Reality TV star helps kick off event for East Village luxury towers

New York Business Journal

by Lauren Clark
June 5, 2015

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From garage to glamour. Two building structures, which are used as garages, will be transformed into luxury housing units by 2017 in the East Village and to toast this news, developers celebrated Thursday with live art, food and television cameras.

The event was a "kick off" for the future luxury housing towers, Thirteen East + West, located on 436 and 442 East 13 St. Ryan Serhant, who is featured on Bravo's reality TV show " Million Dollar Listing New York", was the agent for the property, and his film crew captured the occasion.

Developers The Amirian Group and Bridgeton Holdings teamed up with ArtBattles, a non-profit dedicated to "creating live art events and competitions to expose emerging artists to the public," in order to decorate the two garages into murals. The two artists selected — “King of New York” Cernesto and "El Niño de Las Pinturas AKA Sex" — spray painted pieces of art onto the 25-feet by 25-feet garages within the course of three days. They both incorporated a "transient theme" into their works, reflecting how their murals will only be temporary before demolished and made into luxury towers.

"We really wanted to highlight what the East Village is all about, which is stories and characters and art — and street art specifically," Serhant said in an interview with the New York Business Journal. "These two projects specifically are being done with the blood sweat and tears of the East Village, one thousand percent."

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