1) FiDi: The New Amsterdam Market outside one of the old Fulton Fish Market buildings at South Street Seaport is looking great with much good stuff to be had. There's a photo gallery here at Racked and there's a really food-focused one over at Eater as well.
2) East Village: After being forced out of the West Village storefront they called home for six years due to landlord issues, Racked reports that sweet shop Chocolate Bar reopened today on East 7th Street and is offering a "Meet the Neighbors Special" involving some half-price coffee and free chocolate.
3) Midtown: You would think that an invite only shoe sale with prices starting at $500 and a VIP list at the door wouldn't have a line, but Racked has clear visual evidence that it does.
4) Williamsburg: British retailer Topshop is going to be working McCarren Pool for promo purposes in advance of opening its Soho store. The marketing stuff we understand, but what's this business about putting "McCarren gossip" on its blog?
"There is nothing more New York preservationists love to do than throw embarrassing tantrums when richer, better looking people take over their sloppy ass neighborhoods. People actually have protests because wine stores and boutiques are opening where shells of squalid, condemned buildings used to stand. Currently the drama of Bowery gentrification is playing out in a neighborhood that was long overdue for a spitshine. Some people would rather preserve the 'integrity' of an area-or in this case, a lack there of- just for the sake of keeping it the same. And while it pains me to see a Whole Foods rise like a gleaming glass middle finger from the grimy ashes of an old New York neighborhood, I also recognize that this had to happen eventually." [Pop Serious]
Hey, remember when the Village East was a Yiddish theater and not a movie theater? Remember when Minsky's was where Avalon Chrystie is today? Remember when Houston Street was really narrow? Remember when the Sunshine looked awesome and Yonah Schimmel's looked ... just like it does today? Of course you don't! But Vanishing New York has the pics to prove it. [VNY]
FINANCIAL DISTRICT—The Verizon Building at 375 Pearl Street is the skyscraper nobody loves. That's why it's undergoing a massive glassy renovation to lure new commercial tenants. But one Curbed reader is not convinced the new look is better. He writes: "I was walking over the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday and snapped this shot of the Verizon building at 375 Pearl Street. Who says it's such a monstrosity? It looks kinda, sorta, sexy in the shot." If you say so! [CurbedWire Inbox]
EAST VILLAGE—The latest tower rising over the Bowery, 52E4, is bringing something new. It's also breaking records. The penthouse has gone into contract, a source tells us. The sale price was $3,250,000 (not including parking), which at $2,467 per square foot, is a Bowery record. Mazel tov. In the old days, imagine what $2,467 could get you on the Bowery. [CurbedWire Inbox]
"'St. Marks used to be, like, a punk block,' Suvy says. 'It used to be overrun with punks. Now it’s like fucking BBQ Chicken and fucking Chipotle, whatever that fucking store is.'" And just like that, we're off on a whirlwind adventure with Suvy, who is not afraid to speak of the wonders of the old St. Marks Place even though he arrived in New York two months ago and is only 18 years old. Says Suvy: "Everyone used to live there, but then the cops came and bulldozed it, and now it's pretty much just a cop hot spot." Holy crap this article rules. [NYM]
MADISON SQUARE/FLATIRON—We are not heartless. We can enjoy some nice rainbow photographs as much as the next guy, especially when they involve the towers—completed and otherwise—of the Madison Square Park and Flatiron area. The pictures were snapped yesterday, and our photog writes: "Looks like the southern pot of gold is on the 20th floor of One Madison Park." Shouldn't the pot of gold be a bit higher, like, say, the $45 million penthouse? [CurbedWire Inbox]
EAST VILLAGE—The clock may be ticking on architect Robert Scarano's ability to do business in New York, but his Bowery tower at 52 East 4th Street chugs along. A press release just went out about the building's penthouse, and it's a keeper: "While the Bowery accommodated new immigrants in the late 1800s, then punk-rockers throughout the 1990s—now the Bowery is in for something new—luxury. 52E4's penthouse is the most valuable piece of property to ever hit the Bowery with a ticket price of $2600 per square foot for the 1317 square feet inside and 1000 square feet outside ... The common association with the Bowery traces back to tight conditions in former tenement houses during Ellis Island’s hey-day, but that’s all about to change." [CurbedWire Inbox]
SOHO—Writes an anonymous tipster, "Please post an anonymous tip: The corner property on the NW corner of Howard Street & Broadway is being considered for a hotel development site." Yes ma'am. Or sir. You'll never know! [CurbedWire Inbox]
"Rents for apartments, when available, can be high. Studio apartments on East Ninth Street between First and Second Avenues are being advertised at $725 a month, and two-bedroom apartments at St. Mark's Place and First Avenue have been advertised for $1,500 a month. Condominium and co-op prices vary widely. Sponsors of a new co-op in a building being rehabilitated at 613 East Sixth Street are asking $165,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, with maintenance of about $500 a month." [EV Grieve]
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