Hear the latest on the L train shutdown tonight

[EVG photo from April]

Apologies for the short notice — I only received this info. late last night. Via the EVG inbox...

The MTA and the Department of Transportation are deep in the process of planning for the L train shutdown in 2019, and community board meetings are going on right now in which representatives from both agencies are sharing their latest plans and listening to community members' concerns and ideas.

The MTA and the DOT will be in the East Village tonight at a meeting of CB3's Transportation & Public Safety/Environment Committee, presenting their latest update on the planning they're doing:

• Fixing the L Line's Canarsie Tunnel (click here for MTA/DOT PowerPoint slides)

The meeting is open to the public, and people can ask questions and offer comments. Tuesday, June 13, 6:45-8 p.m. Downtown Art, 70 E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Second Avenue

As previously reported, Transportation Alternatives is advocating for something they're calling the 14th Street PeopleWay. Read more about that plan here. This am New York piece has more facts, figures and proposals related to the L train.

The L train shutdown between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue to repair the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel is expected to last 15 months with a start date of April 2019.

Mancora has apparently closed on 1st Avenue

[Photo Friday by Vinny & O]

The gates have been down at Mancora, the Peruvian restaurant on First Avenue at Sixth Street, for the past 10 days or so. Several EVG readers noted that workers have gutted the interior, leaving some speculation of a temporary closure for renovations.

There isn't any note to patrons about the closure, temporary or otherwise. The phone kicks into an automated message about the customer not haven't set up a voicemail box.

The Mancora space was expected to yield to a "fast casual" concept called Ummburger. No update on that venture at the moment.

A sample menu for Ummburger posted on the CB3 website this spring showed a variety of burgers, including a vegetarian option ... and a fried chicken sandwich called the Southern Ummfort.

Mancora first opened in March 2003.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Ummburger vying for the Mancora space on 1st Avenue

Union Square Duane Reade available for sublease

An EVG tipster shared the marketing materials with info on subleasing the Duane Reade on Union Square.

There aren't many details about leasing the 12,790 square-foot-space. The rental rate is negotiable. The possession date is this month. Find a PDF with the flyer here.

Several Duane Reades have been closing around the city, including three on the Upper West Side and one on Canal and Broadway.

Parent company Walgreens has an expanded location right there at 14th Street and Fourth Avenue, and there's a Duane Reade on 14th Street and Third Avenue and 10th Street and Third Avenue.

The Union Square Duane Reade opened in the summer of 2010 in the former Virgin Megastore.

Bali Kitchen bringing Indonesian cuisine to 4th Street

The coming soon sign is up for Bali Kitchen, which will serve Indonesian cuisine here at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...



The space, which shares an address with Lui's Thai Food, was last home to the Fantastic Tea Shop for less than a year.

Sweetgreen opening in former University Diner space

Stepping away from the neighborhood for a moment... signage is up on the corner of University Place and 12th Street for another NYC location of Sweetgreen, the healthy quick-serve restaurant that offers various custom salads and grain bowls, etc.

This corner was home for 60 years to the University Diner, which closed in 2012 over a reported hefty rent increase. Gunz Fine European Food — an upscale chocolate shop and market — arrived in 2013 and left a few years later.

'Sesame Street' and Chrysler team up in Tompkins Square Park

[Photo by Steven]

Crews were in Tompkins Square Park today to film a Chrysler commercial featuring characters from "Sesame Street" ... and it looked like the whole squad was on hand...


[Photo by Daniel Root]

Derek Berg shared these photos...





Despite being filmed in the middle of a public park with iconic TV characters on a beautiful June day, we heard that crew members didn't always appreciate people taking photos...



Steven shared this photo of Count von Count in the passenger side...



... and more shots of the characters via Christopher J. Ryan...





The filming apparently will continue tomorrow.

[Updated] Tagging the Bowery mural wall

This past weekend, someone defaced David Choe's week-old canvas on the Bowery Mural Wall.

