Stephen Rex Brown

A non-profit that provides housing to homeless L.G.B.T. youth had no problem gaining the enthusiastic support of members of Community Board 3 for a proposed Bea Arthur Residence on East 13th Street.

Late last month, The Local reported that the Ali Forney Center, with the help of the Cooper Square Committee, hoped to gain control of and renovate the city-owned building at 222 East 13th Street, and rename it after the “Golden Girls” actress who donated $300,000 to the organization in her will. At a meeting last night, C.B. 3’s Land Use, Zoning, Public and Private Housing committee offered its unanimous support.

“It’s a burden that we all share, fixing these kinds of things,” David McWater, the chair of the committee, said. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown The violation at 331 East Sixth Street.

The construction site at 331 East Sixth Street — rumored to be the future home of “Friends” star David Schwimmer — received a violation from a Department of Buildings inspector today.

The notice cites the developer for failure to post the required permits for an eight-foot-tall fence at the front of the lot.

Much speculation and anger has surrounded the site since it was reported in July that the townhouse built in 1852 would be demolished to make way for a new dwelling.

The Local made numerous attempts to find out who the owner of the building is, as well as what the new building will look like. The accounting firm handling the property has remained tight-lipped about the identity of its client, and the architecture firm designing the building has not returned several phone calls.

Meanwhile, an apparent anarchist and architecture critic has left a note at the lot letting the developers know what he thinks about their “ugly, yuppie, ghetto catering to monied transients.”

A grassy field that was once the site of a demolished building in the Lillian Wald housing complex has been transformed into a park. Planters Grove, which was funded by the Planters company, opened earlier today with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a day of planting, mulching and peanut munching. Representatives from Planters handed out black top hats, one of which Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh donned during a speech praising the “greening of the New York City Housing Authority.”

The park’s centerpiece is a trellis (shaped like a peanut, naturally) that in the spring will hold clematis and climbing roses. “I like that it is kind of subtle and you can’t really tell it is a peanut,” said Lisbeth Shepherd, the founder and executive director of Green City Force, one of the two non-profits that worked with Planters and the New York City Housing Authority on the park’s construction. (The other was the national Corps Network.) Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown 222 East 13th Street.

If Steve Herrick, Carl Siciliano and the late Bea Arthur have their way, a long-neglected, city-owned house at 222 East East 13th Street will be converted into a refuge for gay, lesbian and transgender kids living on the streets.

The respective executive directors of the Cooper Square Committee and the Ali Forney Center hope that their proposal for a transitional housing center — funded by a $300,000 donation from the late “Golden Girls” star — will resonate with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which has owned the dilapidated property since 1993. As part of the effort to generate community support, representatives from both groups will pitch their idea for the Bea Arthur Residence For L.G.B.T. Youth at next month’s meeting of the Community Board 3 Land Use Committee.
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The D.O.B.’s map of stalled construction sites as of July.

In an effort to promote alternative uses of construction sites (for instance, those containers-as-canvases on East Fourth Street), Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has issued what a press release says is an unprecedented survey of stalled construction sites across Manhattan. The study found that of 129 stalled sites visited in June, Community Board 3 (which includes the East Village, the Lower East Side, and a part of Chinatown) had the second highest number of stalled sites, with 19. Out of 12 community districts, it also had the highest number of sites behind plywood (13), and the highest number of sites showing evidence of significant litter or dumping (5). The report noted that two thirds of Manhattan’s stalled sites showed signs of vandalism, using a photograph of a lot on Eighth Street as an example. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

It’s a little known fact – but no surprise – that Bill Hicks, the insightful and iconoclastic comedian, once lived in the East Village. His first apartment after moving to New York City in 1988 was at 29 Avenue B near the corner of East 3rd Street. In a postcard to his brother Steve, the acerbic stand-up described apartment 3F as “a studio, but rather large, with a full bath and full kitchen. It’s a new building with an elevator and laundromat. What a find.”

Mr. Hicks had a history of substance abuse problems, but arrived in New York from his native Houston eager to focus on his career. His brother told The Local about that time, via e-mail. Read more…

Echoing what The Local reported back in June, Edward Minskoff, the developer of the office building set to go up at 51 Astor Place, tells Real Estate Weekly that the Cooper Union Engineering Building will be demolished by the end of the year so that his futuristic Fumihiko Maki-designed office tower can be built by the end of 2013.

While the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation mourns the loss of 331 East Sixth Street (the fourth pre-Civil War building in the East Village to be demolished this year, the GVSHP’s site points out), Curbed learns that two nineteenth-century townhouses on East 10th Street are now being marketed as a pair for $12.5 million (down from $17.8 million three years ago).

Stephen Rex Brown Tommy McKean points at the air conditioner that keeps him up at night.

Last week, a city inspector validated what a group of residents in a 13th Street building had said for over a month: that a ventilator unit on the roof was too loud.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection said, “The kitchen equipment made more noise than is allowed by the provision that sets a standard in decibels and our readings.”

Now, the management of the Hamptons Marketplace deli that uses the unit must go before an Environmental Control Board in November, where a judge will levy fines (generally from $560 to $875) if it’s found the business is not in compliance.

But Tommy McKean, a resident who lives directly below the ventilator is not satisfied, and raised the possibility of picketing outside of the deli at First Avenue with his neighbors should the equipment on the roof continue to whir. Read more…

Ever wonder how the designers of stylish spots like The Breslin, The Dutch, and The Standard’s 18th floor bar outfit their own apartment? A listing posted on Curbed offers up the “famous” 25 East 4th Street loft belonging to Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, better known to interior design hounds as Roman and Williams. Two bedrooms (and the furniture!) can be yours for $3.5 million.

