Hanoi Soup Shop's on for 115 St. Mark's Place

The owners of Hanoi House at 119 St. Mark's Place have designs on opening a soup-centric cafe a few storefronts away here between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Eater brings the news of the incoming Hanoi Soup Shop at 115 St. Mark's Place:

It will be a far more casual affair than their original restaurant, with sandwiches, coffee, and of course, pho. Hanoi House’s well-known, funky and fragrant pho bac — beef-based pho, here with oxtail — will be an option, as will pork terrine banh mi (banh mi cha lua) and Hoi An chicken over rice. Here, a chicken and vegan pho will also be available. Unlike Hanoi House, Soup Shop will be open during the day instead of just for dinner. It’s also about half the size, with counter seating, takeout, and delivery.

No. 115 last hosted the pop-up shop Mr. Bing... The previous tenant, Water Witch Mercantile, closed at the end of 2016 after just two months in business. Past tenants included Box Kite Coffee and the Tuck Shop.

Hanoi House opened in January 2017.

Thursday's parting shot

A holiday scene on Seventh Fifth Street via Derek Berg...

The East Village-based adaptation of 'The Nutcracker' returns tonight

The fourth annual production of the alternative, East Village-based adaptation of "The Nutcracker" begins tonight.

La MaMa Experimental Theater in association the GOH Productions presents this production of "The Shell-Shocked Nut," featuring an intergenerational cast of dancers and musicians.

Here's more info via the EVG inbox...

In this unconventional take on the seasonal staple, a wandering child and a war veteran suffering from PTSD take a magical voyage through the East Village. The pair of characters visit Tompkins Square Park, Economy Candy Store, St. Mark’s Place, and other East Village landmarks while exploring themes of loss and recovery.

"The Shell-Shocked Nut is conceived and directed by Martha Tornay and co-directed by Victoria Roberts-Wierzbowski. The pair also spearhead East Village Dance Project (EVDP), a dance development program that has offered after-school classes in ballet, modern and choreography in lower Manhattan since 1997.

The show first emerged as a studio showing in the weeks after Superstorm Sandy created as a means of brightening spirits after a challenging time for the community. “I started thinking about the cathartic process of working through a stressful situation,” Tornay said.

The sister and daughter of war veterans, Tornay was inspired to use the structure of the Nutcracker to tell a more personal story of the effects of trauma, while maintaining the accessible, family-friendly nature of the traditional ballet.

In the years following its inception, the piece has grown to a full-scale production, featuring young students from the dance program alongside an array of professional performers, artists and guest choreographers from NYC and beyond.

"The Shell-Shocked Nut" is tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20, and $15 for seniors, students and children 12 and under. You can buy tix online at lamama.org or at the box office: (212) 352-3101.

Contributor Stacie Joy, who has covered the production in the past (here and here) for EVG, shared these photos from rehearsal last night...

[Updated] The makeshift memorials at the 2nd Avenue gas explosion site have been removed

[Photo from yesterday]

An EVG reader passed along word that the two makeshift memorials inside the empty lot on Second Avenue and Seventh Street were removed some time late on Tuesday.

It is not immediately known who took away the memorials for Moises Locón, 27, and Nicholas Figueroa, 23, the two men who died in the gas explosion here on March 26, 2015. The memorials first arrived in the fall of 2015, created by the Figueroa family.

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Updated 10:30 a.m.

An EVG reader shared this:

The Figueroa family removed the makeshift memorial. They were asked to because they were told construction on the site will start soon. They took the angels to Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens and placed them there.

In addition, EVG regular Lola Sāenz created this sign and placed it along the Second Avenue fence this morning...



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In early August, the development team behind the proposed 7-story condoplex at part of the explosion site (the former No. 119 and 121) received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a high-end residential building with ground-floor retail. (The new building will include a commemorative plaque that honors Locón and Figueroa.) However, the project is still waiting for final approval from the Department of Buildings.

Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group paid $9.15 million for the empty lots.

The owner of 121 Second Ave., Maria Hrynenko, her son Michael Hrynenko (now deceased), contractor Dilber Kukic and their plumber Anthanasios Ioannidis illegally tampered with the gas line then failed to warn those in the building before the blast, according to the Manhattan District Attorney.

