Excel Art and Framing Store relocating nearby on 3rd Avenue

Back in January, we heard that the 21-year-old Excel Art and Framing Store had lost its lease at 38 Third Ave. between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street.

According to various tipsters, the Duane Reade on the corner of 10th Street (above) is planning on expanding into the adjacent storefronts, taking up the space the belongs to Excel and East Village Cheese in the process.

Yesterday we reported that East Village Cheese made the relocation announcement to East Seventh Street official. Now fans of Excel will be pleased to know that the frame shop has a new home … a short distance away on Third Avenue between East 11th Street and East 12th Street…





The new storefront should be open in mid-July, per the sign. Visit their website for updates.

The previous tenant here in the storefronts of NYU's Third North dorm was Everything Bagels, which closed at the beginning of the year.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Duane Reade expansion will take over adjacent storefronts, including East Village Cheese (74 comments)

East Village Cheese makes move to 7th Street official

Former Luca Bar space for rent on St. Mark's Place

The for rent sign has arrived at 119 St. Mark's Place, former home of the Luca Bar here between Avenue A and First Avenue.



The listing via Jonis Realty doesn't appear to be online just yet.

The landlord took possession of the space back in late April. Regardless, Luca Bar always seemed able to bounce back from tax/landlord-related issues, such as in November 2013 and June 2011.

Luca Bar isn't the only available space on this side of the block. The former homes of the Belgian Room, Hop Devil Grill and Ton-Up Cafe are all currently business-free.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Marshal seizes Luca Bar (again) on St. Mark's Place

Tink's has closed on East 7th Street

On Saturday, an EVG reader told us that Tink's had abruptly closed on East Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

A sign outside the cafe noted: "No more. It's been real."



We don't know what the reason was for the closure. There isn't any mention of the closing on the cafe's social media properties. The family-run business opened at 102 E. Seventh St. in October 2012.

Temporary art and future condos on East 13th Street

On Thursday night, developers for the directionally named Thirteen East + West at 436 and 442 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue unveiled the luxury condos with a street-art competition featuring ArtBattles, a nonprofit dedicated to "creating live art events and competitions to expose emerging artists to the public."


[No. 436 mural by El Niño de Las Pinturas]


[No. 442 mural by "King of New York" Cernesto ]

According to New York Business Journal, the two artists in the competition — "King of New York" Cernesto and El Niño de Las Pinturas — incorporated a "'transient theme' into their works, reflecting how their murals will only be temporary before demolished and made into luxury towers."


[Image via Instagram]

Broker Ryan Serhant, one of the real-estate agents featured on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing New York," told New York Business Journal:

"We really wanted to highlight what the East Village is all about, which is stories and characters and art — and street art specifically. These two projects specifically are being done with the blood sweat and tears of the East Village, one thousand percent."

According to Serhant, each building has 6 floor-through homes, all with private outdoor space. The penthouses have their own private garages and roof decks. Pricing will start at $2.3 million; $3.4 million for the penthouses.

Meanwhile, back to the New York Business Journal:

David Amirian, principle of The Amirian Group, said the towers will fit into the neighborhood nicely.

"We think this will be a great addition to the neighborhood, you know we aren't building a 20-story glass structure where its going to be infill. We hope its going to be a very big part of the neighborhood in the future," Amirian said.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street

The V-Spot opens an empanada outpost on St. Mark's Place ahead of planned vegan restaurant

The family-run Park Slope vegan restaurant The V-Spot has plans to open an outpost at 16 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

Until that happens, The V-Spotters started selling empanadas to-go from the storefront this past Friday…


[Images via Facebook]

As for a full-blown vegan restaurant on St. Mark's Place, the family has turned to Kickstarter to help get the business here started. If interested, then you can read about the campaign here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Organic omnivore, vegetarian or vegan restaurant wanted at 12 St. Mark's Place

The V-Spot coming soon to St. Mark's Place

Week in Grieview

[7th and A the other day via Derek Berg]

East Village Radio is officially back (Thursday)

Rumors: Red Square has been sold (Monday)

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street (Wednesday)

With space too expensive in the East Village, Pommes Frites will reopen on MacDougal Street (Wednesday)

Brewer and Mendez celebrate Mayor's signature of new tenant notification law (Friday)

Workers remove damaged linden tree from Tompkins Square Park (Wednesday)

Mixologoist Albert Trummer looking to bring a cocktail bar to Avenue C (Tuesday)

Urban Etiquette Cat Sign! (Thursday, 27 comments)

Your new Cooper Square dorm (Friday)

Taxi Relief Stand arrives on Avenue A (Thursday)

A new beginning for Diane McLean and her 3 children (Wednesday)

Presenting the Shops on East Fifth Street (Tuesday)

