Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Noted
'Alien' nation: East Village duo the Acute release debut full-length record
Photos by Stacie Joy
For now, you can find the smashing record on Bandcamp ... as well as on streaming services, including Spotify and Apple. (A vinyl release is forthcoming.)
On this occasion, EVG contributor Stacie Joy tagged along with the two, who are also a couple outside the band, as they shopped for records in the East Village ...
Keep tabs on the band via Instagram. And catch the lo-fi noisemakers on June 25 at Heaven Can Wait on Avenue A.
You can read our band Q&A from December right here.
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Thanks to (in order of appearance): • A-1 Record Shop, 439 E. Sixth St.
• Jay's record table, sidewalk near 97-99 Avenue A
• Ergot Records, 32 E. Second St.
Wash day for Temperance Fountain in Tompkins Square Park
As EVG first reported at the time, the fountain arrived here in August 1891, when people were squandering their money on 5-cent cups of coffee.
Read about the history of the fountain here.
Desert Rose Café has apparently closed on 9th Street
Photos by Steven
Workers were spotted clearing out Desert Rose Café the other day at 350 E. Ninth St. just west of First Avenue.
Google lists the Café as "permanently closed" now... though there isn't any mention of a closure on its social media properties...
The Café, which offered a vareity of breakfast and lunch options, including crêpes, wraps and salads, just opened last July.
This space was last very briefly O Ramen Dim Sum M, which tried to open during the pandemic without success. And previously: beQu Juice was here until November 2019 after nearly six years in business.
Until 2012, a bakery had been in this storefront for 87 years.
Coming soon: Ando Patisserie on 10th Street; Unique Omakase on 1st Avenue
Photos by Steven
We're told this will be an Asian-inspired bakery that will also serve a variety of teas. There's an Instagram account here.
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Restaurant reps were scheduled to appear before CB3's SLA committee back on Monday for a liquor license.
According to the questionnaire, Unique Omakase will have an 11-seat sushi bar with daily hours of noon to 11 p.m. The sushi chef here previously worked at Shinn East on Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.
An outpost of the London-based Bubbleology Tea chain was the last tenant here, closing in late 2021 after nearly two years in service.
Previously, the building's landlord, convicted felon Steve Croman, didn't/wouldn't renew the lease of the International Bar ... which closed in November 2017 before merging with the Coal Yard down the block.
Openings: Fries Factory on 14th Street
The quick-serve joint serves a variety of fries, like the classic fries, garlic fries, and currywurst with fries...
... there are also a few varieties of poutine... including, if you dare, Tijuana Street Poutine...
The space was previously Mani in Pasta, which closed during the early months of the pandemic.
No word yet on the hours of operation. Or even a website.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Proposed plans now call for a 24-story residential building on 14th Street and Avenue C
Updated 6/15: L+M Development Partners is not a developer in this project. According to a spokesperson, L+M's only role was assisting NYCHA in selling air rights. The post has been modified to reflect this.
Tonight, CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee will hear a presentation from reps for New York City Housing Authority and Madison Realty Capital.
The corner property — 644 E. 14th St. — has been in a stalled-development mode for years. (This corner property last housed the single-level R&S Strauss auto parts store, which closed in April 2009.)
There are already approved plans here for a 15-floor mixed-use building, though there aren't any affordable units attached to this version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing.
This past spring, the NYCHA and Madison Realty Capital filed documents seeking a non-ULURP modification — known as an LSRD — to the development plan.
PincusCo first reported on this. Per their report:
The application seeks to modify the boundaries of the previously approved plans and zoning calculations by expanding the zoning lot to include 644 East 14th Street (Block 396, Lot 29). Through the zoning lot merger, the development rights from the existing LSRD comprised of Campos Plaza I and II, which are owned by a joint venture that includes NYCHA ... can be transferred to Block 396, Lot 29, a vacant property owned by Madison Realty Capital.
According to a presentation posted to the CB3 website, the benefits of this air-rights deal would:
• "Generate revenue
for NYCHA, which will fund repairs exclusively at
Campos Plaza II."
• "Enhance the pedestrian experience for both
Campos Plaza and the surrounding community with
new ground floor retail, ground floor community
facility, lighting and new street trees."
• "Provide additional affordable housing units
pursuant to the Affordable New York Program
Option B."
• "MRC will commit to a resident hiring plan."
The presentation includes a rendering of the proposed building, a "massing evolution" and a slide on the "appropriateness of height" ...
As previously reported, Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 for $23 million.
Concerns over new plans
Meanwhile, there are concerns about the plan for the larger-scale development.
One group of locals started a Facebook group to help notify residents of the ongoing plans at No. 644.
"While we are all for the development of that corner ... and the affordable housing element of the plans, we are not happy with the sheer size of the footprint and the excessive height that goes along with the proposal," one of the organizers told EVG. "We believe it will have countless negative effects on the local community and is out of place in this neighborhood. One major, immediate concern is that they have done little outreach and have kept plans for the project very quiet, which seems to be an obvious strategy to avoid any scrutiny from the local public."
Before a presentation last month prior to CB3's Land Use, Zoning, Public & Private Housing Committee, Tenants Taking Control, a group of 100-plus long-term tenants in 15 East Village buildings owned by Madison Realty Capital, spoke out against the plans.
In a "warning letter" to CB3 members and other local elected officials, the group, which has had Madison Realty Capital as a landlord since 2017, alleged: "We believe from first-hand experience that they disregard East Village tenant and community needs for their own financial benefit."
Tonight's committee meeting starts at 6:30. You can find the Zoom link here.
Essex Card Shop getting closer to reopening on Avenue A
Photos by Stacie Joy
The build-out continues inside Essex Card Shop, the business gutted by a fire in early January at 47 Avenue A.
Owner Muhammad Aslam (above) provided EVG contributor Stacie Joy with an interior update the other day. As you can see, the new floor, walls and ceiling are all in place... with workers starting on the shelving phase ... 
Aslam is hopeful that the longtime family-owned business can be up and running again in three to four weeks.
You can check out our previous posts on Essex Card Shop, located in the retail space of the Ageloff Towers between Third Street and Fourth Street, for more background on what has transpired to date.
Monday, June 13, 2022
Remembering Jose Fernandez
Photos by Stacie Joy
In recent months, Hernandez was among the handful of unhoused residents living in tents along Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C, a stretch of sidewalk that has been a frequent target of the Mayor's encampment sweeps. (This was at least the eighth time in recent months where the city conducted a sweep here.)
Hernandez, pictured above, told this to EVG contributor Stacie Joy in April:
I've been here for four months now. I am looking for a one-bedroom apartment for my wife and me. I'm retired now. I was a superintendent and building manager for buildings on the Lower East Side. When I was younger, I worked for the Board of Education on Eldridge Street and Forsyth. A friend of mine was sleeping here on Ninth Street, and he was leaving his tent, so I took it. I get a pension and Social Security. Being homeless is not easy, including with the police department. They are very rude. They want us out of here. My wife is Amalia Jordan; we're common law. She’s staying at Masaryk Towers.
During the vigil today, the NYPD and other city agencies returned to this sidewalk space and tossed the belongings of the individuals here.
Here's more from 1010 WINS, in a bad-look story for the city administration, "Cops sweep East Village homeless encampment during vigil for dead resident."
Mourners, including residents, neighbors, activists and a reverend from the church across the street, were outraged that police had chosen to carry out the sweep during the vigil.
And...
After police and sanitation workers had finished destroying the camp, the vigil continued as planned, though maybe tinged with more anger and bitterness than it otherwise would have been.
As 1010 WINS noted, "After getting robbed twice in city shelters, Hernandez decided he preferred to live on the streets — where he spent his final years as his health failed."
He lost all his clothes and stockpile of food during a sweep in March.
"The sanitation truck stands there, and they start throwing everything in the truck," he said. "I was living there… They throw all the stuff out, clothing. They were begging but they didn't care."
Hernandez's "loved ones remember him as a kind, gentle and loving person, who, despite having very little, took immense joy in giving."
East Village Loves NYC issues a fundraising appeal to help continue feeding New Yorkers in need
The group put out a last-ditch fundraising appeal on Friday — they need $36,000 to keep going from their HQ at the Sixth Street Community Center.
Some positive news: Since sounding the alarm this past Friday, EV Loves NYC has raised more than half its fundraising goal of $36,000.
