So Long, Patsy’s Pizzeria

Union Square’s Competitive Edge

Exemplifying a “15-minute neighborhood,” Union Square offers a wealth of local amenities including dining, shopping, culture, entertainment, and healthcare, all within walking distance or a short bike-ride. A true mixed-use neighborhood, Union Square’s residents, offices, retail, and institutions help sustain a vibrant public realm, with recent visitor traffic reaching 98% of 2019 levels. Office leasing remains active, with over 450K sf of office space leased since January 2022 across tech, finance, publishing, and other sectors.

Union Square’s 126 new businesses are comprised of 54% eateries, 28% retail, and 18% neighborhood services such as health and wellness. USP and creative partners work year-round to bring unique cultural, food, and art experiences to the square. Events like the eight-week Summer in the Square series, Urbanspace’s Holiday Market, and seasonal pop-ups draw foot traffic and support local business and arts communities.

Union Square’s Rich Mix of Commercial Businesses

Union Square-14th Street is home to high-profile institutions and headquarters across a range of sectors including technology, media, finance, and design. This rich mix of commercial tenants continues to be a major draw. Additionally, Union Square is center of gravity for live entertainment, arts, and culture. According to the data platform Replica, spending on entertainment doubled between 2019 and 2023 and visits in the district rose by 10% between 2022 and 2023, reaching a high of 98% compared to August 2019, a 10% higher average than Midtown Manhattan.

“Industry leaders like Microsoft, Sequoia Capital, and Wellington Management are choosing Union Square for their newest offices. Coupled with strong leasing activity at the ground floor, these new tenancies demonstrate the area’s appeal across sectors,” says Julie Stein, Executive Director, Union Square Partnership. “National retailers including Parachute, Crate & Barrel and Target are joining local favorites ABC Carpet, Fishs Eddy and Design Within Reach to solidify Union Square as a retail destination for interior design and home essentials.”

USQ Thrives as a Job Center

Union Square is a job center with 144K+ workers across sectors. Top employers include Con Edison, Mount Sinai Downtown, New York University, and The New School. In the coming year, the addition of national brands, and new and renovated hotels in the area will bring additional retail and hospitality job opportunities. This summer, Microsoft moved into its new 150K sf office space at 122 Fifth Avenue. The building’s ground floor is nearly fully leased with prominent brands Allbirds, Parachute, and Pandora, and Levain Bakery planning to open in early 2024.

Zero Irving (124 East 14th Street) has made headlines for leasing nearly 100% of its office space to major tech and finance firms including GameChanger (25K sf) and Sequoia Capital (13K sf). Additionally, the 10K sf Urbanspace food hall introduced 13 vendors to the 14th Street food scene. Over 65K sf of retail space has been leased since January 2022 to national brands, such as Petco’s 30k sf flagship location on Union Square East, and NYC favorites such as Hex & Co board game café, Sweet Chick, and Kazunori.

“Because we’re located in the heart of the NYC tech community, Civic Hall @ Union Square’s six floors of state-of-the-art training and conference center space at the new Zero Irving building will drive sustainable pathways to high-tech jobs. Civic Hall will help supply the tech workforce and spur innovation for industry leaders, the community, the City of New York, and beyond.” Seema Shah, Executive Director, Civic Hall

New and Coming Soon’

Looking ahead into the Fall, we are excited to welcome Upright Citizens Brigade, Crate & Barrel, Saatva, Mission Ceviche, and many more businesses to the neighborhood.

• FÖRENA, a 50-unit luxury condominium development at 540 Sixth Avenue featuring 6K SF of new retail space for lease, finished construction in July 2023.

• NYU is relocating the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to 105 East 17th Street in Fall 2024, bringing over 860 students and over 200 faculty to Union Square.

• Target will open a 33K SF store at 10 Union Square East, establishing over 75 new jobs and creating a retail anchor and local amenity for 14th Street.

The No Difference shoe store on the corner of Broadway and 12th has been transformed into the neighborhood’s second Pret a Manger. Hungry?

One of new stores moving into the old Spice space at University and 10th will be Recess, which promises coffee, chocolate, frozen yougurt, and a new cafe paradigm. Should be interesting.

From Crain’s New York Business:

The P.C. Richard & Son store near Union Square is going the way of the cathode ray television set and VCRs.

The city’s Economic Development Corp. has announced a request for proposals to redevelop a city-owned site at 124 E. 14th St. that for the past 19 years has been home to a two-level building occupied by the electronics and appliance store.

The EDC is encouraging developers to pitch projects that include new office space for booming industries in the neighborhood, such as technology and creative businesses. According to the city’s guidelines, the development could provide fledgling companies with the space to get started and also a location for young but established firms to transition from incubator and co-working spaces that have sprouted around the city into their own digs.

Proposals may also include residential space, although a spokesman for the city said the EDC’s goal is an office-focused development. Current zoning on the site, however, would seem to encourage a residential component. About 140,000 square feet of housing can be built at the address versus about 93,00 square feet of commercial space. A project could be a blend of the two.

Midtown South has become the city’s hottest office market, with space in the vicinity of Union Square especially popular for its access to transit, shopping, restaurants and tony residential neighborhoods.

“The current site of the PC Richard store will serve as a new tech hub in Union Square, capitalizing on the academic and transit advantages offered by the neighborhood and its proximity to the Flatiron district,” said Maria Torres-Springer, president of the EDC, in a statement. “This is just one example of how we are finding creative uses for the assets we have in a city where space is harder and harder to come by.”

Bids for the property are due by February, the spokesman said, which is the same month that P.C. Richard’s lease is set to expire.

NYC’s zoning for businesses has recently changed, allowing for a wider range of retail and experiential offerings. In Union Square, this means new opportunities to lease to unique amusement and recreation facilities, live entertainment establishments and clean production and maker spaces. This bolsters the emerging trends in Union Square, where new nightlife hotspots like Midnight Blue and Upright Citizens Bridge have established
roots alongside a cluster of experiential retail arcades like Boba Box, Sweet Cats Cafe, and Partea. And with the much anticipated 2025 opening of the darts-centric bar Flight Club at 31 Union Square West, Union Square is poised to be at the center of this new wave of ground-floor leasing enabled by the modernized zoning code.

Looks like Izu/Lemongrass Grill is done. In its place will be Shanghai Square. No details yet. Stay tuned.