VolaVida Gallery opens on East Fourth Street (Thursday)

Out and About in the East Village 2015 recap (Wednesday)

Bar Akuda is now The Grayson after 2 weeks (Friday)

On Sixth Street, Hudson East fetches $60 million (Wednesday)

Avenue A storefront shuffle (Monday)

The disappearing penthouse of 515 E. Fifth St. (Friday)

New Steve Croman warning flyer makes the scene (Monday)

Moishe's has a new (temporary-looking) sign (Thursday)

The discarded Bill Murray throw pillow (Monday)

Commercial space available for rent at 117 Second Ave. (Thursday)

The B Bar's Urban Etiquette Sign about their neighbor's trash (Monday)

… and Tarzan Mike (aka He-Man) feeds a squirrel in Tompkins Square Park…


[Photo yesterday via Steven]

Report: Dog walker traded Sugar for PCP

PLS RT: Sugar last seen on 2.23 at 9am at 210 East 26th St. She may be wearing a navy sweater. #FindSugarNYC pic.twitter.com/1nm3kxIgvw

— FindSugarNYC (@FindSugarNYC) February 25, 2015

East Village resident Morgan Bogle has filed a new lawsuit claiming that her dog walker traded Sugar, her Amstaff/pit bull mix, in exchange for drugs, the Post reports today.

Here's what she alleges against dog walker Tommy Doerr in court papers, as reported by the Post:

Doerr, 46, was “detained by the police who had allegedly searched him and found him in possession of a controlled substance, believed to be PCP,” Bogle claims in court papers.

She “has also been told . . . that [Doerr] ‘traded’ Sugar to some drug dealers in return for PCP or sold Sugar in order to obtain money to buy drugs,” court papers state. “Morgan believes that her best friend and beloved pet was sold by Doerr to be used in connection with dog-fighting or traded for controlled substances.”

Doerr's lawyer responded:

“I can tell you there was a drug intake [at the hospital] and it was completely negative, which proves that any allegation that he was on any kind of drugs is completely false,” attorney Mel Ginsburg told The Post.

“There’s a lot of completely false allegations being made about this case,” Ginsburg said. “Nobody’s going to fake going into the hospital. There’s no intent here.”

Also:

The dog walker has countersued Bogle, accusing her of defamation because of the “false” drug allegations. Doerr also claims a pet detective hired by Bogle treated him “in a most abusive and intimidating manner” and told Doerr he should kill himself, according to court papers.

The 4-year-old Sugar went missing on Feb. 23 under mysterious circumstances.

Doerr, who had been with Sugar for three years, previously said that he didn't remember what happened to the dog.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More about Sugar, the missing pit bull mix with a $5k reward (78 comments)

Reward for Sugar is now $10,000, thanks to NBA all-star David Lee (45 comments)

An East Village Sugar sighting (53 comments)

East Village Cheese makes move to 7th Street official

As we reported on May 27, East Village Cheese was going to relocate this summer to East Seventh Street.

There's now a sign up at the shop at 40 Third Ave. between East Ninth Street and East 10th Street with a few more details on the relocation…



Their current lease expires at the end of July. In January, we heard that the Duane Reade on Third Avenue at East 10th Street was going to expand into adjacent storefronts on that block, forcing out several businesses, including East Village Cheese and Excel Custom Framing. (Excel has found a new home on Third Avenue, which we will write about in a separate post.)

The Cheese shop owners had considered a move to Avenue A and East 13th Street, though that plan never materialized.

The new East Village Cheese will be at 80 East Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue, which was the former home of Warwick and Framus Custom Shop.

H/T East Village Eats

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rumors: Duane Reade expansion will take over adjacent storefronts, including East Village Cheese (74 comments)

[Updated] Confirmed: East Village Cheese will be moving to Avenue A later this year

The downtown skyline this morning

Photo by Bobby Williams

Puke Island Part 5 is this afternoon in Tompkins Square Park

Bands today will include:

2 p.m. — Universal Truth Machine
2:45 — The Graveyard School
3:30 — Skitzopolis
4:15 — Get Ignorant
5 — Lucifer Jones

Find more details here.

Manhattanhenge this

@evgrieve St.Mark's pic.twitter.com/B0mnAKLye9

— Christian Burns (@Knickerbock4Lif) June 7, 2015

Bringing home the bacon

Spotted outside Porchetta this morning on East Seventh Street … via EVG correspondent Steven…

'The Oracle of the Past, Present and Future' now on display in Tompkins Square Park

Artist Jorge Luis Rodriguez installed his new sculpture yesterday in Tompkins Square Park …



Here's more about it via Facebook:

"The Oracle of the Past, Present and Future" (2015) consists of geometric interlocking parts of steel, wood and glass elements that stands about 12 feet high with a magnificent steel dome and designed for Tompkins Square Park …"

The sculpture is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Growth, his large-scale, permanent work at the East Harlem Art Park at East 120th Street and Sylvan Place.

