Report: Discussions on a mixed-income community for former St. Emeric property

[EVG file photo]

There is some development news to report about the former Church of Saint Emeric, which has sat empty since merging with St. Brigid's in early 2013.

St. Emeric's, built in 1950, is on a lonely stretch of 13th Street near Avenue D. The church sits next to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection's Manhattan Pumping Station and across the street from the Con Ed power plant ...


[EVG file photo]

As Curbed reported late last week, the Archdiocese of New York is considering a proposal to turn the 300,000-square-foot property, which includes a former school, over to a land trust for 400 units of below-market-rate housing.

Per Curbed...

The Cooper Square Community Land Trust has offered to partner with developer Jonathan Rose Companies to create a mixed-income community ...

The Archdiocese has already committed to devoting 100,000 square feet of the property toward affordable housing — though they have yet to define tenant income requirements — on land that houses the former Church of St. Emeric. But housing advocates say the church should further its charitable mission by devoting the entire lot to low- to middle-income housing.

And...

[I]f the trust’s proposal to develop St. Emeric's is accepted, the project would also include community space, as well as services for mental and physical health, senior services, and educational programming. The group would fine tune the plan based off of community feedback.

And if all this goes through, given the proximity to Con Ed, the land would require environmental remediation from contaminated soil.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese doesn't seem so keen to convert the former Church of Nativity on Second Avenue between Second Street and Third Street into similar housing.

The Church closed after a service on July 31, 2015, merging with Most Holy Redeemer on Third Street. In the summer of 2017, the archdiocese desacralized the former church, clearing the way for a potential sale of the desirable property.

Back to Curbed:

The Cooper Square Community Land Trust ... offered to buy Church of the Nativity for $18.5 million (with $5 million in closing costs) over a 30-year period, but the Archdiocese has instead expressed interest in seeking market value for the land and using the funds to address needs at the Most Holy Redeemer and parishes across the city.

The Cooper Square Community Land Trust is currently organizing a town hall this spring with Community Board 3 to discuss "how decommissioned churches can be best utilized by the Archdiocese and the communities they once served." Something other than demolishing them to make way for ultra-luxury condos.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at the Church of Saint Emeric on East 13th Street

From St. Emeric's to St. Brigid's

Educator: Turning the former Church of the Nativity into luxury housing would be a 'sordid use' of the property

Week in Grieview

[Christo hunting in the Park Friday via Bobby Williams]

Stories posted on EVG this past week included...

The untold tale of East Village shopkeeper Santo Mollica's comic-book past (Thursday)

After 50 years on the block, the Hells Angels appear to be selling their 3rd Street clubhouse (Friday)

The birds and the bees: Mating season commences in Tompkins Square Park for red-tailed hawks Amelia and Christo (Wednesday)

The final days of Sidewalk (Tuesday)

An evening honoring extraordinary women at Middle Collegiate Church (Saturday)

Crooked Tree closes after 20 years on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

More details emerge about the revamped Webster Hall, returning this spring with Patti Smith, Sharon Van Etten and Royal Trux (Friday)

The foot race to beat the M14 along 14th Street (Thursday)

A "new wave gay bar" for the Standard East Village (Wednesday)

C&B Cafe now part of new venture taking over the former Cafe Orlin space on St. Mark's Place (Tuesday)

Under St. Marks won't be available for the Frigid Festival (Monday)

Plywood report: 101E2, aka 101 E. 2nd St. (Thursday)

Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices coming to 2nd Avenue in Gramercy Park (Tuesday)

Kikoo bringing all-you-can-eat sushi to the former Papa John's outpost on 1st Avenue (Wednesday)

An anniversary for McSorley's (Monday)

Report: Danny Meyer is closing Martina on 11th Street (Tuesday)

... and on Fourth Avenue, another children's kitchen closure to report...


[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

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Those random concrete blocks on 10th Street

EVG reader Steven Hirsch shared this photo from 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue ...where these concrete blocks arrived earlier in the week "with no signs or permits."

That's one way to prevent people from parking here.

Updated 2/26

Mystery solved here.

Today in (random) NYC music history

[EVG photo from December]

Led Zeppelin released Physical Graffiti on this date in 1975 (Happy No. 44!) ... with the double album cover shot at 96-98 St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue (Yes — the Stones used the stoop a few years later).

View this post on Instagram

44 years ago today, @ledzeppelin released “Physical Graffiti.” Make ours a double. #ledzeppelin #physicalgraffiti

A post shared by MAGNET Magazine (@magnetmagazine) on Feb 24, 2019 at 5:02am PST

Find some album-cover history at this Gothamist post from 2014... ditto for this Off the Grid post.

Saturday's parting shot

Zoltar with a tag outside Gem Spa on Second Avenue at St. Mark's Place this morning...

An evening honoring extraordinary women at Middle Collegiate Church

Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue is hosting the following event on Tuesday night... "Rage, Rejoice & RISE: An Evening of Celebration, Inspiration and Solidarity."


Here's more via the EVG inbox...

Eve Ensler, Tony-Award-winning playwright and founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising, hosts an evening featuring best-selling author Naomi Klein; "Westworld" star and domestic violence survivor/advocate Evan Rachel Wood; and Rhanda Dormeus, mother of Korryn Gaines, a young woman shot and killed by Baltimore police in 2016.