A posh condo at 40 Bond is cited in a $50 million lawsuit involving Sly Stone and his ex-manager, Curbed reports. The $7.5 million condo, which will be foreclosed next month, is used in court documents as an example of the former manager’s alleged mismanagement of the music legend’s assets. Mr. Stone — yes, of Family Stone fame — sued his ex-manager back in January for $50 million, charging that he had used music royalties to fund an opulent lifestyle.

Stephen Rex Brown Robert Campbell.

A handicapped resident of the Lillian Wald Houses says his apartment is in such a sorry state that it is literally killing him.

Robert Campbell is a burn victim who sleeps on a couch because his roughly 9-by-11-foot apartment doesn’t have room for an electric bed that would allow him to sleep on an incline, as ordered by doctors. He says odors from a dumpster beneath his 12th-floor studio hurt his lungs, which were severely damaged by an electrical fire in 1988. The blaze burned over 80 percent of his body and resulted in numerous surgeries and the amputation of fingers on his left hand. His doctors have implored the New York City Housing Authority to put him in a three-room apartment since 2003, because even the pilot light in Mr. Campbell’s oven hurts his skin.

“I just want to get in a proper apartment and have this nightmare be over with,” said Mr. Campbell, 58. “I’ve never lived like this before.” Read more…

According to I Love East Village, a local arts group is looking for volunteers to paint an entire block of roofs on East Fourth Street. The White Roof Project, working with Fourth Arts Block, says the project will demonstrate that white roofs lower the temperature in the area, which in turn reduces demands on the power grid.

According to a real estate listing picked up by Curbed, Karl Fischer, the architect that just last week unveiled his plans for a building on East 12th Street, is now designing a 33-unit building to replace an East Third Street townhouse dating back to 1900.

Back in June, The Times asked, “In the East Village, Where Have All the Nomads Gone?” Now The Villager reports that some of the so-called “travelers” or “crusties” have returned to Tompkins Square Park, “though in smaller numbers.” A reputation for heroin is keeping one couple away; meanwhile in a separate item, veteran “gutter pirate” L.E.S Jewels tells The Villager that it’s not easy getting sober in the park since, he says, “everyone keeps offering me drinks.”

Khristopher J. Brooks Francesca Manisco and her favorite filing system

Today on The Local East Village, it’s all about cleaning house. First Brendan Bernhard recounted the epic task of clearing out his apartment after it was infested by bed bugs. Now a professional organizer (yes, they exist) tells how to avoid all that clutter in the first place.

For nearly a decade, Francesca Manisco was a radio and television producer for Italian broadcast programs. An avid cook, she also contributed a chapter on regional Italian food to “All Italy: The Book of Everything Italian.” She moved to New York in 1980 and found her true calling a little over a decade ago after reading a story in the New York Daily News about professional organizers. Ms. Manisco says she was fascinated to learn that she could “get paid to nag people on where to put their things.”

These days Ms. Manisco works out of her East Village apartment on East 4th Street, a one-bedroom unit that holds thousands of books and hundreds of CDs, but is still quite tidy. A dozen mugs hang from hooks that are screwed underneath her kitchen cabinets; her books are stacked two rows deep; her art supplies are tucked into a canvas box in a corner; and she keep documents in an antique secretary desk.

The Local sat down with Ms. Manisco to gather a few tips on organizing, including how to get more space in a studio apartment. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Tommy McKean says that the whir of the air conditioning units directly above his apartment is a constant nuisance.

This time of year, the whir of an air conditioning unit is usually reassuring. But for several tenants living at East 13th Street and First Avenue, two industrial-strength air conditioning units on the roof of their building are instead a constant torment.

“It’s like a helicopter hovering overhead all day,” said Tommy McKean, who lives directly below the units on the fifth floor of the building. “For ten minutes, it’s not so bad. But for 24 hours a day it’s awful.” Read more…

Meghan Keneally Jimmy McMillan is facing eviction from his rent stabilized apartment on St. Mark’s Place, though when working, he spends much of his time in his car.

This morning, The New York Post reported that the city’s most memorable gubernatorial also-ran, Jimmy McMillan, says he is facing eviction because, according to his landlord, his St. Marks apartment is not his main residence (it’s said he works largely in Brooklyn, where the headquarters of The Rent is Too Damn High party are also located.) Mr. McMillan has reportedly lived in the East Village apartment since 1977, but when The Local contacted him (perhaps he, too, would share some of his favorite brunch spots?), he didn’t seem eager to show off his East Village bona fides.

“As an independent undercover investigator, I need to be careful about my family’s safety,” Mr. McMillan said. “I will not give out information about my rent or location. I have a constitutional right to privacy and I will not tell you or anyone where I slept last night or where I am going to sleep tonight.” Read more…

Karl Fischer An exclusive rendering of the new building bound for 427 East 12th Street

When the news first broke that a new six-story residential building at 427 East 12th Street would be designed by controversial architect Karl Fischer, speculation immediately ensued about its appearance.

Now, The Local has obtained a rendering of the building, which is marked by floor-to-ceiling windows and a penthouse that sits two stories above its neighbors. The developer of the building, Shaky Cohen, said that he and Mr. Fischer had strived to make the building fit into the neighborhood.

“We try to blend in to the neighborhood. We try not to be a focal point,” Mr. Cohen said. “Obviously it’s a modern building — we’re not going to replicate a design from the 1930s.”

He added that the building will feature a pair of one-bedroom apartments on floors two through five, with the ground floor accommodating an apartment with a backyard, and the top floor a penthouse. The building will also include perks like a virtual doorman and a communal roof deck.

But two local preservationists scoffed when they saw Mr. Fischer’s design.

Read more…