Updating: FDNY battling 3-alarm fire on the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue and 7th Street

The FDNY is responding to a report of a multiple-dwelling fire on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street...





The first report came in at 4 p.m. ... the FDNY has since upgraded this to a three-alarm fire. The addresses are 48 Seventh St. and 116 Second Ave. The ground-floor retail tenants are Via Della Pace on Seventh Street and Café Mocha on the corner.

MAN 3-ALARM 48 E 7 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING FIRE IN THE WALLS AND COCKLOFT,

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) February 10, 2020

No word of any injuries at the moment.

Updating

Here's a look via Steven just after 5 p.m. ...











And a video clip from a Citizen user...

Three-Alarm Fire Spread Through Ductwork @CitizenApp

48 E 7th St 3:49:00 PM EST

Updated 6 p.m.

The FDNY has yet to issue an all clear... you can see the extent of the damage to the corner building... (photos by Steven)...





Updated 6:40 p.m.





Updated 7 p.m.

The FDNY issued the under control at 6:43 ... no early word on the cause of the fire...

MAN 3-ALARM 48 E 7 ST, MULTIPLE DWELLING HEAVY FIRE ON MULTIPLE FLRS, UNDER CONTROL

— FDNYalerts (@FDNYAlerts) February 10, 2020

Updated 7:38 p.m.

Per PIX 11:

There was fire in the walls of all five floors..., officials said. The first floor is a restaurant and the floors above it are apartments.

Firefighters knocked out windows so they could reach the blaze inside. There were 140 firefighters at the scene.

Five firefighters reportedly received non-life-threatening injuries.

REMINDER: North side L-train entrance opens on Avenue A today

[Photo from Saturday]

As we first reported last week, the L train's new Avenue A north entrance — for Eighth Avenue-bound commuters — debuts today (Feb. 10).

Here's a look around the outside of the two entrance on the Stuy Town side of 14th Street...







MTA officials have said that the entrance is opening with "temporary finishes."

With this debut, the MTA will now close the north-side entrance on First Avenue on Feb. 17 for renovations.

Here's the full schedule of what to expect from The L Project e-newsletter:

• Starting this Friday night (around 10), you'll use the Avenue A north entrance to access trains in both directions on weekends and weeknights.

• On Monday, Feb. 17, the First Avenue north entrance will close for reconstruction. Like the other side, this will take about three months, so we're estimating a May 2020 completion. While this work is happening, both entrances to the First Avenue Station will be located at Avenue A.

• Once we complete the First Avenue entrances, the ones at Avenue A will close again for a bit so we can do the final finishes.

When all the construction is wrapped up, the revamped 14th Street First Avenue station will have four entrances — including the two on either side of 14th Street at Avenue A as well as two new platform-to-street ADA elevators that will be ready for use this summer. (Find more details on this MTA advisory.)

The Brooklyn-bound side arrived this past Nov. 4 at Avenue A.

No word just yet from the MTA about when all four entrances — two at First Avenue and two at Avenue A — will all be accessible at the same time. Also, the work on the new substation at 14th Street and Avenue B is expected to wrap up this spring.

Village Crêperie coming soon to 9th and A

We heard rumors of a coffee-crepe shop opening along 441-445 E. Ninth St. (aka 145 Avenue A). And now we have confirmation: Signage for Village Crêperie arrived over the weekend. (Thanks to EVG reader Sean Nahlik for the photo!)

The cafe will join Social Tees as new tenants along these Icon Realty-owned storefronts on Ninth Street at Avenue A, where the previous newish retail tenants mostly vacated last year.

H/T Steven!

Openings: Strings Ramen on 2nd Avenue

Strings Ramen is up and running at 188 Second Ave. at 12th Street.

This is the fifth outpost for Strings Ramen, a regular on the best-of ramen lists in its home turf of Chicago and the United States. (There's also a location in Madison, Wisconsin.)

Among other dining options, Strings features the Monster Hell Ramen Challenge, an extreme dare in which participants have to sign a waiver before attempting. Here's one write-up of it:

[The challenege] involves eating an entire bowl of level five spicy ramen in 20 minutes or less without leaving the table or guzzling more than the measly single allotted glass of water. It’s not hard to understand why: The level five Hell Ramen is fueled by no fewer than five different kinds of peppers, including ghost (which you’ve heard of) and scorpion (which you probably haven’t – it’s from Trinidad, and has been listed among the world’s hottest). The fact that the peppers infuse the broth, which soaks deeply into the bowl’s other ingredients, makes the heat completely impossible to dodge. And after your second or third bite, your tongue is essentially immersed in a spice-spiked lake of fire.