According to public records, Hrynenko, who owned No. 119 and 121, and the other defendants will appear in court again on Jan. 8. Records show that Hrynenko and the other accused have appeared in New York County Criminal Court 21 times since February 2016... and the outcome was the same — "adjourned/bail continued" — since their initial appearance.

---



Above photo of Nicholas Figueroa's father tending to the memorials from October 2015 by James and Karla Murray. Posted with permission of the Figueroa family.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RIP Nicholas Figueroa

RIP Moises Ismael Locón Yac

A memorial on 2nd Avenue

Birthday wishes for Nicholas Figueroa on 2nd Avenue

A family continues to feel the loss on 2nd Avenue

Dedicating Moises Locón Way and Nicholas Figueroa Way on 2nd Avenue at 7th Street

City continues 14th Street prep work ahead of the L-train closure

[14th Street at 4th Avenue looking east yesterday]

In recent weeks, I've noted how the city continues to prep 14th Street for its expanded role during the 15-month L-train closure next spring, including the markings for the Select Bus Service (SBS) lane between First Avenue and Third Avenue and the arrival of the dedicated bike lanes on 12th Street and 13th Street.

As previously reported, 14th Street will serve as a (mostly) car free busway for displaced subway commuters.

In an article posted Tuesday, Crain's (HT KT!) pointed out the latest alteration: red traffic lanes at 14th Street intersections between Third Avenue and Ninth Avenue, "which will signal that motorists must exit."

To Crain's:

By April, white Bus Only wording will be stenciled in the black boxes to make the message clear. Similar restricted lanes are planned for Delancey Street between the Williamsburg Bridge and the Bowery.

You can kind of see the full effect in this dodging-traffic shot...



And next?

Also to come are pedestrian walkways on 14th Street to relieve jammed sidewalks, as well as designated curbside loading zones for businesses.

This is what that plan (unveiled this past summer) looks like via the city...



Meanwhile, here's (part of) the area in front of the future tech hub, which will be a construction zone starting in the first quarter of 2019 ... likely making 14th Street even more stressed...



Back to Crain's:

The storm-related repairs to the East River crossing could drive 275,000 daily underground commuters to ground level at 14th Street, where the city plans to direct cars from the thoroughfare and run 80 buses per hour.

This SBS service launches on Sunday, April 21.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Nightmare scenario for residents who learn that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction

Prepping for the new protected bike lanes on 12th and 13th streets

Bike lane line work continues on 12th Street

1st signs of the 14th Street SBS lane

More signs of the 14th Street SBS lanes

Hardware store-replacing hardware store now open on 4th Avenue

Union Square Supply is now open at 130 Fourth Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.

The store is owned by the folks behind Fulton Supply Hardware, which opened down on Fulton and Gold in 1970.

Services here including locksmithing, key cutting, tool renting, pipe threading, paint matching and wood cutting, among other -ing things.

The Ace Hardware outpost here closed back in April. The retail space was on the market for several months before the Union Square Supply signs arrived in early September.

A sushi counter for 4th Street

A long-vacant retail space (previously the Postal Shipping Center) at 75 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery is being fitted for a small restaurant.

Derek Berg reports that a small sushi counter will be opening here perhaps as soon as the end of the year...



We don't know anything about who's behind this venture... and will update when more info is available.

Report: Thirteen East + West on the auction block

Last we heard anything about Thirteen East + West condos, there was a report that the recently constructed twin residences on 13th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue were to be the first major assets in NYC to be — drumroll — tokenized on Ethereum.

However, those blockchain plans didn't pan out. Now, as The Real Deal first reported, the developer, the Amirian Group, is auctioning off the condos for instant liquidity.

Per TRD:

Paramount Realty USA, a real-estate firm that specializes in auction sales, announced Wednesday that it would auction off the buildings ... which have a projected sellout of $37 million. Bidders will get to name their prices for some or all of the units, and a bulk purchase could lead to a discount of up to 25 percent...

And the details if you want to get in on the bidding....

Bidders who want to take part in the auction have to place their bids and a $500,000 deposit by Jan. 29. If there are multiple offers, the highest potential buyers will take part in a runoff open outcry auction.

And if you need to work on your hand signals for that open outcry auction...

