essex crossing

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Michelle Obama Cupcakes or Cardi B Carrot Cakes? You Can Get ‘Em Both at I.M. Pastry Studio

Tiffany Washington and Tamika Young, owners of I.M. Pastry Studio. (Photo courtesy of I.M. Pastry Studio)

A new boozy bakery just moved into the Lower East Side. The shop, I.M. Pastry Studio, relocated from its large space in Prospect Lefferts Gardens to a smaller stall in the lengthy Essex Street Market.

The in-store menu is loaded with treats named after boss ladies like Michelle Obama, Rihanna, and Oprah, which owner Tiffany Washington says is her favorite cupcake– it’s banana pudding flavored. When deciding between “lit” Bailey’s-infused cupcakes named after Mariah or Cardi B carrot cakes, customers often embrace Cardi B’s “I can get ’em both, I don’t wanna choose” sentiments, buying several at a time. 

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Sneak Peek: Hanksy Brings Art Show to Abandoned Lowline Space For One Weekend Only

Photo credit: Jesse Vega.

Opening tonight: a three-nights-only popup art installation in an abandoned, soon-to-be-demolished Lower East Side market hall, organized by the cult New York street artist Hanksy. We got a preview tour of the space, where the ten artists have been working overtime to finish their murals.

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The Monster That is Essex Crossing is One Step Closer to Completion

(Photo: Courtesy of Delancey Street Associates)

(Photo: Courtesy of Delancey Street Associates)

Brace yourselves, the behemoth is coming: the Lower East Side monster development known as Essex Crossing is (sort of close) to completing the first of nine units that will comprise the 1.9 million-square foot project. The developers, Delancey Street Associates, announced the “topping out” of 175 Delancey Street today, which is a fancy developer term for finishing the last part of a building’s basic structure.

However, that doesn’t mean it’s done yet. In fact, the ominously entitled “Site 6,” which is set to be a 14-story building with 100 units of affordable senior housing, won’t be completed until December 2017, a statement from Delancey Street Associates revealed.

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Is the International Center of Photography Coming to Essex Crossing?

Site 6, where Think Coffee and 100% senior housing will be located, Dattner Architects

Site 6, where Think Coffee and 100% senior housing will be located, Dattner Architects

Nearly a year after the Andy Warhol Museum announced that it would not be part of Essex Crossing as planned, we’ve been wondering what other cultural institutions might plant their flag in the major new development rising out of ten sites around Delancey Street. Last night, at the project’s first public meeting of the year, an answer may have come out.

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Prep For Next Week’s Public Meeting On LES Gamechanger Essex Crossing

EssexCrossingSite2_v2-2_smaller

Site 2, Essex Market entrance, Handel Architects.

With the rumble of pile drivers now in full swing, it’s safe to say the Lower East Side is starting to feel the impact of the massive Essex Crossing development rising up out of the neglected parking lots of Delancey Street. Next week, the developers behind the project, Delancey Street Associates (DSA), are holding a public meeting to hash out concerns and details on construction and jobs. As the neighborhood gears up for the next phases of work and the imminent influx of new residents and business, we snagged some time with Katie Archer, DSA’s new director of community relations, so she could give us an overview of where the project stands.

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75 Years After It Pushed Out the Pushcarts, Essex Street Market Presses Forward

This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses.

Left: The Essex Street Market one month after opening (Courtesy of the New York Public Library). Right: The market in present day (Photo by Alexandra Hall)

Left: The Essex Street Market one month after opening (Courtesy of the New York Public Library). Right: The market in present day (Photo by Alexandra Hall)

Six inches of snowfall coated Manhattan on January 10, 1940, the day 3,500 New Yorkers gathered on Essex Street for the opening of a brand new public retail space that would change the face of the Lower East Side.  

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Embittered By Corruption and Displacement, LES Neighbors Coalition Demands to See the Mayor

At the Chinatown coalition's meeting (Photo: )

At the Chinatown coalition’s meeting (Photo: Anneke Rautenbach)

At an emotional Lower East Side town hall meeting on Saturday afternoon, hundreds of concerned residents, a number of small business owners, and representatives of community organizations were visibly upset. Instead of being met by Mayor Bill de Blasio himself, they were greeted by a representative from the administration. “We have been reaching out to him for months,” Jei Fong, a coalition representative, told B+B. “We personally invited him to this meeting. This is a real slap in the face.”

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Lowline Edges Toward Reality, But What Does It Mean For the LES?

Picture: Daniel Maurer

Photo: Daniel Maurer

“Lower East Side, not for sale!” “Chinatown, not for sale!” These were the chants on the streets of Chinatown two weeks ago, when protesters, huddled under umbrellas, marched to City Hall to demand the prevention of the 80-story tower currently planned for the East River waterfront. With more luxury apartments on the rise and the commercial landscape following suit, anxiety over the rapid gentrification of the Lower East Side is intensifying.

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Metrograph Art-House Cinema and Eatery Slated to Open On LES in February

7 Ludlow. (Photo: Angelo Fabara)

7 Ludlow. (Photo: Angelo Fabara)

As if the advent of 4DX wasn’t exciting enough, downtown film-goers are getting a new art-house cinema as well. Alexander Olch, the filmmaker-designer who owns an eponymous tie shop on Orchard Street, is bringing Metrograph to nearby 7 Ludlow Street. The theater will open in February, according to an announcement that went out today.

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The City Has Revealed Its Plans For 6 Acres on the LES, and a Warhol Museum Is Involved

The proposed Warhol Museum (Photo: Curbed)

The proposed Warhol Museum (Photo: Curbed)

The fate of six acres of vacant land at the corner of Delancey and Essex was finally revealed today. City officials and developers have dubbed the massive new multi-purpose development Essex Crossing, which, let’s be honest, kind of sounds like a mall in Ohio. Though it has a slightly more pleasant ring to it than SPURA (the Seward Park Urban Renewal Project), or the larger development project. Essex Crossing is the result of a in the battle between neighborhood residents and politicians over what to do with this gray patch of grit in the LES cityscape.
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