"Winners" receive a $50 gift certificate and a Monster Hell t-shirt... oh and the bowl is free.

Their hours are listed as 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to Yelp.

Perhaps Strings Ramen will be able to make this space work. As previously noted, the restaurants at 188 Second Ave. haven't fared well in recent years (at least since old-timer Shima got rent-hiked out of here in January 2014). Lumos Kitchen lasted three months in 2018. Others to make quick departures in the past five years were Hot Pot Central, DumplingGuo and Dumpling Go.

Openings: Lovenburg on 6th Street

Lovenberg is now serving a menu featuring Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine at 328 E. Sixth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

Aside from a variety of burgers, the menu includes some grilled fish options, pastas and salads ... you can see for yourself here...



Lovenburg opened its first outpost in Turkey in 2018, and ownership decided to bring their concept here.

The restaurant is open daily from noon to 10 p.m. Find their website at this link.

Another look at the incoming tech hub

Quick update on progress at the tech hub (aka Zero Irving) on 14th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

Late last week workers started on the deck for the third level of what will be a 21-floor building...



Workers also completed installation of the sidewalk bridge along 14th Street to move pedestrians inside the building footprint ...



One full lane of 14th Street has now been blocked off outside the site for construction work. In July 2018, during a televised hearing, the reps for the developer promised that all demolition and construction work would be done within the bounds of the property. That obviously isn't happening.

The building, developed jointly by the city’s Economic Development Corp. and RAL Development Services, will feature 14 floors of market-rate office space as well as "a technology training center and incubator, co-working spaces, state-of-the-art event space, and street level food hall on the seven floors beneath," per the Zero Irving announcement issued last October.

The project, championed by Mayor de Blasio and initially announced in early 2017, passed through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Process earlier in 2018, capped off by a unanimous City Council vote — led by local Councilmember Carlina Rivera — in August 2018. A rezoning was required to build the the structure, which is larger than what current commercial zoning allows.

The approval came despite the pleas of some residents, activists, small-business owners and community groups who had long expressed concern that the rezoning necessary for the project would spur out-of-scale development on surrounding blocks.

The new building, on the former site of a P.C. Richard & Son, has a completion date for the spring of 2021, per the renderings onsite.

Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of the tech hub — aka Zero Irving — above ground on 14th Street

A look at tonight's CB3-SLA agenda

[Brasserie Saint Marc]

Community Board 3's SLA & DCA Licensing Committee will meet twice this week to hear applicants vying for new or modified liquor licenses.

Brasserie Saint Marc, which opened at 136 Second Ave. between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street in October, is back on the agenda for the following proposed changes:

Brasserie Saint Marc (UKI Freedom LLC), 136 2nd Ave (op/method of operation/add DJ, Live Music (Acoustic), promoted events, any event at which a cover fee is charged, scheduled performances, add more than 12 private parties per year, add unlimited drink specials, add boozy brunches with food, extend Happy Hour, add Jukebox and Karaoke, add Video/Arcade Games)

They withdrew their application ahead of last month's committee meeting.

Ownership is also seeking a license for a sidewalk cafe. Also on the sidewalk cafe agenda tonight: Ruby's Café, which debuted this past October at 198 E. 11th St. at Third Avenue.

Here's a look at the rest of the agenda for tonight's meeting:

• El Sombrero (Two Almontes Corp), 108 Stanton St. (op/alt: to use basement to store alcohol/method of operation: change hours to 11 am to 2 am Sunday thru Thursday and 11 am to 4 am Friday and Saturday; change number of employees to 8; to hire 1 security personnel for Friday and Saturday to check ID)

• The Crown (Bridgeview Hotel LLC), 50 Bowery (op/method of operation/add recorded/background music to roof-top space)

• Norman's Cay (Norman's Cay Group LLC), 74 Orchard St. (op/alt/to license adjacent space)

New Liquor License Applications

• Ichibantei (Lucky One Enterprises LLC), 20 St Marks Pl (op)

• Corp to be formed by Erinson Salce, 112 Rivington St. (op)

• Cozy Cafe (Cozy Cafe Corp), 43 E. 1st St. (upgrade to op)

• Nostro East Village (Romi Ripa LLC), 75 2nd Ave (wb)

A noteworthy scratch: Applicants for Ichibantei have been on the CB3-SLA agenda multiple times dating to November 2018 for the former Grassroots space on St. Mark's Place.

Tonight's meeting starts at 6:30, Perseverance House Community Room, 535 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.

We'll have details later about CB3's SLA committee meeting on Wednesday night.