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

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

Temporary art and future condos on East 13th Street

Demo time for East 13th Street garages that will yield to luxury condos

A look at the residences coming to Thirteen East + West on East 13th Street

Full exposures at Thirteen East + West

Tales from the crypto: Thirteen East + West tokenized on blockchain

Wednesday's parting shot

On Seventh Street, we have the following discarded items: two Bush books and several boxes of fortune cookies. Photo by Derek Berg.

The 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show opens tomorrow night

The work of a few dozen local artists will be on display at the 6th Annual Wendigo Holiday Group Art Show, which opens tomorrow night (7-9) at Art on A Gallery.

The show will be up through Jan. 17 at the Gallery, 24 Avenue A near Second Street.

Check out this link for a list of artists.

Love is fleeting

Spotted on 11th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C ... photo (and headline!) via Steven...

Today in boxes of discarded VHS tapes on 1st Street

Spotted early this afternoon on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue... many boxes of VHS tapes — perfect for holiday binge watching!



Highlights include "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ... the 1996 Academy Awards show... Davey Crockett ... some A's-Red Sox games from 1988 ... and some "Pooh" from 9.31.88.

The owner of these also decided to tape over "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and Peanuts New Year for Dracula. It was not immediately known which version of Dracula this is.

Holiday music from Howl! Happening

Over in Extra Place off First Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery ...Howl! Happening is presenting some "Cool Bowery 'Sounds" for the holidays.

Press play to hear Christmas songs by the Fleshtones, Stiv Bators, the Ramones and the Dickies, among others...

Affordable housing planned for city-owned buildings at 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St.

[Reader-submitted photo of 204 Avenue A]

Plans are moving forward to demolish two long-vacant, city-owned properties — 204 Avenue A and 535 E. 12th St. — to erect new buildings for fixed-income housing.



CityLand, published by the Center for NYC Law, has a post with all the details.

Earlier this month, the City Planning Commission heard an application that would allow for the demolition of the existing buildings and the development of 10 co-operative units at 204 Avenue A between 12th Street and 13th Street, and 11 one-bedroom rental units at 535 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B. The proposal calls an additional three floors (from 4 to 7) at No. 204, and one additional floor (from 5 to 6) at No. 535.

Per CityLand:

To facilitate the proposed development, the applicant team requested approval for the disposition of the City-owned lots and designation and approval of the lots as an Urban Development Action Area Project. The application was brought by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), along with the selected developer for the project, Juan Barahona of SMJ Development.

Both buildings, part of the HPD’s Tenant Interim Lease Program, have been vacant (save for squatters on 12th Street) since 2008. "Due to deteriorating structural conditions," tenants from both buildings were relocated at that time.

The former tenants of each building will be able to purchase the co-op units in the newly constructed building at 204 Avenue A, which would include ground-floor retail. Meanwhile, the all-new 535 E. 12th St.'s one-bedroom rentals "will be a middle-income rental building with an income restriction at 130 percent AMI."

And details about all this via CityLand:

The project was proposed as an Affordable Neighborhood Cooperative Program (ANCP) project. ANCP is an HPD program where developers are selected to rehabilitate distressed City-owned properties managed by the Tenant Interim Lease Program, in order to create affordable cooperatives for low- and moderate-income households. Under the program, developers receive low interest loans in the form of City Capital subsidy, in addition to construction and permanent financing sources provided by private institutional lenders and New York State Affordable Housing Corporation programs.

As an Affordable Neighborhood Cooperative Program project, following the construction loan closing, the 204 Avenue A building will be conveyed to a Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperative with unit purchase requirements, income restrictions, and resale requirements. The projected maintenance for the cooperative is expected at 40 percent AMI.

In addition, although the entire building will be affordable, two of the units are going to be permanently affordable as required by the Inclusionary Housing Designated Area bonus, which gives an applicant a higher residential Floor Area Ratio in return for 20 percent of residential units being designated as permanently affordable.

CB3 and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer have already signed off on this project. The City Planning Commission will be next to vote on the application at a later date.

EVG readers spotted workers taking soil samples at both buildings this past February.

Gut renovations are currently taking place next door to 204 Avenue A, where a condoplex conversion will see 202 Avenue double in size.


