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New York

St. Mark’s Bookshop nears new East Village lease

Store currently negotiating terms with housing authority landlord

From left: 136 East 3rd Street and 31 Third Avenue
From left: 136 East 3rd Street and 31 Third Avenue

St. Mark’s Bookshop is nearing a lease agreement for a new space at 136 East 3rd Street, just west of Avenue A.

“We’ve been sent a proposed lease, and we have a lawyer who has gone through it and sent comments to the landlord, who is the city, or NYCHA,” St. Mark’s Books’ owner Terry McCoy told Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York blog. “There’s a long way to go to signing a lease, though.”

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The shop is still in the throws of a money-raising effort via Indiegogo, McCoy told the blog, adding that “we’re trying to raise a lot of money to be able to afford the move.”

The popular bookshop, long located at 31 Third Avenue near Cooper Union, for months pressed for a reduction from its $20,000 monthly rent. The shop generated more than 10,000 signatures on a petition demanding rent relief from Cooper Union, ultimately brokering a deal for a reduction to $17,500 per month in November 2011.

The shop then turned to online crowd funding in 2012 to raise money to fund its lease at a new location, setting a goal of $23,000 for a new East Village spot. How close St. Mark’s has come, or whether the goal has changed with the Indiegogo campaign, was not immediately clear. [Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York] and [EV Grieve] — Julie Strickland