New lease on life for a mall under the Manhattan Bridge

+ a storytelling salon next week that you're invited to! (if you want to come)

This week I wrote about the East Broadway Mall, once a hub of Chinatown’s growing Fujianese community before shifting demographics in the neighborhood and financial strains left it pretty empty. It also was hit hard by a trio of disasters – first, the Sept. 11 attacks, then Hurricane Sandy, and finally the pandemic. 

The mall’s operator had been struggling long before COVID but it just didn’t help. After the longtime dim sum banquet hall 88 Palace closed in 2020, it just added to the mall’s decline.

But the mall – which is on city-owned land and leased through the Department of Citywide Administrative Services – is set for a new operator, pending approval from Manhattan’s Borough Board. The new operator will be required to put millions into renovating the place in the first year or so, and keep the longstanding tenants there as well.

“Right now it needs a major cash infusion to change everything, to make it attractive again, because it’s been neglected for the last 10, 15 years,” the new operator told me.

You can read more here. 

🌟Other interesting reads 🌟

Greenpoint residents ask a judge to spare a church that hosted community and culture [THE CITY]

A beautiful look at “In the Mood for Love” and its aesthetic influence [NEW YORKER]

COVID is surging again, so here’s what to know about where to get tests and other important information [THE CITY]

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

*Just a reminder that the city’s beaches remain open through next week! And summer isn’t *really* over ‘til October (to me at least.)

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

And!

Do you like sharing and listening to stories about New York City? My FAQ NYC team is hosting a storytelling salon on Thursday, Sept. 7 from 6:30-9:30 at a private home in Tribeca.

Some details from my friend and colleague Harry Siegel. And if you are interested, reply to this and I’ll share more of the details!

Alex Lynn and I are holding a FAQ NYC storytelling salon in Tribeca on September 7th. The theme is A New York Minute and if you're getting this email we'd truly love to have you spin a small yarn there — ideally one that goes for about 5 minutes or less. 

This is a continuation of the fabulous Thirst series of salons for intimate storytelling in an informal atmosphere that Alex has been holding since 2018 in apartments, empty storefronts and parks where people can gather to enjoy yarns, and each other. 

NYC is everything or it's nothing. Some of us were born here, some of us just landed, some of us have moved away and some of us are married to it, that old ball and chain. However you’d like to interpret the New York Minute theme, we’re here to hear it. 

All we ask is that you talk without reading from notes or a phone, like you’re speaking with friends rather than performing. (And speaking of speaking with friends, the space is such that you can do some chatting along with some listening over the course of the evening).

Some of the stories shared at the salon will be featured on a coming episode of the FAQ NYC podcast but if you’d prefer to have what’s said at the salon remain inside the salon, just let us know and that’s more than fine. 

Thanks for reading! Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend.