Bowery Boogie | A Lower East Side Chronicle

The new NYU construction at 133-139 Macdougal Street, built on the ruins of the old Provincetown Playhouse, is almost ready to roll.  In just the last few weeks, much of the heavy-duty machinery, scaffolding, and traffic barricades have been relieved of their duties.  Instead, there are NYU security guards.  But that’s not all.

The curious mystery of the man in white is nearing resolution, thanks to all the reader input.  Using the commentary as basis for research, we stopped into Rosario’s for a couple slices and to see if we could elicit more information.  One of the workers there was able to fill in some of the blanks.

The Department of City Planning sent out an email blast yesterday regarding the new Third Avenue Corridor Rezoning Proposal, which aims to limit out-of-scale development.  Case in point, the egregious 26-story NYU church dorm on 12th Street which towers over the rest of the neighborhood. The area included in the plan encompasses East 9th to [...]

Remember the Provincetown Playhouse (est. 1916) on MacDougal?  Like so many buildings across downtown, the last remaining piece of the historic structure is now held hostage by NYU.  Nevertheless, after a year wrought with overzealous demolition, stop work orders, and new construction, the legal facility is finally taking shape.

The new NYU facility planned for the Provincetown Playhouse footprint is progressing rather briskly.  Indeed, since our last progress report back in November, four additional levels have been built. At this pace, the legal research center, which will reportedly top out at six stories, should be completed by the summer 2010 projected date.  Whether or not [...]

Love or loathe it, the perennial student hangout Esperanto Cafe has closed its doors for good.  The requisite brown paper is taped to the windows of 114 MacDougal Street, and the interior is being cleared out. We called the listed phone number, which, as it happens, is now disconnected.