The evening includes the Rev. Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D.; musicians, activists, and the gospel choir of Middle Church. The evening honors the extraordinary women who are rising in unprecedented ways across New York City, the country and the world.

Tickets are $10 and available here.

The event starts at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30 p.m.) Middle Collegiate Church is at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. Find more info here.

A Public lawsuit

ICYMI from The New York Times yesterday...The Public Theater on Lafayette filed a lawsuit against Ian Schrager's swank-o Public hotel, which opened in 2017 just below East Houston on Chrystie.

The Public Theater (officially known as the New York Shakespeare Festival) asserts that Schrager and Co. "violated its trademarks by using the name 'Public' — as well a strikingly similar logo — to advertise theater and musical performances."

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, argues that the hotel’s use of "Public" in marketing entertainment events is likely to confuse customers and cause some to assume that the performances are associated with the famed nonprofit theater on Lafayette Street. The Public Theater, which opened its first show in the 1960s, claims that the Public hotel is essentially siphoning off its business by riding on its theatrical coattails.

Public Theater officials told the Times that they didn't have any problem with Schrager using the name in association with the hotel. The issue comes with the hotel's performance space, called Public Arts.

And Schrager's response?

Mr. Schrager said in a statement through his spokeswoman that when his company registered its trademarks for the hotel, the Public Theater did not have any of its own. "We would not have gotten our trademarks if they did," he said.

And...

"After being in the business for 40 years with scores of projects having been completed, I think I know a little about registering trademarks to protect our brands and good will."

This is the second high-profile trademark lawsuit on the LES. Last year, MoMA took legal action against the MoMaCha tea room on the Bowery.

Random P.I.L. album art via Wikipedia Commons.

Banners for the Brant Foundation's Basquiat exhibit

Noting the recent arrival of the banners on Sixth Street and Avenue A for the upcoming Basquiat show, the inaugural exhibit at the Brant Foundation, 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue...



The exhibit, featuring works from the private collection of Peter Brant, starts March 4...





The free tix are all accounted for... but you can add your name to a waitlist.

The DOT allows for banners that "promote a public event or a cultural exhibit." Application info is here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Here's how to reserve free tickets for the Basquiat exhibit opening next month at the Brant Foundation on 6th Street

'White' noise

From the forthcoming Royal Trux album White Stuff (Fat Possum Records) ... this is the song "White Stuff."

This is the first new record for Neil and Jennifer in 20 years. They'll be at the revamped Webster Hall on May 15.

After 50 years on the block, the Hells Angels appear to be selling their 3rd Street clubhouse

[EVG file photo]

The word coming from Third Street is that the Hells Angels are selling their clubhouse (No. 77) here between First Avenue and Second Avenue with a springtime move planned.

According to public records, there's a Memorandum of Contract (the form preceding a contract of sale) dated this past Dec. 21 between Church of the Angels, Inc. (aka — The Church of Angels) and 77 East 3rd LLC ...



The document is signed by Bartley J. Dowling, president of the NYC Hells Angels chapter, and the purchaser, Nathan Blatter of Whitestone Realty Group.

Attorney Ron Kuby, who has represented the Angels in legal matters through the years, said that he was unaware of any sale. "I have heard nothing about it," he said on the phone yesterday. (He also said that he doesn't handle real-estate law.)

At this time, it's not known where the NYC clubhouse may be relocating or what the reasons are for doing so.

The Hells Angels have had a presence in 77 E. Third St. since 1969. They eventually bought the six-floor building, which includes their clubhouse and member residences (Realtor.com lists 14 units), from Birdie Ruderman in the Bronx for a reported $1,900. The deed on file with the city from November 1977 shows the then-dilapidated building changed hands for $10...



In 1983, chapter president Sandy Alexander took over ownership of the building. The deed from that time states that Alexander, his wife Collette and their family could live on the premises rent free. In addition, in the event that the building was sold, she would stand to receive half of the proceeds.

This agreement was later the basis for a legal tussle in 2013 between the clubhouse and Alexander's family. (Sandy Alexander, who spent six years in prison for dealing cocaine, died in 2007.)

According to the Post in 2013:

They are suing his second wife, Alison Glass Alexander, of Jamaica, Queens and his daughter from another marriage, Kimberly Alexander, of Needles, Calif. to prevent them from making a grab for the property.

A source told the Post that the members have no immediate plans to sell 77 E. 3rd St. — which is on the periphery of New York University’s $6 billion expansion plan and in a once-crime ridden neighborhood where one-bedrooms now rent for $3,500 a month — but they wanted to clear up the "cloudy deed."

That deed was eventually reversed in April 2018, per public documents, ...



The U.S. government unsuccessfully tried to seize the building starting with a drug bust in 1985. The feds charged that the clubhouse was used to make drug deals. However, a jury ruled against the forfeiture in February 1994, per The New York Times.

At another time we may note more of their legal run-ins here through the years. (Most recently, in late December, the Post reported that a deliveryman was allegedly sucker punched by a member when he parked his car in front of motorcycles outside the clubhouse.)

And here's a portion of the 1983 documentary "Hells Angels Forever" that highlights the Third Street clubhouse at the two-minute mark...