[8thandPrez]

If you're looking for an easy way to dispose of that $5.75 million lotto winning, perhaps you'd be interested in 501 2nd Street? You know the building: across the street from PS321 and the Second Street Cafe, it's a handyman's special with a prime Seventh Ave ground floor retail space that's been vacant for years.

Just don't fire up those grand plans... the building (sans the top-floor duplex apartment) is already "100% triple net leased to one tenant."

[Rose]

[Guest]

[8thandPrez]

She's got a veritable catalog of violations:

Description of Violation:
09/20/2005
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN EXTERIOR BUILDING WALL. DEFECT NOTED: WINDOW SILLS
AT 2ND FL TO 4TH FLOOR HAVE EXCESSIVE SPALLING OF BROWNSTONE. M. SILLS
ARE AT 7TH AVE SIDE AND ALSO AT 2ND STREET. REMEDY: MAKE SAFE/ MAKE

10/09/2003
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DEFECT NOTED BROKEN MISSING LOOSE WINDOW GLASS AND
SASHES AT 5TH FLOOR SOUTH ELEVATION CASING A DANGER TO PASSERBY MAKE S
AFE.REMEDY:MAKE ALL REPAIRS/PROVIDE SIDEWALK SHED.

2/01/2002
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN BUILDING. THIS BUILDING IS IN DISREPAIR THE SKYLIG
HTS ARE BROKEN AND MISSING, THE WINDOWS ON THE SECOND TO FIFTH FLOORS
CLASS ARE BROKEN AND IS IN DANGER OF FALLING TO THE SIDEWALK, ENDANGER

2/25/2002
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN EXTERIOR BUILDING WALL HAZARDOUS DEFECTS ARE AT 4
AND 5 STORIES SOUTH AND S/W SIDE OF BUILDING ARE BROKEN WINDOW FRAMES
AND CLASS. AT 1 AND 2 STORIES SOUTH ARE BROKEN WINDOW CLASS APPROX. 1/

3/10/2004
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN BUILDINGS. NOTED DEFECTS. WINDOWS ARE BROKEN, ROTT
ED AND DEFECTIVE PIECE OF GLASS FROM WINDOW FELL ONTO SIDEWALK. REMEDY
; REPARI, REPLACE MAKE SAFE, ALL WINDOWS IN BUILDING OR SEAL UP WINDOW

11/22/2004
FAILURE TO MAINTAIN BLDG DEFECT NOTED:BROKEN,MISSING,LOOSE DEFECTIVE W
INDOW GLASS AND SASHES. NOTED LOCATIONS:FACADE 1)SOUTH AT 5TH FLOOR AB
OVE PUBLIC SIDEWALK.REMEDY:MAKE SAFE REPAIR OR REPLACE

And that doesn't include the yearly Boiler violations dating back to 1990!

[Drano]

I've seen parts of the interior. Gut job. But you can tell that by looking at the exterior.

I used to drink there now and then when I first moved to the 'hood and there weren't a lot of places. The owner was charming, as were her two daughters (?). But I could see how she might be tough to deal with when it comes to the building.

[dw438]

Of drinking at the Landmark Cafe. And drinking.
I don't believe the ground floor has been open for a decade or more.
To make that building whole would have to be a total gut job.
But due to its location, the top floor views must be stunning looking west.

[steve]

Landmark was open at least 1 time since May of 96 which is when I moved here. I've been wondering about that building for years but I assumed that that woman was dead and the building was just tied up in legal nonsense. I can't believe anyone has been living there all this time. Oy!

[8thandPrez]

[raw]

I don't get it.

Does the owner
(or her daughters) currently live in the building? Is it her home?

[wlevin]

[Guest]

[Drano]

[8thandPrez]

[steve]

[anonny]

totally went to school with the younger one...or the older one..
not sure..their mom was so cute...

dude, i'd help them clean up that building..its awesome..and you can see from outside that part of the roof is missing....
what a great place...

i remember the kids toys strewn across the bar...ahh...they should never sell..and those two girls should fix it up already...
what exactly do they do/ their sitting on a great project...

[anonny]

according to propertyshark.com

norma vigo has a mortgage for 1 milllion on that building. cheap.

so 5 million seems like alot...

[8thandPrez]

$5.75 million. It seems like a WHOLE lot, especially given that DOB's violation reports seem to indicate that there's a fair amount of facade work that needs to be done. I can only imagine what it looks like inside.

[Guest in Disbelief]

When someone whether owner or tenant is so obviously crazy like that, and a building is becoming a hazard (hello, fire) the city needs to seize it. I just love how NYC can seize an entire neighborhood to build a sports arena, but can't or won't seize a lunatic's building she's allowing to crumble and become an eyesore. What am I not understanding here? Is it really so hard for a city to end a situation like this?

[Kid_Baco]

[armchair_warrior]

i always too thought the landlord was dead and relatives were fighting over for that thing lol. damn i wouldnt mind a date with those two daughters though . hot.