Last nite

Multiple EVG readers mentioned seeing the ad Friday night and last night for the upcoming (surprise?) Strokes record being projected on the above building on Second Avenue at First Street. (H/T @GramPeder!) The projector was atop Avalon Bowery Place across East Houston.

As several music sites noted, the band posted a video clip featuring artwork for the new project apparently taken from a 1981 Jean-Michel Basquiat piece titled "Bird on Money"...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Strokes (@thestrokes) on Feb 7, 2020 at 2:20pm PST

The band last released a studio album in 2013.

Week in Grieview

[Wednesday on St. Mark's Place via Derek Berg]

At the opening night of 'The Devil Probably: A Century of Satanic Panic' series at the Anthology Film Archives (Wednesday)

A visit to a poetry reading at Odessa (Tuesday)

King Kong lives: How a favorite stuffed animal from childhood became part of a community garden (Friday)

A Broadway-worthy marriage proposal where east meets west (Thursday)

Lawsuit filed to stop East River Park demolition (Friday)

Factory Tamal now open on 4th Street (Tuesday)

Ray returns! (Saturday)

Duane Reade by Walgreens closing on 10th Street and Third Avenue (Thursday)

North side L-train entrance opens at Avenue A on Feb. 10 (Tuesday)

Le Sia is back in action on 7th Street (Thursday)


[Eye watch at the Regal Union Square via Derek Berg]

Report: Target will replace the Food Emporium in Union Square — in 2023 (Thursday)

Cloud99 Vapes has closed on 2nd Avenue (Thursday)

First sign of the tech hub — aka Zero Irving — above ground on 14th Street (Monday)

Thai Direct is under renovation on Avenue A (Wednesday)

Live above the iconic Block Drugs (Monday)

Report: State says landlords must now pay broker fees, not tenants (Thursday)

You HAD your chance to buy the 7-Eleven retail space on the Bowery (Monday)

Doma Food and Drinks debuts on 1st Avenue (Wednesday)

Melt Shop closes on 4th Avenue (Tuesday)

The Whale Tea beaches itself on 14th Street (Wednesday)

Becky's Bites moves on 7th Street (Monday)

... and several readers have asked about this figure that has appeared around the neighborhood in recent weeks... no word on who the artist is...





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The Astor Place Kmart has your holidays covered!

If you're looking to knock off all your upcoming holiday shopping with one trip, then look no further than the Astor Place Kmart.

Aside from the expected Valentine's Day (this coming Friday!) gifts ...



Goggla reports that the St. Patrick's Day goods (no beer display!) ...



... and Easter (April 12) items are all ready...



We'll check back next month for the Thanksgiving display.

Ray returns!

Ray is out of hospital ... and back at Ray's Candy Store today at 113 Avenue A, Peter Brownscombe tells us.

As previously reported, Ray, who turned 87 last month, was hospitalized for emergency hernia surgery on Jan. 23.

Those who saw Ray today note that he is in very good spirits.

Local Knowledge Reading Series comes to the Parkside Lounge tomorrow (Sunday!)

Here's info about the latest reading via Local Knowledge, a biannual literary and art magazine.

Tomorrow (Sunday, Feb. 9!) afternoon at 2, the reading features Sanjay Agnihotri, Mike DeCapite and Greg Masters (a frequent EVG contributor) at the Parkside Lounge, 317 E. Houston St. at Attorney...

Daystarter (sun is back edition)

Sunrise shot from 10th and B today via Vinny & O...

'Prism' break

San Francisco's synth-pop group Cold Beat is back with a new LP (titled Mother) coming out on Feb. 28. The video here is for the record's second single, "Prism."

EVG etc.: Mokyo debuts on St. Mark's Place; The Strand expands to the UWS

[Seeing double on 7th via Derek Berg]

• Concerns mount over the hotel special permit plan below Union Square (amNewYork)

• Some of Steve Croman's tenants still have chronic issues with their apartments (Gothamist)

• Details on chef Kyungmin Kay Hyun’s new restaurant Mokyo on St. Mark's Place (Eater and Grub Street ... previously on EVG)

• The Strand is opening an outpost on the UWS (Westside Rag)

• Affordable housing lottery underway for this Essex Crossing building (The Lo-Down)

• More cities and states are saying no to cashless shops (NPR ... previously on EVG)

• NYCHA's 'RAD' plan (The City)

• Look ‘n Lick, a site-specific collaborative installation, continues at mh Project NYC, 140-142 Second Ave. — open Saturday and Sunday 2-6 p.m. (Official site)

• See "Casablanca" on Valentine's Day in the big auditorium at City Cinemas on Second Avenue and 12th Street Street (Official site)

• RIP Ivan Kral (Dangerous Minds) ... and Andy Gill (NPR)

• Patti Smith helps vandalized Portland, Ore. book shop (The Oregonian — h/t Daniel!)

