Go here to read today’s New York Times Real Estate section analysis of what’s going on in Union Square. Some interesting facts and figures, including the detail that One Union Square South is only 30 percent sold and that the white-brick Victoria (across 14th St.) recenty added “Union Square” to its name.
Walk down East 18th St. east of Park Ave. and you’ll see a new Zen Palate on your left. Welcome back!
From January 16-February 16, the north end of Union Square will light up with a nightly light show called Bright Nights Out, and many vendors are offering fun deals to accompany it. 
How do you feel about all those artists who take up quite a bit of space selling their art at the southwest corner of Union Square Park. Here’s an article that says they may soon be squeezed into a smaller area:
The Parks Department claims the rules will decrease congestion, but critics accuse the city of pushing out independent street artists in order to replace them with more lucrative vendors.
The Parks Department declined to answer questions submitted by the NY Destinations Examiner .
A Parks Department spokesperson provided an email statement, much of which was excerpted from the Parks Department’s March 24 notice in The City Record .
” The dramatic increase in the number of expressive matter vendors on parkland has prompted the Parks Department to develop these rules in an effort to strike a balance between these vendors and other park users, and address other concerns related to maintaining and operating open space in an urban environment, ” reads the statement.
People are raving about the smoothie/fruit salad truck dispensing treats on Broadway just below 14th St., in front of the Virgin store. According to Internet critics, the flavors are fresh and the prices are right.
From the NY Times:
The latest record store to close in New York is a big one: the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Following its announcement last month that the Times Square Megastore would close down in April, Virgin Entertainment Group North America will shut down the Union Square shop in late May or early June, a spokeswoman said, confirming a report in Billboard. Virgin will also close its Market Street store in San Francisco in April. The New York closures will leave Manhattan without a large-scale record store. Thousands of music retailers have shut down in recent years as CD sales have plunged, and Virgin has been closing most of its locations around the country since it was bought by the real estate companies Vornado and Related in 2007, but its high-traffic New York stores were said to be profitable.
Here is the summer newsletter from the New School giving all sorts of info about the new building. Let them eat cake!