[8thandPrez]

[Jamzer]

[armchair_warrior]

[ShmorgelBorgel]

When I first moved to the Slope in 1997, the Landmark bar was still opened--and the owner and her two daughters "bartended" although to my recollection they just served beers out of a cooler chest. It was a funky weird place (and a firetrap) with old furniture and FisherPrice toys strewn about. The clientele banged spoons on coffee cans when they had musical guests. I remember they once had a pretty good torch singing singer, backed up by a good band-and being annoyed that people were ruining the music by clinking on the coffe cans. But they all seemed nice, and I recall exchanging smiles with them when I passed them on the street. I also recall that they had a vintage clothing shop and a small real estate agency of their own.

[cat]

my friend told me it used to have a bar called the Ironhorse in maybe the 80's that had great music (performances, rock acts).

I was once out with a realtor (looking unfortunately for an apartment) and we were discussing it and he noted how there are still curtains on windows and the stores look like they were never cleaned out. the whole place looks like people just had to leave one day without taking their belongings. what's that about?

it'd be great to find someone who used to live there and get a story on it.
is there a backyard?

part of me in real estate crazy nyc *likes* that it's just sitting there. it has a certain charm to it. who knows what it would be remade to look like...?

I don't understand the tenant thing. There's no one living there now. All these kooky conditions on the place...

the owner does have a building on 2nd Street but I don't think that's where she lives. once a water pipe burst there or something and the fire department came and someone told me that building is just used for storage. for some reason, I think I saw her outside Union Street one day and I think she may live there (unless she has *another* property on 2nd Street that I'm not aware of).

cat.

[dw438]

That within a block there are two primo location properties just sitting there. The Landmark Cafe building at 7th Avenue & 2nd Street ... and
next to the old Mojo Cafe at the corner of 7th Ave & 3rd St sits an abandoned, dangerous brownstone. Tied up in family lunacy as well.
Two hazards ... waiting for somebody or something with sense.

[8thandPrez]

[Drano]

[cat]

the building itself has such character as opposed to anything 'new' that would be built. it should be saved, in my opinion.

cat.

[8thandPrez]

I say: tear it down and give it to Ratner.

[Drano]

[cat]

you're right. I agree with you about the condition and time...

i've always heard the owner (not that you'd be surprised) is a little whacky. although no one has said that in this thread who knew her...

i was in there about a year (2 years?) ago... they had the bar open on Saturdays and were getting rid of stuff inside it. It was mostly junk and I doubt worthwhile to anyone (although what do they say...? one man's trash...). It was filled with *things.* at that time, one of the daughters said they were going to open in another month. she sounded almost defiant about it, as if she'd been asked many times and, yes, this time it was going to happen!

[Drano]

[cat]

oh. sorry, sorry, i was unclear.

they were just open during the day on a few Saturdays to sell things in the place! they should have just given it all away if that was their goal although there might have been a few good things in there on the walls.

they were clearing out the place for the grand re-opening that never happened!

before that I believe, one time i was walking by on the 2nd Street side and they had started construction on the place and there were workmen inside. (I figured there are pigeons living in there so I asked one of the workers, what are you doing with the pigeons...? I can't recall if I really got an answer.) anyway, a man stopped my friend and I as we looked inside and said "do you want to rent an office in there? there are going to be offices to rent."

we always wondered what happened because they had started working on it. this was maybe 3 years ago... if I had to guess.

[guestx]

I used to work across the street from that building, and I was there and spoke with the police on the day that two of the glass panes fell out from the third floor window frames and shattered in the street. No one was hurt, but I'm surprised that it doesn't appear on the long list of building violations. The owner is extremely wealthy and there is NO EXCUSE for leaving this building uninhabited for a decade while there are so many homeless people in NYC.

[Idlewild]

I remember when the Iron Horse was a gay bar back in the late '70's. That bar has a ton of history.

[Idlewild]

[cat]

how is the owner wealthy? FROM her real estate?

and, well yeah, if she was going to let homeless people live there that would be unique ! but i believe that whenever the building gets revived, it will also probably also be sold or rented to the wealthy. I keep waiting for someone (all these developers and realtors and corporations with TONS of money) to do something unique and maybe 'charitable' - or just honest - but I will be waiting a long time with the dynamic that prevails in our society.

[reel brooklyn]

esther ,do you still have those silver shorts? omg!

[MichaelKeys]

[armchair_warrior]

okay okay cute :p.
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[barryg]

I also remember they were open on a few weekends about two years ago selling things, but only the junk! the few better items like fancy chandeliers were not for sale. One of the daughters is a lawyer and the other I hear has a clothing shop in SoHo. My impression is there just a strange rich family.
The building is full of all sorts of clutter from stained glass windows to who knows what. Over twenty years ago I sold at 321 flea, and the mother was a regular buyer at my booth but always asked for better price.
Its a shame that building has been neglected to the point where it is dangerous just to walk past!
The mother is still around the neighborhood, I usually see her walking down 7th Ave.

[ljnd]

Someone on this board used to go to school with one of the daughters. There's a whole other thread about this elsewhere on the boards.