1st glass: 80 E. 10th St. shows off its floor-to-ceiling windows

Here's a look at the 10-floor condoplex shaping up over on 10th Street and Fourth Avenue... as previously noted, there will be 12 units here in the development called Eighty East Tenth, ranging from one to five bedrooms...



Prices range from $1.95 million to "wow, seriously?" (Of the 10 units listed at the Eighty East Tenth website, eight are in contract, with a fall move-in date.)

Here's a look at the final product, via designer NAVA... the rendering is not too accurate, given that there isn't a line outside Tim Ho Wan across the street...

Not half bad

Thanks to @mightymelissaleon for sharing this photo from 11th Street near Avenue B ... (yes, it moved — a little).

Here's Lady Jday's Sing For Hope piano that will be in Tompkins Square Park the next few weeks

[Image via Sing For Hope]

Starting today, the NYC-based nonprofit Sing For Hope will once again place 50 colorfully decorated pianos in parks and other locations around the five boroughs through June 24. The program is now in its seventh year.

Lady JDay, who was born in Paris, created the piano (pictured above) that will be in Tompkins Square Park for the next few weeks.

Here's more about her work via the Sing For Hope website:

For Lady JDay, commitment is both a necessity and a way of working. This can be seen in her paintings where women's rights are advocated. Whether these women are strong or the victims of violence and oppression, Lady JDay stands up for them. Portraying women is for her an approach and a governing principle.

Lady Jday is a committed artist who contributes through her painting and performances in Street Art to the recognition of women and their multiple talents. Her colorful and lively work, with expressive features, testifies to her ability to feel and relay their emotions. Lady Jday is in line with the Guerilla Girls, which promotes the place of women and people of color in the arts, and she's inspired by artists of Street Art and its encounters and travels.

This piano is a tribute to Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie.

“we all should be feminist” tribute to @chimamanda_adichie amazing author & feminist - piano in progress - for @singforhope and @newyorkcity . . . . . #streetartnyc #singforhope #driveforhope #streetart #streetarteverywhere #painting #paint #art #artist #feminism #popart #power #womenempowerment #weallshouldbefeminist #nyc #newyork #newyorkcity #instaart #instagood #igersnyc #igers #music #graffiti #graffitiart #girlboss #urbanart #picoftheday #chimandangoziadichie #chimanda

A post shared by Lady jday (@ladyjday) on Apr 19, 2018 at 11:22am PDT

After June 25, Sing for Hope will donate the pianos to NYC public schools.

For more information, visit the Sing For Hope website here.

Updated 5 p.m.

The piano has arrived in the Park... though it remains under wraps...



Thanks to Steven for the photos...

New state legislation aims to combat predatory equity

Local elected officials introduced joint legislation on Sunday targeting the practice of predatory equity.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and various tenants and advocates were present at a press conference outside the office of Westminster Management, a Kushner Companies subsidiary, on 12th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. There, they discussed the legislation, which directs the New York State Department of Finanical Services (DFS) to collect data on financial institutions that lend to property owners with the intent to displace current tenants.

Per the announcement:

Specifically, the bill requires DFS to investigate the role financial institutions play in encouraging anti-tenant practices by notorious landlords like Jared Kushner, Steve Croman and Raphael Toledano.

Similar to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008, lax underwriting standards and a general lack of transparency have allowed speculators and real estate agents to secure outsized mortgages with very little discretion and oversight. Owners use these loans to make purchases based on unrealistic projections of rising rents, and in turn have difficulty paying the mortgages.

Building owners — anxious to recoup on their hefty investments — often resort to abusive and exploitative tactics to drive rent-regulated tenants out. These abusive practices, known as predatory equity, are best-exemplified by figures like Steve Croman and Jared Kushner.

In the fall of 2015, after the Daily News reported that the state was investigating Toledano for tenant harassment at 444 E. 13th St., he received two loans totaling $124 million from private equity firm Madison Realty Capital to buy and renovate a 16-building East Village portfolio.

Per The Real Deal in an article last July:

The leverage on the deal — which clocked in at 128 percent compared to the typical 50 to 65 percent on a New York City multifamily deal — raises questions about how culpable lenders are in perpetuating harassment. In short, are they turning a blind eye when their borrowers too-aggressively push to turn rent-stabilized apartments into luxury units?

