Now Open in Our Building: Nature Republic

Next week (April 22 to April 26), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building. We will be work on the new sidewalks around the building as well.

The following week (April 29 to May 3), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, April 20th for interior and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.

One of New York City’s top sushi chefs is back with her well-received omakase pop-up. Oona Tempest will revive Sushi by Bae next month — except this time it will be a permanent sushi counter in Union Square.

Sushi by Bae initially began as a sister pop-up to David Bouhadana’s proliferating Sushi by Bou back in 2017, and the idea is similar here. She’ll open a six-seat counter at 118 East 15th St., near Irving Place, on May 1, with a Sushi by Bou to open at the counter’s other six seats later in the month.

Sushi by Bae will follow a timed format, with a 90-minute, 15-course Edomae-style omakase, priced at $110. Diners can expect pieces of fish sourced from both Japan and the U.S. like a Japanese sea bream aged in kelp, cuttlefish, rosy seabass, and Hokkaido uni, though the menu will constantly evolve, Tempest says. Joshua Batista, who has worked with Sushi by Bae partner Simple Venue for a while, will lead the beverage program, which includes cocktails — an unusual element for omakase.

Tempest’s Sushi by Bae brand began as a pop-up inside Bouhadana’s Sushi by Bou within Meatpacking’s Gansevoort Market in 2017. Tempest, 26, was an apprentice of the late chef and respected NYC sushi master Toshio Oguma, working under him at acclaimed Upper East Side restaurant Tanoshi Sushi.

Though she’s most recently spent time at high-end, pricey sushi counters like Shoji at 69 Leonard Street and Sushi Ginza Onodera, she aims to keep things more casual at her own restaurant. She plans to follow Oguma’s philosophy in that it shouldn’t cost New Yorkers “an arm and a leg to have good sushi,” she says, one of the reasons she’s pricing the 15-course menu at $110 — to make it “more accessible.”

Sushi by Bae is located in the same space as sports bar Sidebar, though it has a separate entrance. It’ll be open from Tuesday to Saturday with three seatings per night, at 6 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 9 p.m. Reservations are now open.

Note that the entire western side of 3rd Ave. between 10th and 11th Streets save for the southernmost building has been bought up and is destined to meet the wrecking ball. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation says there are significant buildings with important stories on the block, but it seems unlikely the city will step in to stop redevelopment.

Cosi, which closed on the corner of 13th and 6th a while back, finally has a new tenant: PinoMaximo, an all-things-Italian place specializing in pizza and gelato. Not open yet, but looks tasty.

Life in Union Square is about to get a little tastier. The Real Deal reports that Dylan’s Candy Bar signed a long-term lease for 3,300 square feet at 33 Union Square West between Blue Water Grill and Heartland Brewery. Loosen you belts, because sweet addition joins Breads Bakery on the west side of Union Square, which has already become a neighborhood hit with its sweet baked goods.

The W Hotel Union Square is up for sale after owner Host Hotels & Resorts retained Eastdil Secured to market the 20-story property at 201 Park Avenue South. The brokerage is pitching the 205,00-square-foot, Beaux-Arts style building as a possible residential conversion opportunity, per marketing materials. The 270-room hotel, located on the corner of East 17th Street just north of Union Square, includes 26 guest suites. Bethesda, Md.-based Host Hotels acquired the property in September 2010 for more than $185 million, according to the New York Observer. The building was renovated and reopened in 2000 and houses two dining establishments – the Irvington restaurant and the W Living Room bar and lounge – operated by Scott Gerber’s Gerber Group. The hotel also includes 6,600 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and a business center.