[Photo of 202 Avenue on Nov. 26 by Steven]

Signs of new businesses on 3rd Avenue, and an H Mart update

[Dec. 7]

Workers have been refurbishing the space for storefront signage in the long-vacant shops along the base of NYU's Alumni Hall on Third Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street...



Not sure if this means some new businesses are in the works for this block. There is, however, one new merchant on the way. As we first reported in August, branding for H Mart, an Asian-American supermarket chain based in Lyndhurst, N.J., arrived in the front window of the former Birdbath bakery and Citi Habitats office next door.

H Mart reps said that they do not have a tentative opening date for the East Village at this time. This will be the third H Mart in Manhattan (the others are on West 32nd Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side). Overall H Mart has more than 70 outposts in the United States and Canada.

Previously on EV Grieve:
H Mart coming to 3rd Avenue in base of NYU's Alumni Hall

Korean food coming to the former Dinah Hookah Lounge space on 2nd Avenue

The Dinah Hookah Lounge has apparently called it a night on 166 Second Ave. between 10th Street and 11th Street... Steven spotted a sign on the Mediterranean lounge's storefront noting a new Korean restaurant was coming soon...



This space has randomly been some kind of hookah place in the past five-bus years, including Entrez Bar & Grill then Farfasha then Dinah. Prior to all this hookah, the address welcomed the pizzeria Pomodora... and until early 2010, we had the double D here...

Tuesday's parting Instagram post

This would have been a fine solution for the great Holland Tunnel decorations controversy...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cool (@cool666_) on Dec 18, 2018 at 1:23pm PST

Previously

A GG Allin family affair on Showtime, and a trip back to 2B

In a respite this December from holiday fare, Showtime is airing four music documentaries this month... including "GG Allin: All in the Family," which premiered last Thursday. (Meant to mention it last week.) It's airing again tonight at 11:30. It's also available on-demand via Showtime if it's of interest. (Not really everyone's thing.)

As this film notes (and what has been well-documented), the last show for GG Allin & the Murder Junkies took place on June 23, 1993 at 2B (aka The Gas Station) on Avenue B at Second Street. (Now an apartment building with the Duane Reade.)

Here's a video made by Corey Shaff that has been in circulation about the gallery space...



... and an aerial view of 2B by LeoLondon from 1993...

You can donate a coat at this 3rd Avenue pop-up shop through Saturday

The 30th annual New York Cares Coat Drive is underway... and starting today (through Saturday), you can donate a new or gently used coat at a pop-up location at 111 Third Ave. between 13th Street and 14th Street...



The hours today through Saturday: 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Otherwise, local NYPD Precincts are also accepting the coat donations through Dec. 31.

For these 14th Street buildings, there's now renovations inside to match the noise outside

An EVG reader shared this notice from over at 426-430 E. 14th St., the three-building parcel between Avenue A and First Avenue...



Canvas Property Group announced that building-wide renovations were to start yesterday on vacant apartments, common areas and the retail spaces.

Five of the six storefronts are vacant (just Big Apple Barber Shop remains). The 14th St. Lotto & Magazine was the first to go, in February 2017. A clerk at the store said that they were moving uptown. He declined to say why they were leaving the neighborhood.

I don't know what happened to the other businesses — at least two relocated. This stretch of 14th Street has endured a lot of demolition/construction in recent years, starting with the take down of the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office branch and subsequent addition of the 8-floor luxury apartment building called EVE right next door. Not to mention that this block of 14th Street is the main staging area for the L-train reconstruction.



Back to the reader, who lives on the block — he said he felt badly for the remaining residents at 426-430 ... having endured the construction noise outside, and now inside.

The buildings were sold for $28 million in a transaction recorded in August, per public records.

[Updated] DHS and NYPD will clean up the northwest corner of Houston at Avenue B tomorrow

Notices are up along the sidewalk bridge on the northwest corner of Houston at Avenue B from the the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) ...



The flyers state that the DHS along with the NYPD and other city agencies "will complete a clean-up" of this area...and people need to vacate along with their belongings. Anything left behind by tomorrow may be discarded.

As for this longstanding sidewalk bridge, according to the DOB, a permit for it was first approved in December 2014. The city renewed the permit in October. The building, 6 Avenue B, has been vacant for years. The liquor store in the retail space has been closed since the owner died in the fall of 2009.

Updated 12/22

The area under the sidewalk bridge has been cleaned...



Now everything that was there is neatly stacked a few feet away on the curb (as Neighbor noted in the comments) ...



... and the belonging all have these fake-looking U.S. Federal Use labels...



And "Max," who was sleeping under the sidewalk bridge, is now in the adjacent bus shelter.

Previously on EV Grieve:
DHS flyers on 1st Street

Holiday on ice: 'It's a Wonderful Life' on the big screen at City Cinemas Village East

View this post on Instagram

Your holiday season definitely won't be complete without a viewing of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and you can see it with us on 35mm film!! 12/19, 7pm, #VillageEastCinema! #movie #Movies #movienight #villageeastin35mm #classics #classicfilm #cinema #film #cinephile #35mm #35mmfilm #itsawonderfullife #christmas #holidays #holidayseason #blackandwhite #winter #december

A post shared by City Cinemas NYC (@citycinemasnyc) on Dec 17, 2018 at 8:35am PST

If you're looking for a little holiday cheer... "It's a Wonderful Life" is screening in 35mm on Wednesday night (7 and 10:10) over at City Cinemas Village East on Second Avenue at 12th Street.

Find advance ticket info here.

Now, Zuzu's Petals!

You'll be back: Look at the renovated Hamilton-Holly House on St. Mark's Place

[EVG photo from February 2017]

The freshly renovated 4 St. Mark's Place — aka the Hamilton-Holly House, circa 1831 — has made its first public appearance after nearly two years covered in construction netting and plywood here between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.

These two photos are from Friday...





In December 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) signed off on renovations and an expansion for the landmarked building. In doing so, the LPC did nix an additional floor, and a few other proposed items. The expansion was to take place in the back of the building, doubling the number of residential units from three to six.

Here's more about what was to take place via New York Yimby, reporting from that December 2016 LPC meeting:

On the front of the structure, a largely new entryway would be installed, the gate at the stoop would be removed, new windows would be installed, and the grand curved balcony would be reconstructed at the first floor. The secondary stair from the ground to the first floor would be removed and a new small gate put in its place at ground level, an additional window would be added to the basement level, an existing basement door would be replaced with a window, an agree under the front steps would be reopened, and signage would be installed. The existing fire escapes would remain. The façade would also receive an overall restoration.

[Photo from Friday]

And a look at the building in 2010...



In February, Wanyoo, a Shanghai-based cyber cafe chain, reportedly signed a lease for the garden space, per The Real Deal. Another retail listing from a different broker arrived in March for the parlor space.

Until February 2016, 4 St. Mark's Place housed Trash & Vaudeville for 41 years. The store relocated to 96 E. Seventh St.

The Hamilton-Holly House was once owned by Alexander Hamilton’s son. The Federal-style townhouse changed hands for $10 million in the spring of 2016.

Here's more history via 6sqft:

Col. Alexander Hamilton Jr. was the first owner of the townhouse at 4 St. Mark’s Place. British-born real estate developer Thomas E. Davis was erecting Federal-style homes along the street at the time as homes for wealthy New Yorkers seeking refuge from the cholera epidemic further downtown. In 1833, three decades after his father died in a duel with Aaron Burr, Hamilton Jr. bought the home and moved in with his mother Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton (who was riddled with debt after her husband’s death), wife Eliza, and his sister Eliza Holly and her husband Sidney.

And, when St. Mark's Place became dead for the third or fourth time...

In 1843, the Hamiltons sold the house to oil and candle merchants Isaac C. Van Wyck and his son Cornelius. By mid-century the neighborhood had fallen out of fashion, and the homes along the street were split up into multiple dwellings. From 1903 to 1952, musical instruments firm C. Meisel Inc. housed their retail store and offices here. In the 1950s and ’60s, number 4 was used an experimental theater, including the Tempo Playhouse, New Bowery Theater, and Bridge Theater.

A bar called Eliza's Local, named for Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, recently opened next door at 2 St. Mark's Place.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Exclusive: After 40 years, punk rock mainstay Trash and Vaudeville is leaving St. Mark's Place


[Via]

4 St. Mark's Place is for sale

More residential units and a 5th-floor addition in the works for landmarked 4 St. Mark's Place

A look at No. 4 in 1940 via the LPC...