Lawsuit filed to stop East River Park demolition

[Photo yesterday by Kate Horsfield via Instagram]

Opponents of the city's plan to demolish East River Park announced details of a lawsuit yesterday in hopes of stopping the project set to commence this year.

The Alienation of Parkland lawsuit was filed by Arthur Z. Schwartz of Advocates for Justice on behalf of East River Park Action, a grassroots neighborhood group, and 90 other plaintiffs.

Here's part of their statement via the EVG inbox:

The $1.45 billion flood control project will destroy the largest park south of Central Park starting in fall 2020. It will take at least three years (but likely much longer considering city’s history with park construction) to secure the neighborhood from storm surges.

Thousands of park users have demanded immediate interim flood protection and a revision of the plan to cause minimal destruction of the park.

The mayor and the New York City Council support the current East Side Coastal Resiliency Project despite vast neighborhood opposition.

“We have to sue to stop this plan. It’s clearly a violation of state law to destroy the park,” says Charles Krezell, who organized the legal efforts with East River Park Action.

Schwartz, a West 12th Street resident, previously filed lawsuits against the city's 14th Street Busway.

You can read more about Alienation of Parkland, the basis of the lawsuit, at this link.

This past Nov. 14, City Council signed off on the hotly contested flood-protection plan that will bury/elevate East River Park by eight feet as part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. The Department of Design and Construction has said that it plans to break ground on the Project later this spring.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• More details on the city's new plan to keep East River Park partially open during flood protection construction (Oct. 3)

• At the march and rally to save East River Park (Sept. 21)

• An annual reunion in East River Park (Aug. 4)

• A visit to East River Park (July 10)

King Kong lives: How a favorite stuffed animal from childhood became part of a community garden

The Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden has a new stuffed-animal resident — one with a long history in the East Village.

The stuffed King Kong belonged to Nefertiti Jones, who was born and raised on Sixth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C in the 1970s and 1980s. At age 4, her mother gave her the King Kong stuffed animal. She instantly fell in love with him.


[Image via Instagram]

She recently shared this story on an Instagram post (and with me)...

Kong slept on my bed all through my early childhood and teen years. We would first be parted when I moved to San Francisco in 1994 ... He was in good hands with his grandmother on East Fourth Street.

Upon returning to NYC and settling into my own place, I would move Kong back in with me. Of course, for the next 20 years, I found myself moving from the Upper West Side, to Williamsburg and finally back to East Fourth Street ... Kong was with me.

Last month, she made the difficult decision to part with him. He was falling apart. Jones asked her husband Jimi to dispose of Kong when she was away.

He did. But Jimi had become attached to Kong too, so rather than put him in the trash he put him on top of a recycling bin in the neighborhood hoping someone would take him home.

Last week, she was walking on the Sixth Street side of the Sixth Street and Avenue B Community Garden when she saw a familiar figure.

I nearly fell over when I saw Kong in a tree in the garden. My beloved Kong found his way back home and is now in the garden hanging in a tree.

Someone patched up his paws and placed a bunch of pussy willows in them.


[Image via Instagram]

"It has taken all of my will power not to take him back home with me," she said, "but I think he is happier in the garden."

Duane Reade by Walgreens closing on 10th Street and Third Avenue

Store closing signs are now up at the Duane Reade by Walgreens location on the southwest corner of Third Avenue and 10th Street. The last day for this location is March 2. (Thank you to Steven for the photos!)

Pharmacy customers are being transferred to the DR on 14th Street and Third Avenue.

In late 2015-early 2016, the drug store expanded into the two adjacent spaces along here, causing retail tenants Excel Art and Framing Store and East Village Cheese (which was never the same) to relocate.

This also marks the third Duane Reade by Walgreens to close nearby in the past few months. The outpost on Avenue D at Houston and First Avenue between 14th Street and 15th Street shuttered last November.

This block-long strip of shops has been under cover of a sidewalk bridge now for years (one estimate places it here toward the end of 2015)...



In May 2016, the FDNY responded to a threat of bricks falling from the facade at the building, officially 115 E. Ninth St.

Thursday's parting shot

The two formerly mysterious pink gumball machines (part of an album release promo for Fab Moretti's side project) were recently removed from Avenue A ... and as Goggla notes tonight, the remains of the machine at Seventh Street is now serving as an ashtray ...

A Broadway-worthy marriage proposal where east meets west

[Photo courtesy of Diana Catherall]

Diana Catherall grew up on Fourth Street in the East Village. Her boyfriend, Daniel Heydebrand, grew up on Fourth Street in the West Village. Their respective families still live on the street.

