The block of East 12th Street between Avenues A and B may seem like an odd location for shmancy condos, but if there's one thing we've learned from the nearby A Building, it's that if you stick a pool on the roof, anything in the East Village will sell. Which could be the problem at the under-construction 525 East 12th Street. There's no pool, and hence, the five full-floor units (well, one is a kinda-sorta duplex) haven't sold after three months on the market with Corcoran. Now comes the fork in the road, and tough decisions need to be made by the developer. And if you read the headline on this post, you know which path was taken. Per StreetEasy, all five units recently had their prices raised. Nothing too drastic, just some $60-$85k increases to get a little attention. The average price was nudged just over $1,300/sqft in the process.
· 525 East 12th Street [StreetEasy]
In the past few months, 14th Street east of Avenue A has become a storefront ghost town. Nearly half of the shops on the south side of the street (the north side is Stuyvesant Town, of course) have moved or gone out of business, and no replacements have taken their spots. It's metal shutter mania, but considering that most of the previous tenants were 99-cent stores and other tchotchke businesses, maybe their time was just up. What's interesting, however, are the rumors we've heard that this forlorn stretch of 14th Street is going to go upscale, with fancier retailers. Laugh if you will, but here comes a major test that could decide if such a turnaround is possible.
The Parks Department can pick off late artist Eddie Boros' Toy Tower at any time, but luckily for the small crowd of East Village oldtimers and curious onlookers gathered on Sunday evening, the five-story structure was still standing in the community garden on East 6th Street and Avenue B for an informal celebration of the local landmark. The Timesreports that Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said parts of the tower are rotting, so safety concerns are the main reason for the dismantling (no museum wanted it). The two-decade-old Toy Tower will be carefully taken apart this week, with pieces going to the volunteer gardeners as mementos. Curbed photo dude Will Femia was at the Toy Tower tribute on Sunday, and snapped the above photos.
· Creation of a Bygone Era, Soon to Be Demolished [NYT]
· East Village's Tower of Toys Can Be Picked Off at Any Time [Curbed]
If any new condo building deserves a reality TV show, it's the A Building in the East Village. Quietly nestled on 13th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, the Cetra/Ruddy-designed Curbed obsession seems to be entirely populated by pretty young things who, come summer, will all be partying up a storm on the communal roof deck—with its lounge chairs, swimming pool and Stuyvesant Town views (MTV, are you listening?). We've been inside the building before, but not since people moved in and the roof was completed. Luckily, a special Curbed correspondent recently took a trip inside the building, which is actually two structures (the other one has its butt on 14th Street) joined by an interior courtyard. He writes...
When the "Buy This Mansion" signs came off the Cabrini Stuyvesant Polyclinic building on Second Avenue in the East Village, it was rumored that perhaps the old mansion of death was finally sold. Not so! The Villager reports that the brokers did not get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to install the signs, and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation reported the violation. Said a non-Andrew Berman of the signs, "They are particularly troublesome because they are bolted into the masonry and the decorative terra cotta of the individual landmark, potentially causing serious damage to the building’s architectural fabric." Only the exterior of the building is landmarked, and the mysterious owners received permission to begin interior demolition. Meanwhile, the hunt for an "eco-mansion" buyer or private club operator continues.
· Poly owners pitch ‘eco-manse’ or club, but are nailed on signs [Villager]
· A Look Inside the East Village's Mansion of Death [Curbed]
· East Village Landmark Hits Market as 'Mansion' [Curbed]
That public tribute planned on Sunday for late artist Eddie Boros' Tower of Toys sculpture in the community garden on Avenue B and East 6th Street? The neighborhood fixture may not even make it that long. Vanishing New York follows up on yesterday's news that the Parks Department will dismantle and remove the five-story pile with an update that claims city officials can send over a cherry-picker at any time and don't need to notify the garden. There is some hope that they will let 10 feet of the community curiosity remain, and in fact the garden voted to let the Parks Department haul away the sculpture after they failed to find a museum-backed taker for the unsturdy art. The celebration is still planned for 7-9pm on Sunday, but if there's nothing left, that would be a little awkward, wouldn't it? According to VNY's source, "Eddie himself said he didn't care what happened to the sculpture after he was gone. He said he didn't care if it was torn down." But a whole lot of other people do.
· Toy Tower Update [Vanishing New York]
At the corner of Third Avenue and 14th Street in the uppermost reaches of the East Village, demolition is underway to clear space for an 18-story apartment building. The Toll Brothers' One Ten 3rd made this block safe for fancypants development, and it looks like this new building will head in that direction as well. According to the approved building permit, the developer is Andrew Bradfield's Orange Management (of No. 22 Renwick), and indeed their website now carries a small teaser image of 123 Third Avenue. The architect is Perkins Eastman. The building will have 45 units and a retail tenant on the ground floor, which we've covered before. The Winick listing for the retail space now says that the space has been leased, most likely not to any of the previous tenants on this corner, a list that includes a deli, tanning salon, the grungiest juice bar ever and a seedy upstairs porn shop.
· Orange Management [orangemgmt.com]
· 123 Third Avenue Starts to Take Shape [Curbed]
· Rumblings & Bumblings Responses: Gourmet's Goodbye [Curbed]
Yesterday was a rough one for the East Village, as a pair of neighborhood institutions were left bloodied and beaten by various city agencies. And while we're still confused why the Parks Department would suddenly call for the dismantling of the Tower of Toys after all these years (it'll always be the Tower of Garbage to us), Eater has an update on the shock shuttering of 114-year-old bakery Veniero's. The operators put up a sign explaining the Department of Health's beef with the cannoli and cheesecake mecca, and it's that age-old excuse: "a Capital Improvement Project which has unfortunately resulted in a pest problem." Of course. (The Daily News says the pest problem is "mice droppings," yum.) There's no word if the bakery will be up and running in time for Mother's Day pastry runs, but Veniero's co-owners are hoping for a Thursday reopening. So what's next for the East Village? The MTA decides to run the Second Avenue Subway through St. Marks Church?
· Basta! Veniero's shut down [NYDN]
· LATE BREAKING DOH Chronicles: Veniero's Gets the Yellow Sticker [Eater]
Since October 2005, the City Planning Commission has been studying Community Board 3's rezoning proposal for the East Village and Lower East Side. While they were hitting the books, many builders were taking advantage of the outdated and pretty much nonexistent zoning guidelines for those neighborhoods, but now study time is finally over. The City Planning Commission has announced that the public review process will finally begin. We've dabbled in the various proposed changes in the past, but basically building heights would be limited to 120 feet on certain main arteries, and 75-80 feet on quieter side streets. The proposed rezoning area covers 110 blocks bounded by East 13th Street to the north, Avenue D to the east, Grand and Delancey streets to the south, and Third Avenue and the Bowery to the west. CB3 gets 60 days to review the proposal, after which it will wind its way through the ULURP process. Hurry up and lay those foundations, developers!
· LES/EVil Downzoning: No More BLUEs? [Curbed]
· East Village / Lower East Side [nyc.gov]
Last week's guest blogger, Chris Carrara of East Village Idiot filed another dispatch dealing with the appearance of some of the neighborhood's community gardens. He writes:
The East Village is peppered with Community Gardens, especially towards Alphabet City. These are meant to be oases in a desert of concrete, but they seem to have their own problems. GreenThumb, the organization responsible for the development of these gardens for the past 30 years, says they "foster civic participation and encourage neighborhood revitalization while preserving open space." It mentions nothing of beautifying the neighborhood, but you'd think that's an intention of creating Community Gardens. If community gardens in the East Village are supposed to be a reflection of my community as a whole, then my neighbors are downright sloppy.
After changing hands, the old Stuyvesant Polyclinic on Second Avenue between 8th and 9th returned to the market with gusto. But the "Buy This Mansion" signs plastered to its 124-year-old, carved terra cotta façade have been taken down. The broker, Moss Real Estate Group, imagined a rock star like Lenny Kravitz would buy the building for $13 million and install an “indoor/outdoor saltwater swimming pool exiting to your gigantic organic garden” along with other whimsies. What of the interior of this now possibly-sold landmark? The broker's listing now includes a few bright and shiny interiors, but a look inside, per the photo gallery above, does show the place looking impressive. But I don’t know where that swimming pool and garden is going to go, because there is no backyard. A quick peek through the windows of the neighboring Ottendorfer Library reveals a weird outbuilding connected by a passageway taking up the entire rear space. As a century-old medical clinic, this building’s got some very special amenities. Like the full-service mortuary right inside the front door. —Jeremiah Moss
· Mansion of Death Sold? [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]
· East Village Landmark Hits Market as 'Mansion' [Curbed]
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That public tribute planned on Sunday for late artist Eddie Boros' Tower of Toys sculpture in the community garden on Avenue B and East 6th Street? The neighborhood fixture may not even make it that long. 
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