Breaking News: 99 Cent Grocery Coming to 6th Avenue

Signs like the one above are nothing new in Sunset Park. This one promises big things for the future of 49th Street. It's sad - for many reasons - when a place like Ho Ho Cleaners has to leave, but places that survive by taking in WIC vouchers and EBT thrive. It says a lot about where there's money to be made, for one. Also, these "groceries" don't actually provide groceries. Take a peek into a few of the 8th Avenue shops (including the one that replaced Ho Ho), and you see mountains of two things: Pampers Baby Dry diapers and Enfamil or Similac formula. I guess it's quite the profit margin. Or something. (According to a friend, she was approached about using her WIC and EBT benefits to purchase diapers and formula - which she didn't need. She would have been given half their cost in cash. No idea how that would work, but maybe they sell the diapers on eBay or something. But that's just my cynical speculation at work.)

So anyway, the long empty space on 6th Avenue and 45th is getting a new occupant. This is a catch-all shoppe. The new awning has 99 cents and wholesale and retail and WIC and Food Stamps and pictures of milk and Pampers and other items in English, Spanish, and Chinese all over it.

They were also changing the awning from KANG BAO to KING BAO. Apparently there was an error made in the printing. For some reason, the guy working on the A also started peeling off the K.

This new grocery is filling a space that has been empty for years. Another grocery was setting up, but never opened. The people gathered around were pretty excited about the activity, and a woman told me that they were opening next month. The man next to her said, "Maybe sooner!" a few times. When he saw me taking photos, he also said, "See? They're taking pictures already. See?" Nice to see some enthusiasm.

I can't imagine this longtime Grocery and Deli is too excited about it. However, if the new place reflects its 8th Avenue cousins, there shouldn't be too much competition. I can only wish each of them lots of luck. It's good to have something in that corner location anyway. Empty storefronts are never a good neighbor.

More Street Pain from ConEd and National Grid

So after yesterday's post I received two separate emails that basically said, "Dude, that's nothing. Check out my block!" And so, I did. It's true that ConEd has another site of seemingly deserted roadway destruction, but that comes at the bottom of the page. National Grid (using Keyspan equipment as well) has also created an egregious example of hazardous public works.

As you can see in the above photo, the roadwork on 41st Street between 5th and 7th Avenues was meant to begin 2/20/09 and end 3/20/09. It's still torn up, and there are pipes and other items from Keyspan strewn about. No one was working at this site.
The ditches are quite deep; in some areas they are more than a foot deep. No flimsy, detachable yellow grates for these ditches. Just flimsy gates and cones, sometimes half-buried.
Check out this poor cone (donated by ConEd) languishing in this ditch. It's stuck in the mud.
For much of the span, there is nothing more than a cone and pink streamers shielding foot and car traffic from a deep ditch. Thanks National Grid!

And back to ConEd on 6th Avenue at 47th Street. The ditches aren't as deep, but the work is just as old. Plastic gates block the shallow cuts into the roadway.

And less secure gates attempt to sacrifice themselves for out own good. They've thrown themselves onto the rubble to keep others from following suit.

Maybe these companies need to learn the maxim: Don't start what you can't finish.

Brownstone Replacement Shows Off Ground Floor

Unfortunately, it's not a unique aesthetic. The grey marble (is it marble?) looks like it's spackled on, and new graffiti keeps showing up. At least the light fixture over the roll-down door is on straight now. It was hanging from one side the last time I saw it.

The store front has yet to be revealed. With that look, I'm guessing a nail salon or maybe a music store...but it will probably be a "grocery" that only sells diapers, formula, and candy. A new one of those just opened up in the old Ho Ho Cleaners space. Because THAT is needed in the neighborhood. Not enough Baby Dry stacked up to the ceiling around here. Why is that the "grocery" diaper of choice, anyway?

New 6th Avenue Condos Getting Ready

Scaffolding had been hiding the facade of this new construction on 6th Avenue and 46th Street until just before the new year. While there are Fedders covers on the 46th Street A/C units, at least there are Pella windows. And the brickwork shows some creativity in its non-uniform coloring and pattern. Still, other developments of late don't allow us to be very optimistic.

I'm a little nervous about what they plan for the layout...will it be another set of super-skinny units like its neighbors a block away?

Bring in the New While the Old is Still for Sale

This building on 6th Avenue and 46th Street has had two sets of "Condo for Sale" signs up since spring or even earlier. Along with the skinny condos for sale around the corner on 46th Street, very few - if any? - have sold. It's not clear whether they are still available for rent...have they already rented?

Anyway, since June of this year, the corner lot on 6th and 46th has been growing into a multi-unit building for which I had high hopes due to the quality of the fencing and planning. Now, the Fedders a/c shields have gone up, and even though there is a balcony on the first floor, and the brick has a certain pattern that shows more than a thrown-together care for the aesthetic, I have been let down. Sure enough, this seems like it will be just another crop of less-than-stellar, yet overpriced condominiums that may very well end up as rentals.

Dead Brownstone Has Had Work Stopped

This very rained-on Stop Work Order at 5405 6th Avenue has been up since November. True enough, work seems to have stopped for now, but I wasn't able to find any record about why the work was stopped. (update: oh yes I did. And part of it has to do with smoking.) The sign itself is so faded that it's difficult to make any words out. Only "entire job" and the address are clear. Well, that and DO NOT REMOVE. Perhaps it's because one sign was ripped down within a day? Or, perhaps it was because the inspector noticed the "marble" facade going up on the ground floor? The horizontal light fixture is hanging precariously as well. Sad that this is what the previous building made room to allow.