Subway riders are being squashed together on increasingly crowded trains, new data revealed Monday — and lack of basic manners getting in and out of cars is contributing to a spike in delays.

Weekdays trains experienced overcrowding delays a staggering 14,843 times in December — the most recent month where data was available.

That is a 113 percent increase from a year earlier.

One more stat from the article: "6 million people crammed into subway cars on 29 different days in 2014 — the most since the MTA started tracking ridership."

The breaker pop heard 'round the neighborhood

[Photo from Feb. 16]

We talked with several people about the noise/bang/pop/explosion at the Con Ed power plant and subsequent flicker in the power on Saturday night... it didn't go unnoticed (as is usually the case) ...

@fnytv @ConEdison sure was and I saw a flash of blue light towards the east

— M. Dunn-Srimuangboon (@BuckLikeBronco) February 22, 2015

The Villager talked with Con Ed spokesperson Sidney Alvarez to see what happened at the plant on East 14th Street and Avenue C.

“Basically, in a nutshell, we had some equipment malfunction within our facility. In a nutshell, a breaker popped — and the cause was freezing rain.”

The Fire Department responded but there was no fire, and there were no injuries, Alvarez reported.

The spokesperson didn’t disagree that East Villagers had likely heard a thunderous bang.

“I’m sure they would have heard something,” he said.

As for a white flash in the sky, he said, there was no information regarding that in an internal report he was reading from, but he didn’t deny that it could have happened.

“But there was no fire, no spark,” he noted.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East Village residents ask: WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT NOISE LAST NIGHT?

Con Ed making strides so that the East 13th Street substation doesn't explode again

East 9th Street buildings starting to grow taller

Work continues on the north side of Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, where back in 2012 the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) OK'd rooftop additions for four of the buildings on this block.

[Via Off the Grid]

Work began late last year for the new floor at No. 329... and you can see how's it's looking so far...



The buildings were previously owned by Icon Realty, who sold them to Kushner companies in the spring of 2013. Kushner paid $28.75 million deal for 329-335 E. Ninth Street (and 325 E. 10th St.).

Councilmember Rosie Mendez and the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation, among others, spoke out against the additions on this block. The BSA didn't seem to mind.

While we're on this block, you can see how the new building is (slowly) coming along at next door 327 E. Ninth St., the site of a former residential parking lot. We first reported on this six-story, two-unit residential building back in August 2012.

Eventually, No. 327 will look like ...

[Via Curbed]

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 9th Street buildings will soon be taller thanks to the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals

East Ninth Street parking lot will yield to 6-floor residential building

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks opens tomorrow on East 2nd Street

The speciality shop opens tomorrow at 28 E. Second St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery. Jeremiah Moss, who first reported this yesterday over at Vanishing New York, also received a tour of the space. Check that out here.



Back in November, Jeremiah learned that the popular specialty store, which specializes in rare and out-of-print cookbooks, was getting rent-hiked out its 15-year-old Greenwich Village home.

Soon after this news broke, DNAinfo got word that a pair of siblings, Margo and Garth Johnston, reached out to Slotnick about a retail space available in their childhood home on East Second Street.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks makes the move to East 2nd Street