EVG correspondent Steven took these photos of Rodriguez, who teaches at at the School of Visual Arts, Manhattan Community College, and Kingsborough Community College.



The installation will officially be dedicated today at noon … you and the night heron have until May 2016 to enjoy this in the Park.

Some earlier reports did contain a little misinformation…

@evgrieve did you see the shrine the rats built? pic.twitter.com/3WKv662lD3

— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) June 5, 2015

Zoltar, now with the personal branding back in place

[September 2012]

Zoltar graced us with his presence outside Gem Spa starting on Sept. 23, 2012 (as seen in the above photo).

And Zoltar hadn't really looked the same since his glass was bashed by a skateboard in April 2013 here on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place… the replacement glass didn't carry the ZOLTAR name…



Now, though! Yesterday, the ZOLTAR SPEAKS lettering returned!



See?!



Though given how vocal Zoltar can be, is the SPEAKS part necessary?

The beautiful south

The debut record by Atlanta-based Algiers came out on Tuesday… Here's a quickie band bio via label Matador:

A trio of émigrés of the American Deep South, now split between New York and London, Algiers synthesizes its eclectic influences, from Nina Simone and PJ Harvey to Suicide and Public Enemy, into frightening new forms.

The video here is for "Black Eunuch."

Afternoon break

Outside St. Stanislaus on East Seventh Street today via Derek Berg…

EV Grieve Etc.: A rise in serious crime; an homage to Arthur Russell

[Photo on East 7th Street by Derek Berg]

A rise in serious crime in most NYPD precincts, including the 9th (DNAinfo)

Some 100,000 rent-stabilized apartments may go market-rate (The Real Deal)

June is Gay Pride Month (Off the Grid)

East Village-based photographer Sally Davies has an exhibit at the Bernarducci Meisel Gallery (Bernarducci Meisel Gallery)

The story behind the mural "Nepal 2015" on the Avalon Chemists building at Second Avenue and Houston (Bedford + Bowery}


[EVG photo of "My Nepal" from Saturday]

An homage to Arthur Russell (The Independent)

Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival returns to Eldridge Street this Sunday (The Lo-Down)

A bike/coffee shop opens on Canal Street (BoweryBoogie)

The Super 8 films of Stephanie Gray playing at the Anthology Film Archives (The Villager)

One resident's unchain challenge (Jeremiah's Vanishing New York)

Midtown's vanishing historic architecture (The New York Times)

...and won't someone please help Santa in Tompkins Square Park?

Name change for Bar Akuda?

[EVG photo from May 8]

Bar Akuda, the sports bar-restaurant at 16 First Ave. between East First Street and East Second Street, opened on May 21.

Perhaps ownership decided to rethink the name, which sounds like a Heart song.

An EVG reader notes this morning that the Bar Akuda is sign is gone... and there's a banner noting a more dignified-sounding name — The Grayson...



There isn't any mention of a name change on the bar's Facebook page... here is the latest entry...

On the road again: Who's behind the wheel of that apocalyptic-looking RV

You've likely seen this Mad Max-era RV parked around the neighborhood in recent months.

Back in March, BoweryBoogie spotted the vehicle with corrugated siding and barred-over windows parked at the Baruch Houses. (We've seen it moored on East Fourth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.)

BoweryBoogie reported that this Urban Assault Vehicle had "instilled a sense of intrigue (nay, suspicion) among the population." (Curbed wrote that "this might be the scariest vehicle, recreational or otherwise, we have ever seen.)

For the past three weeks, the RV — which has a bed and some flowers inside its rather nondescript interior — has been parked on East Houston … anywhere between Avenue A and Avenue C. A few residents apparently have complained "because of garbage in the street and [the owner] sitting there idling, causing noise and fumes," one resident told us.

One resident also said that the owner, who apparently lives inside, was BBQing on the street, which prompted a visit by the FDNY.

Anyway, the owner has introduced himself as "an artist working at the Whitney Museum."

You can see Jared Madere's work starting Oct. 16 at the Whitney.

Perhaps the artist will even arrange a shuttle service between here and the Whitney.

Brewer and Mendez celebrate Mayor's signature of new tenant notification law

[The good news is your shower curtain is fine]

Via the EVG inbox…

Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer and Council Member Rosie Mendez [on Tuesday] celebrated Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature of Int. 222, legislation requiring landlords provide tenants with advance notice for non-emergency repair work that will result in disruptions to building services.

