Bowery Boogie | A Lower East Side Chronicle

Check out this New York Times real estate blurb from March 1921, announcing the construction of a three-story structure at the southeast corner of Bowery and East Houston.  Vincent Astor, son of the prominent John Jacob Astor IV, invested $32,000 in the property, currently the site of the Avalon mothership and its Whole Foods spawn.

Exactly one year ago, Vbar was trying to open another outpost in 334 Bowery, former home of Bowery Tattoo.  The proposal had building residents understandably upset.  But in the end, those plans fell through, and aside from a transient sample sale this past weekend, the storefront has maintained a steady vacancy streak; Vbar eventually settled for a [...]

Back in 2007, the low-rise hardware store at 98 East Broadway was razed to make room for a gigantic out-of-context commercial building.  And since its completion last year, the new development has sat vacant, its glass facade studded with bilingual “for rent” signs. The search for tenants is on.

339 Lafayette, located at the northeast corner of Bleecker Street, just hit the open market courtesy of Massey Knakal.  Aptly nicknamed the Peace Pentagon, the three-story Muste Building is currently home to Socialist Party USA (SPUSA), War Resisters League, and Paper Tiger Television, among others. The building itself is owned by the A.J. Muste Institute, [...]

The other day, we happened upon this NYCRS real estate listing [pdf] for 355 Grand Street, at the southwest corner of Essex.  From the look of it, Flowers Cafe, the quaint pop culture-themed coffee shop located inside the ground level, is up for sale. Asking price is $375,000 in key money.

A real estate listing surfaced on Craigslist yesterday for 147 Orchard Street, the tiny storefront which was most recently occupied by Guitar Man (now headquartered at 116 East Seventh Street).  The space has been vacant for over four months, with “for rent” signs hanging behind drawn shutters.