Too late for hotel:
Jo Hamilton, chairperson of Community Board 2, reports that the hotel project at 145 Perry St., at Washington St., is “officially dead,” and that the owners of the property are now considering a town house project on the site. “This is good news for the community!” Hamilton said. “It means that the rezoning of this area of the Far West Village that C.B. 2 initiated in 2008 and advocated for tirelessly for over a year, along with Speaker Quinn and our other elected officials, will not be compromised by a pre-existing project that would have been inappropriate to the neighborhood. This is a great victory for the board, on behalf of the community — and we want to thank everyone who has participated in this effort,” Hamilton said. The chairperson said C.B. 2 is expecting certification of the six-block rezoning area to come before the board in the next month or so, as part of C.B. 2’s role in the ULURP review process. The half-dozen blocks, all within the Greenwich Village Historic District, extend roughly between W. 12th and W. 10th Sts., mostly along the east side of Washington St., but extend to the west side of Greenwich St. between Perry and W. 10th Sts. The speculation is that the hotel project stalled due to a combination of the economic downturn and the credit crunch — and there wasn’t time to get a shovel in the ground before the rezoning’s certification, which would have allowed the 85-room hotel. We were unable to reach Richard Born, the developer, by press time.
Singer silent on theater:
Following up on last week’s Scoopy exclusive — that Gregg Singer is reportedly trying to lure a nonprofit theater to take over the basement theater space at the old P.S. 64 on E. Ninth St. — we gave the developer a call on Friday. He was friendly enough, but not very forthcoming. We asked him about the theater, and about whether he’s actively involved in the project again after having told us last year that he’d ceded the reins to Hoffman Management. “There’s no comment regarding that property. No comment,” Singer stonewalled. “What else do you want to talk about? … Have a nice weekend.”
Kramer, under control:
“Seinfeld”’s Kramer, a.k.a. Michael Richards, above, was among the many onlookers who came to check out Shepard Fairey and his crew two weeks ago as they were working on Fairey’s new “These Parties Disgust Me” mural at East Houston St. and the Bowery. Spotting Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson at the scene, Richards came up and started taking Patterson’s photo, and Patterson, in turn, took photos right back of Richards taking photos of him. For the record, Richards controlled himself and didn’t make any offensive remarks to anyone — a wise move on his part since they don’t play that on the Lower East Side. … Patterson also has the exclusive story about how Fairey let three graffiti artists — EWOK, COPE and INDIE — do their own thing on the sides of his Houston St. wall.
Labradoodle on the lam:
Villager photographer Elisabeth Robert reports that her mom Eileen’s dog, Beau, at right, is missing. Last Friday, Beau bolted out of Roberts’s mom’s house in the West Village and sprinted down Seventh Ave. He was last seen in Tribeca. Beau is a 15-month-old, cream-colored, miniature labradoodle (lab-and-poodle mix). Anyone with news about Beau, please call Eileen at 212-875-4050.