From an Instagram post on Saturday:
"The support we've received from our community over the past day has been absolutely incredible. Hundreds of calls, texts, voicemails, to let us know that you refuse to see us go.
We don't want to go. We want to keep helping the city we love, while building lasting memories with you and our community. We want to continue spreading love and helping those who need it most."
You can find the GoFundMe link here.
In the spring of 2020, a handful of friends got together to prepare meals for neighbors. Early on, Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street near Avenue B, donated his kitchen on Mondays for the group to cook its meals. By June 2020, they had outgrown the space and started assembling deliveries at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C.
Eventually, the group became known as East Village Loves NYC with 1,400-plus volunteers. In year one alone, the group cooked more than 100,000 meals for New Yorkers ... not to mention donated 325,000-plus pounds of groceries and 7,000-plus pantry bags.
Report: Office building for 3rd Avenue and St. Mark's Place moving forward after developer secures $70-million loan
The 9-floor office building for the northeast corner of Third Avenue and St. Mark's Place has new life after the developer received a $70-million loan.
As The Real Deal first reported, Parkview Financial is providing the loan for the refinancing and construction to developer Real Estate Equities Corp. (REEC) for the 61,000-square-foot building at 1 St. Marks Place.
Per TRD, REEC plans on 53,000 square feet of office space and some 7,700 square feet for retail.
Parkview CEO Paul Rahimian said in a statement that 1 St. Mark's Place could be in "high demand from the growing number of tech companies in the area."
Here's more from TRD on the project, slated for a summer 2024 completion, and the office-market outlook:
As of 2019, REEC was shooting for top-dollar rents at the boutique office building, planning to ask for around $150 per square foot. It's not clear what the developer will be seeking when the project finally comes to fruition. The office market has been decimated in the wake of the pandemic. A recent analysis predicted that by 2029, the city's office stock will drop in value by 28 percent, or roughly $49 billion, due to lease revenue falling and remote work rising further.
Last August, TRD reported that Madison Realty Capital was moving to foreclose on REEC's leasehold interest:
Madison has owned the $48 million loan package backed by REEC's East Village property since 2019. The real-estate private equity firm acquired the debt from South Korean financial services firm Hana Financial group, which provided REEC $79.1 million of debt and sold the $48 million portion to Madison Realty Capital.
Madison filed a complaint with the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging that REEC defaulted on the $48 million mortgage, which combines an acquisition loan and construction loans.
In any event, expect work to ramp up again after months of inactivity. Last October, workers removed the barriers around the work site... allowing pedestrians to use the sidewalks again — for the first time since the barricades arrived in June 2020.
A smaller building, and stacks of wheatpaste ads
As you may recall, a 10-story office building had been in the works here. In October 2020, the City Council's Zoning Subcommittee voted down REEC's application to transfer air rights from the landmarked 4 St. Marks Place to the new building across the street.
With the air-rights transfer, REEC would have been allowed to build 8,386 square feet larger than the current zoning allows.
REEC picked up the 99-year leasehold for the corner properties for nearly $150 million in November 2017. The previous assemblage, which included retail tenants such as Korilla BBQ, the Continental and McDonald's, was demolished in 2019.
For the past year-plus, this gateway to the East Village — with the "RIP St. Marks" greeting on the west-facing wall at No. 5 — has served as prime wheatpaste ad space...
Updated: Raclette will reopen on July 29
Photos by Stacie Joy
Updated 6/26: Signage at the restaurant states they will now reopen on July 29.
Raclette has closed at 511 E. 12th St.
Multiple readers told us about the "closed" sign on the door here between Avenue A and Avenue B.
Owner Edgar Villongco also confirmed the news to Eater. There isn't any mention of the closure yet on the restaurant's social media properties.
The restaurant, which served French and Swiss Raclette, Croques and Tartine, opened in a 14-seat space on Avenue A in February 2015... before moving to these larger confines in September 2016...
No. 511 was previously home to Northern Spy (2010-2016).
The all-new 360 Bowery is in the piledriving and jackhammering phase
This means, in recent days, that workers are jackhammering away at the base of the previous tenant, B Bar & Grill... there's some piledriving happening too...
The B Bar (b 1994) never reopened after the PAUSE in March 2020. Our previous posts have more background on this Midtown-friendly development via Bowery Hotel owner Eric Goode.
