Apartment Envy & Blueprints: A ‘Drunken Boxer’ on the Bowery
A scruffy, historic neighborhood and a “squatting” Kung Fu master may give way to yuppies
VALERIE REISS
04/30/2001
This building was once alive with activity; you can feel it. And the beautiful structures are still in place: the 20-foot ceilings, marble stairs, ground-floor theater, basement swimming pool and fenced playground on the roof. But it’s clear that this Bowery-area building — 9 Second Avenue — has seen better days. Debris lines the perimeter of nearly every room and some overflow with long-abandoned furniture, books, board games and clothing. Plaster crumbles from the steel-enforced walls and ceilings. It’s hard to imagine that this was once a thriving community center for nearly 30 local arts groups. The city-owned building has been slated for destruction since 1971, and finally, demolition is imminent.
At least one person has witnessed many cycles of this century-old building first-hand. Sifu Jai, a 39-year-old Kung Fu master and Taoist priest, used to swim downstairs a child in 1968. And since being evicted from his East Third Street apartment in 1986, he has been the building’s sole full-time tenant.
In a cleared-out, second-floor room the size of half a basketball court, Jai teaches Kung Fu five times a week. As a Taoist priest, he performs rituals to help people. Sometimes this means praying at his altar of candles, incense and Eastern deities in the adjoining 79-year-old stained-glass chapel. He also does everything from feng shui consultations to divination to marriage ceremonies.
Though Jai, part Bronx-Jewish, part Thai-Chinese, has a staggering amount of room to do his work and initially paid only $50 a month in rent (he now pays none), his is hardly a good deal. In 1991 the city decided to close down the building and, believing the buidling was abandoned, left it without electricity, plumbing or heat,. Jai uses flashlights and candles, keeps semi-warm in his sleeping bag, showers at friends’ apartments and uses the “bucket system” in lieu of a working toilet. And because he is considered a “squatter” on valuable and controversial city real estate, eviction has been a daily threat and an inevitable reality.
Unfortunately for Jai, 9 Second Avenue is set for demolition as part of the controversial and decades-delayed Cooper Square urban renewal plan. The building is one of four involved (there’s also 291, 293, 295 and 311 Bowery) on 2.85 acres bordered by Bowery Street, Second Avenue, Stanton Street and East Second Street. Over the years, many task-forces, community groups, and city agencies have debated the use of the land. It was sold last year to a private developer, Avalon Bay Communities. The Department of Housing Preservations and Development (HPD) says they are finally moving forward with the project because, “the market is strong” and “the city and the community are on the same page.”
The facade of 295 Bowery speaks differently. A large sign posted by the remaining legal tenants says, “Save 295 Bowery” and laminated articles about the history of the building are stapled at eye-level. Kate Millett, author, feminist and 30-year 295 resident, has been lobbying to save the historic building for years. And Cuando, a community group that once held the lease for 9 Second Avenue, is still in court fighting the demolition ³ they would like to see the building refurbished. Millett has voiced concern that “housing for yuppies” will turn this historically rich and colorful neighborhood into “Lala Land.”
This won’t be the first major change in the area — it went from being the city’s theater district during 1860-1875 to a haven for derelicts and later, artists. But this change may be the most radical yet. If all goes as planned, there will be 618 housing units, 75 percent of which will sell or rent at market rate, with 25 percent lower-income housing and 200,000 square feet of retail space. Though the city has refused to fund the project, at least 30,000 square feet must go to “community and recreational uses,” meaning the four-story Chapel and two community gardens (the Liz Christy and Rock ‘n Rose on Houston Street) will be preserved. This will have to be done carefully, though; the chapel and the main building connect, and the gardens abut the doomed structures.
Sifu Jai knows that “his” building will probably be leveled. He has asked to stay in the preserved Chapel but knows that his case is “iffy.” His girlfriend Alice Linz says they are “thinking of other abandoned churches and temples around the city.”
The Kung Fu Sifu practices is “Hung Fut,” or what he calls “drunken boxing” — a style in which “You psych out your opponent by stumbling.” Then you fly into unexpected action, ala Jackie Chan (who, incidentally, learned Hung Fut from the same teacher). Sifu has been practicing this metaphorically all along. Maybe the neighborhood — certainly a “drunken boxer” in its own right — will have some of its own surprise moves before it is Starbucked to near-extinction like the rest of Manhattan. Or not.
If the new project goes as planned:
Housing Units: 618
Low-income: 152
Community Space: At least 30,000 square feet — how this will be divided is unclear. Some say there will be a recreation center with a pool and gym.
Construction begins: Fall 2001
Ends: Spring 2002
To get on a waiting list for the market-rate apartments: 212-309-2990
To find out about the lottery process for low-income housing: www.ci.nyc.ny.us
To join in the crusade to save 295 Bowery: www.295bowery.com