Pressured to generate income from the buildings to pay off his loans, Toledano reportedly attempted widespread buyouts. And many of the tenants at the buildings accused him of harassment.

"No longer can we allow landlords like Kushner, Croman and Toledano to force our neighbors out of their homes in order to make a quick buck," Hoylman said in a statement. "We demand that New York State investigate the practice of predatory equity so we can take the necessary steps to protect rent regulated tenants from harassment and eviction."



Said the recently elected Epstein: "This legislation will bring us closer to stopping the practice of predatory equity before it starts the cycle of tenant harassment and displacement that has become all too familiar in our city. Bad actor landlords and scheming financiers should take note: your days of destabilizing our neighborhoods with your shady business practices are numbered."

Croman was released from jail on Friday after serving eight months of a year-long sentence for fraud.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Raphael Toledano files for Chapter 11; $145 million deal for EV portfolio is off the table

Raphael Toledano tenants take to Midtown streets to speak out against their landlord and his lenders

A record payday for an East Village walk-up co-op

[Image via Streeteasy]

A co-op on the fifth floor of 541 E. 12th St. went into contract for more than $1.9 million last month after a bidding war with seven offers topping the asking price less than three weeks after it was listed, The Wall Street Journal reported. (The article is behind the paper's paywall.)

According to data from Corcoran, this penthouse apartment at No. 541 between Avenue A and Avenue B is the third-highest priced sale for a walk-up on the fifth floor or above in the East Village. In addition, it is also the most expensive sale of a co-op unit, the Journal reported.

No. 541 was boarded up and abandoned in 1986 when the seller of the penthouse and a group of friends who lived in the neighborhood bought it from the city and turned it into a co-op. They paid $380,000 for the five-story building and spent about $600,000 renovating it and moved in.

The sellers will be moving to a second home they own on Long Island while the buyers already lived in the East Village, per the Journal. (Another co-op in the building is on the market for $1.15 million.)

Meanwhile, a duplex penthouse on the sixth floor of a walk-up at 211 E. Third St. between Avenue B and Avenue C "will test the limits of high-floor walk-ups" when the four-bedroom, four-bath residence hits the market for about $5.5 million.

The article notes that walk-ups are becoming more desirable:

Despite the stairs, higher floors often mean more light, less street noise, better views, a chance to keep fit, and a lower price per square foot, brokers say. And those apartments have become more palatable in the age of grocery delivery and e-commerce, as consumers shop more online and don’t have to lug items up the stairs.

Hot pot switcheroo on 2nd Avenue

An EVG reader shares these photos from over at 97 Second Ave., where coming soon (Aug. 31) signage for Spicy Noodle Hot Pot is up in the window at the current home of Hou Yi Hot Pot...



So apparently there will be a hot pot switcheroo taking place here. The phone number listed for Spicy Noodle Hot Pot is the same as for Hou Yi Hot Pot.

Hou Yi Hot Pot, which also has a spot on Hester Street in the northern fringes of Chinatown, opened here between Fifth Street and Sixth Street in December 2015.

No. 97 is also the address of an ongoing legal battle between now-former landlord Raphael "I will bury you" Toledano and Delshah Capital. (Background here.)

Monday's parting shot

Sunset photo tonight via Bobby Williams...

Wet plate photography in Tompkins Square Park

Documentary portrait photographer Robert Kalman was back in Tompkins Square Park yesterday... working on a series of portraits ... (find some of his previous work from the Park here) ... EVG regular Daniel shared these photos... showing his "collodion wet plate process" in action... a process that necessitates creating a portable darkroom in the field (or park)...

Well, I'm half the mannequin I used to be ...

Spotted today on 11th Street and Avenue B by @christinechampagnephoto...

Hecho en Dumbo is closing after 8 years on the Bowery

The owners of the Mexican restaurant at 354 Bowery between Great Jones and Fourth Street announced their upcoming closure last night.

Here's part of their message:

Hecho en Dumbo will be closing its doors for good next Saturday night, June 9th, after over 8 years on the Bowery.

We are thrilled that since our humble start as a pop-up in DUMBO over a decade ago, Mexican cuisine continues to evolve and flourish in our city and it has been a privilege to be a part of it.