So this past Sunday, when Heydebrand proposed to Catherall, he decided to do it in a familiar location — on Broadway, in the crosswalk where East Fourth Street meets West Fourth Street.

"I loved the setting. It was perfect because it’s the halfway point to where we both grew up," Catherall told me. "It was very thoughtful and appropriate."

The proposal included the presence of their dogs and a moving truck owned by Heydebrand's family adorned with a colorful "Diana, will you marry me?" message. Heydebrand's cover story for that morning: They were going to have photos taken of their dogs, hence the presence of a photographer.

Given the time on Sunday morning, there was light traffic on this usually busy Broadway intersection. But it wasn't as if they had time to dawdle.

"Cars eventually honked for us to get out of the way," Catherall said. "But that’s New York ... I would expect nothing less."

Report: Target will replace the Food Emporium in Union Square — in 2023

[EVG photo from 2015]

ICYMI: Lois Weiss at the Post yesterday reported that Target is taking over the Food Emporium space at 10 Union Square East in the base of the Zeckendorf Towers. However, the takeover won't happen until 2023.

Per Weiss:

While Target has just signed a lease for 32,579 square feet at 10 Union Square East, the space is still occupied by the Food Emporium until the end of April in 2023.

Despite the wait, sources said Target wanted to lock in the location along East 14th Street. The nearly 16-year lease had an asking rent of $183 per square foot.

In December 2015, Key Food acquired the Food Emporium banner name and related intellectual property assets, per published reports.

This will mark the departure of yet another traditional grocery store in the area. Associated closed on 14th Street in Stuy Town in December, a location very close to the Target that opened in July 2018.

Le Sia is back in action on 7th Street

After nearly two-plus months of renovations, Le Sia reopens this evening on Seventh Street near Cooper Square.

EVG reader Jonathan Michael Fung shared this photo from last night, showing that the paper had been removed from the front windows. (It's not immediately known what changes ownership made to the Chinese restaurant during these recent weeks.)

Le Sia debuted in January 2018, and quickly received positive notices for its seafood boils and various skewers. As Eater put it — "NYC’s Most Exciting New Chinese Restaurant Dares to Pile the Heat on Seafood." And then there was The New Yorker: "At Le Sia, Find Nirvana in Crawfish Domination."

Report: State says landlords must now pay broker fees, not tenants

Updated 2/10

The New York Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order halting the ban on landlord-hired brokers charging tenants a commission, per Gothamist.

--

Making headlines last evening: "Surprise for New York Renters: No More Broker Fees."

From The New York Times:

In an unexpected addendum to last year’s rent laws, state regulators said renters can no longer be charged broker fees, potentially upending the market and delivering the latest blow to an industry already reeling from new regulations and sweeping tenant protections.

Brokers can still collect a fee, the state said in the revised rules, but it must be paid by the landlord unless a prospective tenant hired them to help find an apartment.

This action caught many people off guard, chief among them the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), who is exploring legal action.

A REBNY spokesperson told The Real Deal that the new cost of landlords paying brokers fees instead of tenants would lead to an increase in rent.

Cloud99 Vapes has closed on 2nd Avenue

[Photos by Steven]

Cloud99 Vapes has closed at 50 Second Ave. between Second Street and Third Street.

As you can see, the space has been cleared out...



This had been expected. As reported back in October, the shop announced it was closing amid the public health crisis involving vaping products.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 2,711 hospitalized e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury cases or deaths have been reported from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories (Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands) as of Jan. 21.

As MSN reported last fall, business at Cloud99 had dropped by 70 percent.

In December, Mayor de Blasio officially signed into law a ban on the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes and flavored e-liquids in wintergreen, mint and menthol flavors. The ban goes into effect on July 1.

Cloud99 Vapes opened in 2015 at the site of the former Yoo's Convenience Store.

Wednesday's parting shot

Second Avenue at Seventh Street this evening via Derek Berg ...

Noted

EV reader Grant shared the above screengrab from Google Maps... showing that the description for Asian Taste on Avenue B and Third Street shows up as "My hot china wok balls, dipped in chilli oil, placed ..." when you type "24 hour food" into the Goggle Map search. Apparently it has showed up since at least this past weekend.

A variation of that description came up on our own search today...



From here, you could then find the full geo-tag description, which ends with the placement of those said "hot china wok balls."

Typing in Asian Taste Avenue B (or a variation of that) leads you to the usual listing on Google Maps.



Not sure why someone targeted the quick-serve restaurant with the sophomoric hack. This 2014 piece in Wired outlined how Google Map hackers have targeted small businesses in the past.