BoweryBoogie reported that the vandalism was due "to past comments made on [Choe's] podcast bragging about an alleged sexual encounter with a masseuse in 2014." Choe later claimed that his confession was simply "bad storytelling in the style of douche." Regardless, as BoweryBoogie put it, "Critics have been accusing him of rape ever since."

Hyperallergic published an op-ed last week titled "How the New Bowery Wall Commission Puts Rape Culture on Display."

The "BTM" tag on the wall is apparently the work of Big Time Mafia. It's unclear if their message is related to Choe's past or general disdain for the wall, owned by Goldman Properties, and/or Choe's work.

Another tag on the wall last week was more explicit...

Someone spray painted "rapist" on David Choe's new mural earlier today! pic.twitter.com/Td3qNH9QMc

— Bucky Turco (@buckyturco) June 6, 2017

---

Updated 6/14



---

And this wasn't the first time that someone has tagged/bombed/defaced the work up on the Bowery Mural Wall in recent years. A sampling includes:

Logan Hicks last September...



Swoon in January in January 2014...



Maya Hayuk's criss-cross mural in February 2014...



Kenny Scharf multiple times in early 2011...



Shepard Fairey in July 2010...





...and Fairey in May 2010...



The bottom part of the mural was eventually ripped to shreds...

10th Street road restoration continues this week

The 10th Street (accelerated) water main replacement project work is continuing this week between Avenue A and First Avenue... as these photos from EVG (Accelerated) Water Main Replacement Project correspondent Daniel show...







According to the Weekly Construction Bulletin (PDF here), this week marks the "final restoration of the roadway."

Starbucks confirmed for Avenue A

It looks like those Starbucks-to-Avenue A rumors are true.

Recently issued work permits for 129-131 Avenue A show ...


[Click to go big]

Per the ALL-CAP DOB paperwork on another work permit for the address: "FILING FOR GENERAL CONSTRUCTION RELATED TO STARBUCKS BUILD-OUT."

It's not exactly clear where the Starbucks will go... there are multiple addresses — 125-131 St Mark's Place and 125-131 Avenue A — associated with the building on the northwest corner, and there are several empty storefronts within these addresses... including the former Nino's and Hop Devil Grill...



The original rumors had the Starbucks going into this prime corner space. (That makes sense.) Paper also just went up in the window of the former Yoshi Sushi...



None of the work permits posted on these storefronts list the Starbucks info. That's only online as of now.

It's also not clear what kind of Starbucks this will be. Last fall, the company announced plans to open up to 1,000 Starbucks stores "with a Reserve coffee bar experience" by the end of 2017. There are four newish locations in NYC of a Starbucks Reserve Roastery, including at 10 Waverly Place.

The architect of record for the Avenue A work was also behind the new Starbucks on Waverly Place as well as several others in the city.

In any event, this will be the first Starbucks to open in the East Village east of First Avenue, where there are locations at Third Street and at 13th Street.

As for the previous tenants here, to the usual recap: Nino's closed in October 2015. As previously reported, owner Nino Camaj accepted a low six-figure amount to walk away from his remaining 10-year lease and surrender the pizza shop that he opened in 1989. He had been in a dispute with the landlord over back rent and a closure due to a gas leak in the building. Hop Devil Grill and its sister bar next door, The Belgian Room, were seized by the state in April 2015 for nonpayment of taxes.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at the retail listing for the northwest corner of A and St. Mark's Place

The former spaces for Nino's and Hop Devil Grill have been combined

Those Starbucks rumors continue to percolate on Avenue A and St. Mark's Place

And that's pretty much it for the former 112-120 E. 11th St.

[Photo from May 2016]

Plywood signage along 112-120 E. 11th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue pointed to a summer completion for the demolition of this row of circa-1890 tenement buildings...



Workers are right on schedule. The five buildings are gone...





...just some bricks and assorted rubble need to be carted out...





... until work can start on the 13-story hotel for Marriott’s Moxy brand. The Moxy website shows that the 11th Street hotel is expected to open in late 2018.

Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

Tenant advocacy group names the city's worst landlords; Icon and Steve Croman in top 10

[Image from Thursday via @ANHDNYC]

Some familiar names to East Village residents made the list of Stabilizing NYC's "10 worst predatory equity landlords" in NYC, which the housing group announced Thursday on the steps of City Hall:

1) All Year Management
2) Coney Realty Group
3) David David
4) Icon Realty Management
5) INK Property Group
6) Madison Realty Capital/Silverstone Property Group
7) Steven Croman
8) R.A. Cohen & Associates
9) Ved Parkash
10) ZARA Realty Holding Corp

Per a news release:

"All the landlords on the list reportedly force tenants to live in horrendous and, often, dangerous conditions. Their unscrupulous and often illegal practices impact the entire city.

“We will be targeting these landlords to help tenants fight back against the predatory practices that put their homes at risk,” said Keriann Pauls, a staff attorney with the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center. “Predatory equity landlords are jeopardizing tenant safety and housing stability throughout the city.”

And...

Recently, the New York City Council has introduced legislation useful to lawyers and organizers in this struggle against predatory equity, including the Predatory Equity Watch List. With additional resources, Stabilizing NYC is working with the city council to enforce these new laws against predatory equity landlords.

"Landlords who act in bad faith in order to kick out tenants to make a profit and flip buildings should pay attention: we’re developing tools that will protect tenants and their homes, and disallow landlords from beefing up their pockets through illegal actions,” said Councilmember Ritchie Torres. “I’m proud to be working with CAPE and Stabilizing NYC on legislation to confront the problem of predatory equity that seeks to destroy affordable housing and communities."

Residents, tenant-rights organizations and local elected officials have accused Icon Realty, who owns multiple East Village buildings, of displacing rent-regulated tenants with frivolous lawsuits and exposing them to hazardous health and safety threats.

Madison Realty Capital/Silverstone Property Group is now managing Raphael Toledano's East Village portfolio.

Last Tuesday, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the guilty plea of Croman. Under the terms of his plea, Croman would serve one year of jail time on Rikers and pay a $5 million tax settlement. Croman's real-estate empire includes 47 buildings with 617 units in the East Village — more than any other than any other landlord in this neighborhood.

Stabilizing NYC — a coalition of 15 grassroots, neighborhood-based organizations, a citywide legal service provider and a citywide housing advocacy organization — formed in 2014. According to their website, the collation "works to combat tenant harassment and preserve affordable housing for the New Yorkers who need it most."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Tenants and local elected officials speak out against Icon Realty

Cork 'n Fork is now Gomi on Avenue A

The awning for Gomi's arrived on Saturday here at 186 Avenue A, though the restaurant officially opened on June 1.

As we understand it, the principal owner of the wine-tapas bar Cork 'n Fork remains as a shareholder, but is resigning as an officer and director of the company ... with a new partner coming aboard, hence the name/concept change...(this PDF at the CB3 website has the background).





Gomi's Facebook page describes it as an "Asian-fusion restaurant." Here's a look at part of their menu...





Cork 'n Fork opened here between 11th Street and 12th Street in the fall of 2013.

Work starts on the Shake Shack's Death Star location

Workers are prepping the corner of 51 Astor Place/IBM Watson Building/Death Star at Third Avenue and Ninth Street for Shake Shacking.

As previously noted, Danny Meyer’s fast-growing burger chain is opening a 3,000-square-foot outpost here.

Anyway, paper is up on the Third Avenue side of the building ... along with various permits...



Shake Shack has also applied for a beer-wine license. This application will go before CB3's SLA committee tonight...



And here's a look at the space from the Ninth Street side, which no one has papered over just yet...



The Post, who first reported on this new lease, said the Shack is expected to open in the fall.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Astor Place Shake Shack going for a beer-wine license

At the start of the Body Pride Parade in Tompkins Square Park

The Body Pride Parade kicked off this afternoon from Tompkins Square Park... EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos before the group left for Washington Square Park...