Hecho en Dumbo arrived here in March 2010, taking over the space that previously housed Marion's Continental.

No. 354 has been on the rental/sales market this past year via several different brokers.

H/T EVG reader Erin!

End is nearing for the businesses on the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

On Friday, the E Smoke Shop on St. Mark's Place at Third Avenue announced their close-out sale ahead of shutting down at the end of this month...





As previously reported, a seven-story, 66,000-square-foot office building with ground-floor retail is slated for this corner. Permits were filed on March 15 to demolish the low-rise buildings here at 3 St. Mark’s Place, 23 and 25-27 Third Avenue.

The Continental literally announced their July 1 closing-night date back in January...





McDonald's and Papaya King have already shut down.

There haven't been any closing dates announced yet for Korilla BBQ or the smaller shops that line St. Mark's Place.


[Photo from April]

REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the properties for some $150 million, per The Real Deal last November. There still aren't any new building permits filed for the property, owned by the Gabay family.

Previously on EV Grieve:
The Shake Shack effect? McDonald's on 3rd Avenue at St. Mark's Place has closed after 20 years

Report: Northeast corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Ave. fetching $50 million for development site

Report: NE corner of St. Mark's Place and 3rd Avenue will yield to a 7-story office building

Demolition permits filed for northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place

Demolition permits filed to bring down former Lucky Cheng's building on 1st Avenue

The demolition permits were filed with the city back on Friday to bring down 24 First Ave. ahead of construction of a new, 7-floor residential building.

Developer Sergey Rybak submitted plans for the 22-unit residential building on May 24. The work permits list the new building at 99-101 E. Second St., which is part of the L-shaped assemblage that once housed Lucky Cheng's. In total, the building will encompass 19,000 square feet.



Rybak, of the South Brooklyn-based Rybak Development, was the winning bidder for the property during an auction in February. The price: $12.25 million.

Presumably both structures — 24 First Ave. and 99-101 Second St. — will be demolished...



Before Lucky Cheng's, No. 24 was Club Baths, the first openly gay-owned bathhouse from 1971-1983. You can read more about the space's history at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property on the development market for $26 million

Building that housed Lucky Cheng's on 1st Avenue now on the auction block

Onetime home of Lucky Cheng's and adjacent property sell for $12 million

Emmy Squared signage arrives at the former Three of Cups

Renovations continue in the restaurant space at 83 First Ave. and Fifth Street...where two of the awnings for the new tenant — Emmy Squared — are now in place...







Emmy Squared, the Williamsburg-based restaurant serving burgers and Detroit-style pizza, is taking over this former home of Three of Cups, which shut down after service on April 1.

The Emmy Squared website doesn't have a specific opening date for the new East Village location, just "coming soon"

In announcing the closure, Three of Cups owner Anthony Barile wrote in part: "The reasons are many that we are at this moment, with all of them meaning that I can’t sustain it any longer." The pizzeria and Italian restaurant opened in December 1992.

Emmy Squared was originally thought to be taking over the GG's space on Fifth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. That space, however, has been dormant since GG's closed on Dec. 23.


[Photo from Saturday]

A rep for Emmy Squared told Eater in March that they are "considering ... the former GG’s space for a new restaurant concept."

Previously on EV Grieve:
After nearly 26 years, Three of Cups is closing on 1st Avenue; Emmy Squared arriving next?

Corner space on 7th Street and Avenue B for rent as Jillery wraps up its business

Late last week, Jillery, the jewelry and home accessories shop on Avenue B at Seventh Street, vacated the corner space. (The store closing signs arrived back in March.)

However, Jillery isn't done here just yet. The shop continues its going-out-of-business sale in the vacant space (RIP Paradiso) next door...



Artist Jill Fagin, who launched her business in 1987, moved to this corner from 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue in the summer of 2013.

The corner space, 107 Avenue B, is currently for rent. Perhaps a like-minded venture such as Jillery will be here in the future. The president of the board of directors of the co-op here told me this in 2013: "Our co-op is very proud to have rejected chain stores, banks, bars and loud food establishments. We are proud to have chosen a local business like Jillery who has been in the neighborhood for many years ..."

H/T Shawn Chittle!