New signage era for Temakase on 2nd Avenue
Gone is the more minimalist storefront... and in — a colorful red and yellow crab...
Temakase opened in the summer of 2020. Haven't heard any reader reports on this place since then.
Team behind Ichibantei eyeing 100 3rd Ave.
There are just a handful of applicants this month, including MayRee on First Street and Gen Korean BBQ House on 14th Street and Third Avenue.
Here's another item of interest. The team behind the 12-year-old Ichibantei on 13th Street is looking to open a bar-restaurant serving Japanese cuisine at 100 Third Ave.
The questionnaire on file at the CB3 website shows the still-unnamed concept would feature room for 24 tables/98 seats spread over two floors... with proposed hours of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. during the week; a 4 a.m. close Thursday through Saturday. (The 69-page questionnaire also includes a sample menu.)
No. 100 between 12th Street and 13th Street last housed the vowel-deficient club VNYL, which shut down at some point during the pandemic. Until September 2015, the renovated building featured the second iteration of Nevada Smiths.
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Flashback to 2 years ago today: June 12, 2020
People viewed the clip more than 5 million times... with news outlets in the U.K., France and Japan asking permission to post the video.Friday night (6/12), St. Mark’s Place pic.twitter.com/hujW2ZFFrY
— evgrieve (@evgrieve) June 13, 2020
And among the retweets...
Earlier this week in June 2020, NYC reopened for the first time with workers in construction, manufacturing and retail being allowed to return — this after a nearly three-month lockdown, giving reason for some hope.Don't make me come down there... https://t.co/OeVGMW7LEO
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) June 13, 2020
Many Twitter users condemned the actions of the partygoers on the street, many of whom were not wearing masks... and at a time when some residents were still wiping down canned goods purchased at the grocery.
In June 2020, bars and restaurants were still barred from allowing patrons inside but were OK'd to dispense to-go drinks.
Eight days later, on June 20, NYC launched its Open Restaurants program, allowing restaurants to expand to sidewalks, curbside spaces and backyards.
Week in Grieview
• Questions and concerns remain over private security detail outside the former P.S. 64 (Tuesday)
• Gaia Italian Café set to debut on 3rd Street (Monday)
• RIP Bobbie Hondo (Monday)
• Come, let's drive along some side streets between Avenue C and Avenue D in 1987 (Friday)
• A look inside Globe Slicers, one of the most unique storefronts on the Bowery (Thursday)
• Ray's is ready to crank out the ice cream all summer long (Friday)
• 'Happy 35th Gay Anniversary' to Linda Simpson and My Comrade at Howl! Happening (Saturday)
• Astor Place Greenmarket returns (Tuesday)
• First red-tailed chick takes maiden voyage (Tuesday)
• At the last day of self-defense class (Wednesday)
• State of the art: Blick is now open in new 4th Avenue home (Monday)
• Best wishes to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants (Saturday)
• 'Room With Stars' at Theater for the New City (Wednesday)
• Demolition complete on the NE corner of 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street (Wednesday)
• Gen Korean BBQ House next for 14th Street and 3rd Avenue (Monday)
• Openings: Emilia by Nai (Wednesday)
• Chick-In to bring Korean-style chicken to Allen Street (Monday)
• Akina Sushi has not been open lately (Thursday)
• Milk Burger signage arrives on Houston (Wednesday)
• The Nook NYC announces itself on 2nd Avenue (Wednesday)
• Your first look inside the new East Village Taco Bell, opening NEXT WEEK on 3rd Avenue (Friday)
• El Churro for Allen and Houston? (Thursday)
• Wood you believe another smoke shop is opening (Tuesday) ... New smoke shop called Smoke Shop debuts on 3rd Avenue (Monday)
At the East Village Queer Market
Photos by Stacie Joy
Local vendors took part yesterday at the East Village Queer Market, a special Pride event "spotlighting queer makers and gay-owned businesses producing consumer goods."
Milk Money Kitchens, 50 Avenue A between Third Street and Fourth Street, hosted the Market. The sponsors were the East Village Independent Merchants Association, 3rd and B'zaar and Exit9.
While this was a one-day event, there is an online shop here for more Pride-related items.
EVG contributor Stacie oy stopped by for part of the afternoon...
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