New Regulations Affect Union Sq. Park

As of May 23, it’s illegal to smoke in Union Sq. Park. Smokers will be fined $50. Additionally, going forward only 18 art vendors per day will be allowed to set up shop. Both these rules seem utterly unenforceable, so we shall see.

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  • E-Waste Collection January 12

    Bring your electronic junk to the north end of Union Square on January 12 from 10-2. Here are the details:

    We accept the following working and non-working consumer electronic equipment:

    • Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
    • Monitors (CRT and flatscreen)
    • Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
    • Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, cords, chargers, etc.)
    • Tablets and e-readers
    • Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
    • Printers under 100 pounds, scanners, fax machines, etc
    • TVs, VCRs, DVRs, DVD & Blu-ray Players
    • Digital Converter Boxes, Cable/Satellite Receivers
    • Portable music players
    • Audio-visual equipment
    • Video-games
    • Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
    • Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

    We no longer accept:

    Batteries (except lead-acid batteries from UPS (uninterrupted power supplies) systems, rechargeable batteries can be dropped off for recycling at any store that sells them, also check out IKEA and Staples stores for battery recycling.

    Media, such as disks, DVDs, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, etc.

    Please visit greendisk.com to purchase a shipping label to get these items recycled

  • Union Square Trash Compactor Plunge Wasn’t Murder

    No foul play is suspected in the death of the woman who fell down her Union Square building’s trash chute in July, the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said on December 19. The body of Lara Prychodko, 48, was discovered by a building maintenance worker inside the trash compactor at Zeckendorf Towers on the corner of Irving Place and E. 15th Street on July 10, police said. Authorities believe the woman dropped 27-stories in the chute. Her body was discovered “crushed from multiple angles” in the compactor. It was not immediately clear if Prychodko’s death was accidental or a homicide, authorities said at the time.

  • It’s Official: Parking Garage Will Become Luxury Condos

    NEW YORK CITY-DHA Capital LLC and its co-development partner Continental Properties have purchased 12 E. 13th St. in Manhattan. The property was sold for $32 million, or more than $700 per square foot. ABS Partners represented the sellers.

    Hertz Rental Car previously occupied the ground floor while the remainder of the building, which spans 45,032 square feet of space, was being used as a parking garage. The new owners plan to turn the structure into upscale condominiums and will likely create a mix of full-floor homes and duplexes, along with retail facilities, according to a release.

    “This is a highly desirable location where we intend to create large, super-luxury homes which will appeal to discriminating buyers,” says Steven Fisch, managing partner at Continental Properties, in the release.

    ”These types of homes are in very strong demand but short supply, particularly downtown,” adds Dan Hollander, managing principal of DHA. The team has engaged Cetra/Ruddy architects to design the conversion, which will not enlarge the building but will add several stories by demolishing part of the rear portion.

    Located on the southern side of East 13th Street, between University Place and Fifth Avenue, the property is close to Union Square. A similar building that was a parking garage at 66 East 11th Street was recently converted into a residential building offering luxury condos.

    Odell Real Estate represented the buyer. Hertz had vacated the building as its lease expired this past fall. The move allowed the building to be sold vacant, eliminating the uncertainty of a holdover tenant for potential buyers.

    Constructed in 1930 of brick, steel, and concrete, the building was most likely used as a horse stable in addition to a parking garage for cars, as evidenced by heating coils throughout the building, according to ABS director Adam Maxson in a separate release. The building also features two large car elevators.

    Recent construction activity in the Greenwich Village area helped create a strong demand for the building from a wide range of buyers that included both small local investors and large international investment groups, Maxson says in the release. The New School is currently constructing a 375,000-square-foot building just across the street and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. Also, a high-end 113-room boutique hotel, the Jade Hotel, is being built on West 13th Street.

    The seller was very happy with the purchase price, according to a press release issued by ABS. “The ABS team performed a stellar job navigating this complex transaction from start to finish,” says Darren Postel, one of the sellers, in the release. “ABS coordinated with a broad range of buyers to get this disposition executed. I could not be happier with the resulting sale at such an impressive number.”

    This is the latest in a series of deals for DHA Capital. The firm is in pre-development of a 300-unit rental property on Manhattan’s West Side. At 53 Pitt St. in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, DHA created and is now marketing 14 rental lofts. In Brooklyn, DHA purchased a 200,000-square-foot development site at 88 Richardson St. The property, which was approved for 230 rental units, was sold by DHA in July of 2012. The firm also acquired and sold a stalled luxury co-op in Harlem for repositioning as a rental.