25 August 2008

Who Wants to Buy a Chevra Kadisha? Only $4.5 Million


The real estate vultures over as Massey Knakal have a choice little property for sale. It's at 121 Ludlow Street, smack dab in the hot, hot, hot Lower East Side. It's a "fully renovated 3 story building located in the heart of the Lower East Side on Ludlow Street between Delancey and Rivington Streets. It is currently vacant on the ground floor with two commercial tenants above, an art studio on the 2nd Floor and a Hair Salon on the 3rd Floor... It is fully equipped for restaurant use... This is a one of a kind opportunity for a user or investor to purchase a property in the hottest part of the Lower East Side. This is an extremely well built, fully renovated building."

"Extremely well built"—I love that bit. I bet it was extremely well built, owing to one thing MK fails to mention about the place: 121 Ludlow was created for ritualized corpse scrubbing! That's right, it was a Chevra Kadisha, a burial society that cleaned and washed the Jewish dead before burial. Lost City previously brought up this point as a kind of knock to Chickie Pig's, the very-unkosher-named brick-oven pizzeria which used to occupy the ground floor.

If I were a developer, I'm not sure what sort of business I'd feel comfortable putting inside such a building. As for condoizing it—well, I still find the idea of people living in a former church kind of creepy. Living in a former burial society would seem beyond the pale. But, then, anything goes in this town.

3 comments:

robin of valrico said...

this blogger is totally ridiculous.
this place is for sale and
this blogger has nothing to do but open old wounds.
in gods own words!
what was ,was.
so is this place was a religious site .
then that was a very long time ago.
hey!
this land once belonged to the indians and to think how many died on the spot we are standing right now.
and nobody is mocking that!
sell the place and good luck
mazal tov

Brooks of Sheffield said...

Wow. Was that a prose poem?

Lisanne said...

Being raised catholic I was always felt weird going to the Limelight (or as we called it Slimelight) club. I mean where the alter was there was a stage, and in the sacristy (where all the sacred stuff was) there was booze, drug dealing, sex you name it. I didnt go there too often because it creeped me out, living in former sacred spaces also creeps me out..but i guess Robin has a point. Better used then left to rot. (and then torn down).

but Michael Alig hung out at the Slime and look what happened to him! Hacked up a guy with angels wings and i now doing life in prison!