La Mia Pizza coming to 4th Avenue

Signage is now up on Fourth Avenue between 13th Street and 14th Street, where La Mia Pizza will be setting up shop in the former Pie by the Pound space.

This appears to be an outpost of the La Mia Pizza on First Avenue in Yorkville. (EVG reader Jeanne Krier, who shared the above photo, has tried La Mia Pizza and likes it.)

Pie by the Pound closed here last July after 17 years in business. A regular told us that the lease was up, and the owner wanted to pursue other opportunities.

Bites of Xi'an looking to make its mark on 10th Street

Signage recently arrived for Bites of Xi'an on 10th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue (in the retail space below Turntable Lab)...



According to the restaurant's website, ownership also runs Xifu Foods in Brooklyn, Foody's Dumpling on Ninth Avenue and KungFu12 Szechuan in Clarksville, Md.

Once open, Bites of Xi'an will offer a variety of homemade noodles, dumplings and rougamo, a hamburger-like meat sandwich from Xi’an, the capital of China’s Shaanxi province.

This subterranean storefront has been vacant since Ramen Zundo-Ya closed in December 2018.

[Updated] NYPD officer pinned between vehicles during traffic stop on Houston and Avenue D

In case you're wondering about the helicopters and large NYPD presence this evening around 8.

According to media accounts, plainclothes officers had conducted a traffic stop on Houston and Avenue D/Pitt Street. ABC 7 reported that the suspect reversed his vehicle, pinning one of the officers against the police car.

The officer, from Police Service Area 4 on Avenue C and Eighth Street, reportedly suffered a leg injury and was taken up First Avenue to Bellevue.

The suspect drove off was arrested a short distance away, per the Citizen app. Charges are pending.

Updated:

CBS 2 has a different (and correct) version of what happened. According to the station, "an out-of-control van hit the officer's parked unmarked car from the back." The Post's account corraberates this version of the incident.

Police caught the driver of the mini-van nearby on Delancey and Columbia streets, per these two reports.

Updated 1/22

The Daily News reports that the driver of the mini-van was allegedly drunk:

Franklin Liz, 45, is now facing drunk driving, vehicular assault and reckless endangerment charges for starting a chain reaction on Tuesday evening that left a 39-year-old police officer in the hospital with a compound fracture to his right leg, cops said.

Bait & Hook has closed

The now-former home of Bait & Hook is for lease on the northwest corner of 14th Street and Second Avenue.

EVG reader Jimmy reports that a "closed for renovations" sign arrived last week...



... followed by the arrival of the for rent sign on Friday. (And H/T Shiv and Pinch!)

Bait & Hook opened as an alleged seafood restaurant in September 2012.

Per the press release at the time:

Bait & Hook offers a laid-back, relaxed atmosphere where seafood is the star. Diners can enjoy a reasonably priced meal without compromising high-end, quality cuisine and service. Bait & Hook provides the perfect destination for a quick bite, affordable date or a group gathering, with something on the menu to please everyone in your party.

"We wanted to open a place that offered New Yorkers an affordable, casual dining experience, with the feel of a seafood shack but the taste of an ocean-side eatery," said Executive Chef Joe Bachman.

The space soon earned the nickname Bait & Switch via a few neighbors when the place became a sports bar (an Eagles gathering spot during the NFL season) and SantaCon stop.

There were signs on trouble early last year when the "closed for renovations" signs arrived along with a three-day rent demand from the landlord.

Before Bait & Hook, the space was the Meatball Factory then Hole Foods ... and before that! The Pizza Hut-Nathan's-Arthur Treacher's combo, which vanished in 2010...

2nd Avenue gas explosion trial recap

[Image via CBS 2]

A recap from the gas-explosion trial in case you were away this past holiday weekend. The sentencing took place on Friday...

• Trio responsible for the deadly 2nd Avenue gas explosion sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison (Friday)

• Convicted gas explosion landlord Maria Hrynenko out on bail; contractor, plumber remain behind bars (Saturday)

Meanwhile, here's a look from Sunday at the new building going up on Second Avenue and Seventh on two of the three lots destroyed on March 26, 2015...



Workers have been quickly erecting the Morris Adjmi-designed building at 119 Second Ave. — officially 45 E. Seventh St. — that will feature 21 condo units and ground-floor retail. The new building will include a commemorative plaque that honors victims Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locón.

We expect the construction tarp to come down soon, revealing ...


[Rendering via Morris Adjmi]

In the spring of 2017, Shaky Cohen's Nexus Building Development Group paid $9.15 million for the empty lots at No. 119 and No. 121 that Hrynenko owned.

In a transaction from late 2016, Ezra Wibowo paid $6 million for the adjacent property at 123 Second Ave. that was owned by a different landlord who had no role in the explosion. There isn't any development planned there for now, according to previous reports.

Chase unveils its Coffee Shop-replacing sign on Union Square

Chase, the newish tenant on the southwest corner of West 16th Street and Union Square West, has erected its new vertical sign on the building — a bland attempt at replicating the familiar neon that was here for 60-plus years.

Food writer Nick Solares shared these photos...



A little history. The Coffee Shop, the Brazilian-American diner run by former Wilhelmina models, closed here in October 2018 after 28 years in business. The Chase branch opened on Dec. 17 ... along with Chase-partnered Joe Coffee. (There's also another vegan quick-serve outpost of by CHLOE on the 16th Street side.)

During the renovations, workers removed the 1950s-era Coffee Shop neon sign — which belonged to the cafe (called Chase, oddly enough) that predated the Coffee Shop by several businesses.

There was some hope that the old sign would return after a cleaning/refurbishment. Obviously that isn't happening.


[Photo via Jeremiah Moss]

The Sunshine Cinema closed 2 years ago today

Foundation work continues for the 9-story office building coming to 143 E. Houston St. between Eldridge and Forsyth ... at night, the site looks like the bombed-out ruins of a building...



The property was home for 17 years to the five-screen Landmark Sunshine Theater. The Sunshine closed two years ago today — Jan. 21, 2018.

East End Capital and K Property Group, who bought the property for $31.5 million in the spring of 2017, are putting in the office complex with retail space. The links below have more details on what has transpired and what's to come.

And look back at the space in December 2017...



Previously on EV Grieve:
• Sunshine Cinema-replacing office building moving forward; demolition watch back on

• Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema

• The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space

• A celebratory ad on the purchase of 139 E. Houston St., current home of the Sunshine Cinema

• The boutique office building replacing the Sunshine Cinema will be 'unbounded by walls' with an outdoor space called Houston Alley

Citi Bike docking station arrives on 12th Street at Avenue C

Almost one year ago to the day, Citi Bike announced citywide expansion plans for its fleet, a plan that included two new docking stations in the East Village — First Avenue at Fifth Street and 12th Street at Avenue C.

The First Avenue docking station arrived the middle of last month. And now last week, the docking station showed up on 12th Street and Avenue C...



This new Citi station features 41 docks for bikes.

H/T Choresh!

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look at where Citi Bike is expanding in the East Village

iSouvlaki Greek Grill on tap for 139 E. 12th St.

[Photo by EVG reader Laura]

There has been activity in recent weeks inside the vacant storefront at 139 E. 12th St. at Third Avenue... and late last week the sign arrived for the new tenant — the iSouvlaki Greek Grill, which looks to fall into the "fast casual" category.

The owners are said to be from Merakia on West 21st Street, the same proprietors who were behind the previous venture here — Greekito, which featured Greek tacos, beer and wine, and coffee.

Greekito closed in November 2018 shortly after changing up concepts from the Wayside, a cafe-coffee shop that lasted six years.

Monday's parting shot

On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day... a look at what's left of the World Peace mural (circa 2010-2011) that includes his image on 12th Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...



Unfortunately, parts of this wall that faces the Children’s Workshop School have chipped away in recent years ... enough of the mural remains, though, to convey a message.

Room rental of the day

This one is making the rounds today... (thanks to everyone who forwarded the link!)

View this post on Instagram

What a steal #whatisnewyork (@adam_susser)

A post shared by WhatIsNewYork (@whatisnewyork) on Jan 20, 2020 at 7:35am PST

Discarded flower power

You may have noticed the flowers outside the former Bar Virage on the northeast corner (we were just talking about this space) of Second Avenue and Seventh Street this morning...



This is an ongoing project via @concretegardennyc ... a collaboration between @gumshoeart and @cohreenah, who rescue discarded flowers from the trash and place them on vacant storefronts to help beautify the space ... they've previously done this on the southwest corner of the Bowery and East Houston ... and the former New York Central Art Supply on Third Avenue near 11th Street...

View this post on Instagram

Where flowers bloom, so does hope ✨

A post shared by @GUMSHOEART & @COHREENAH (@concretegardennyc) on Oct 21, 2019 at 9:39pm PDT

Soft opening today for Baji Baji on 1st Avenue

[Image via Instagram]

Baji Baji debuts today at 145 First Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street. They are open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. ... and after a break, 5 to 11 p.m.

As we've been noting, owner Jay Yang decided to revamp China Star here... and the renovations — and subsequent inspections by the FDNY and Con Ed — took longer than expected...


[Photo by Lola Saénz]

The quick-serve restaurant recently launched an Instagram account if you want to take a look at their dishes (Yang said previously that despite the name change, the menu will mostly remain unchanged) ...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BAJIBAJI (@bajibaji_nyc) on Jan 18, 2020 at 9:14am PST

A random appreciation: the Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street

[Photo from Saturday]

While doing some research on another topic, I came across this article from The New York Times in July 1998 on the Immaculate Conception Church on 14th Street at First Avenue.

Some history...

Across from the stark red-brick boxes of Stuyvesant Town, the 1896 Immaculate Conception Church at 414 East 14th Street looks like a little French village.

The Gothic-style complex is only half of what was originally built, but the parish has taken good care of its second-hand assemblage ...

Immaculate Conception was built as Grace Chapel, an Episcopal mission established by Grace Church, at 10th and Broadway, one of New York's richest and most influential parishes in the 19th century. Begun in 1894, the chapel, seating 800, was the focal point of a large complex including a parish house, clubhouse, clergy house and infirmary. It was built to serve the poor Protestants in the area.

Immaculate Conception Church was originally across the street at 505 E. 14th St. However, the church was demolished when the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company began developing the Stuyvesant Town housing complex.

So in 1943, Immaculate Conception bought the old Grace Chapel complex.

You can read the full article at this link.