The new law establishes a general baseline of 24 hours’ advance notice for most work. For work affecting elevators, the bill requires 10 business days’ notice for major alteration work and 24 hours’ notice for any other work that will suspend all elevator service for more than two hours.

This legislation, sponsored jointly by Mendez and Brewer, closes a gaping hole in the city’s tenant-protection laws, which previously did not provide no such advance-notice requirements.

“It’s also no secret that no-notice quality-of-life disruptions labeled as ‘maintenance work’ are a frequent harassment tactic to push tenants out of rent-stabilized apartments. The new notice requirements in this law will be easy for honest, everyday landlords and building managers to respect, but they will take another harassment tool away from abusive landlords,” Brewer said.

“This legislation codifies common sense and common courtesy,” Mendez said. “No longer will tenants come home from a hard day’s work to find out that work in their building is interrupting some basic service and/or possibly obstructing access to their apartment. This law requires that landlords notify tenants when such work will affect services and for how long.”

Many landlords and management companies already provide advance notice of planned repairs to tenants – but many others do not. The reasonable notice requirements established by Int. 222 would help tenants plan ahead to minimize the impacts of these service disruptions on their lives, and also help tenants distinguish between disruptions for planned work on the one hand, and emergent service failures or landlord harassment tactics on the other.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Buildings will be responsible for enforcement and rulemaking in relation to the new law. The law will take effect in the fall of 2015.

Previously

Here then, the new dorm on Cooper Square

After shedding most of its construction netting at the beginning of the year, workers removed the sidewalk bridge this week here on Cooper Square at East Sixth Street… showing off the dorm that will house students from Marymount Manhattan College starting this fall…







Marymount's campus is on East 71st Street, so the students will have a bit of a commute to class...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Updated: Here's what the newest East Village dorm will look like

Dig bottoms out on Cooper Square; here comes the dorm, here comes the dorm!

Your chance to lease the retail space in the new Cooper Square dorm

The Dan and John's sign takes flight on 1st Avenue

[Photo by EVG reader Steven]

The sign went up yesterday at 135 First Ave., future home of Dan and John's Wings here between St. Mark's Place and East Ninth Street.

The two have been selling their wares wings at Smorgasburg, the outdoor food festival on weekends in Williamsburg and now in Coney Island.

Per their website:

When two friends from Buffalo found themselves in Brooklyn without authentic Buffalo wings, they decided to make their own. Using recipes they learned working in Buffalo bars and pizzerias, Dan and John bring Buffalo's legendary flavor to Brooklyn, New York.

No word yet on an official opening date. Meanwhile, here's their menu.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Dan and John's Wings opening a storefront on 1st Avenue

The disappearing penthouse of 515 E. 5th St.

After reading our post from Tuesday about the demolition of the penthouse at 515 E. Fifth St., two EVG readers sent along photos showing the progress… on Wednesday …


[Photo by Laura Gurfein]

… and Thursday…


[Photo by a resident who doesn't have permission to be on the roof]

After seven years of legal wrangling, the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) told landlord Ben Shaoul that he has until the end of July to provide proof that the illegal penthouse here between Avenue A and Avenue B has been demolished … then the BSA will reopen hearings on the variances that Shaoul and Co. are requesting.

One 515 Penthouse Removal Watcher told us that he is surprised that the demolition work is actually taking place (given that it is Ben Shaoul and all).

Previously on EV Grieve:
Sidewalk bridge arrives at 515 E. 5th St., site of Ben Shaoul's illegal penthouse conversion

[Updated] Tonight on East 13th Street

[Image via Instagram]

And tonight on East 13th Street … there's the unveiling of the directionally named Thirteen East + West at 436 and 442 E. 13th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue… here's the invite that several EVG readers received for some reason…



There will be a street-art competition and other stuff. The broker is Ryan Serhant, one of the real-estate agents featured on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing New York." One invitee told us that Bravo will be shooting scenes for the show tonight.

Per the description of the new condos: "Each building has 6 floor-through homes, all with private outdoor space. The penthouses have their own private garages and incredible roof decks. Two and Three bedrooms. Pricing from $2.3M. Penthouses start at $3.4M."

Updated 8:27 p.m.

Dave on 7th shared these photos of the Art Battle(s)…





Previously on EV Grieve:
Tracking the coming changes to East 13th Street between Avenue A and 1st Avenue

Claim: Landlord of 444 E. 13th St. threatened 'to drop dynamite on the building'

A look at the new luxury condos coming soon to East 13th Street

On Avenue A, Kasadoro Deli is closed for some reasons (for real)

[Photo by EVG reader Steven]

We noticed that the deli (formerly Fares Deli then Sahara) between East Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place was closed yesterday without any explanation… However, the following sign arrived today …


[Photo by Michael Hirsch]

Updated:
The deli reopened on Friday