Food Emporium Targeted by Target

All businesses in the Bowlmor building with the exception of the pita place have now closed. Demolition (plus two years of construction) now seems imminent.

NYU, which will lease it back to Forbes for five years before moving in.

On University near 10th…the most expensive personal grooming products on Earth.

The latest gossip from The Villager:

While the fate of two prime-time storefronts on the south side of Union Square has yet to be determined, recent whispers have indicated that more big-box stores could be headed for the space currently occupied by a pair of retail behemoths.

Electronics retailer Circuit City, which filed for bankruptcy late last year, will shutter its location on 14th St. at Fourth Ave. at the end of next month as part of plan to auction off all its properties and leases nationwide.

A sales associate at the store said that Walmart was interested in the space, which is owned by developer The Related Companies, although a New York-based spokesperson for Walmart said the big-box chain currently has no announced projects in the city.

Best Buy, which has a store less than a mile away on W. 23rd St., is another name that has been floated as a future tenant. A company spokesperson said the electronics-and-entertainment retailer does not currently have any plans for the site and could not speculate on potential deals.

Rumors have also swirled for months over the possible departure of the adjacent Virgin Megastore, where Related — which owns a controlling interest of the Virgin stores — is also the landlord.

“We’ve made no decision about that property,” Related spokesperson Joanna Rose told Mixed Use, echoing her statements to this paper from last May regarding Virgin’s long-speculated exit. However, Rose did confirm that brokerage Winick Realty Group continues to handle the leasing assignment for the nearly 60,000-square-foot property.

A spokesperson for the Union Square Partnership did not have any information on who could open in either space, where brokers have pegged asking prices for the marquee addresses at upward of $300 to $350 per square foot.

Here’s an article from The Villager about the success of the Union Square Partnership:

The Union Square Partnership held its 24th annual meeting at the W Hotel on Thursday last week celebrating the progress of the city’s first business improvement district and the beginning of the long-awaited reconstruction of Union Square Park’s north end and the square’s northern plaza.

Danny Meyer, Partnership co-chairperson, presented the annual Community Service Award to Debbie Hulse, the Department of Parks and Recreation’s head gardener for Union Square Park for the past four years.

Jennifer Falk, the Partnership’s executive director, celebrated the BID’s accomplishments over the past year in sanitation (removing 1,749 tons of trash last year) and business promotion, including a new Web site, a new free walking tour and the new Visitor Map & Guide, 50,000 copies of which will be distributed in the area.

“Every year, the Partnership makes a series of targeted investments in the beautification of Union Square Park and our partners like Debbie Hulse help us achieve our goals,” Falk said. “Debbie has poured her heart into making Union Square Park one of the most beautiful destinations in New York City.”

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer spoke at the June 5 meeting and called Falk “a powerhouse” for her energy in looking after the city’s number-one BID and her concern for residents in the district.

George Kroenert, Parks Department team leader for the Union Square north-end reconstruction, outlined the scope of the project that began at the end of April and that will triple the current playground’s size, renovate the north-end pavilion and add water and electrical connections for Greenmarket farmers’ trucks.

The Greenmarket, now occupying the square’s west side while the north end is under construction, will return to the north end in phases as sections of the plaza are completed, Kroenert said.

The project’s hoped-for completion date is October 2009, Kroenert said.

“But we’re going to take our time and do the right thing,” he said. “We’re at 6 percent complete and we’ve used up 8 percent of our time, and the contractor has committed to keeping the playground closed for only one summer.”

Meanwhile, outside of the W Hotel around the north-end plaza, exuberant demonstrators, some in costume, were protesting against the proposal to install a seasonal, private restaurant in the pavilion once it’s restored. The evening before, Reverend Billy of the Church of No Shopping, real name Bill Talen, managed to get into the construction area to hang a banner that said, “Not for Sale” from the pavilion’s roof.

A court order last month allowed construction on the plaza and the pavilion to proceed, but restrained any work that pertains to any restaurant in the pavilion pending the outcome of a lawsuit that seeks to keep private restaurant concessionaires out of the pavilion.

One of the protesters last Thursday, Kurt Opprecht, a member of Billionaires for Bush, the satiric protest group, came into the annual meeting at the W Hotel and during the open question period referred to “the rabble-rousers outside who don’t realize that money doesn’t grow on trees.” Opprecht said later that his remark at the meeting was meant satirically, but the satire was missed.

Carol Greitzer, a former city councilmember who has opposed the project because of the proposed restaurant concession, was inside at the W Hotel meeting.

“This is going to be strange coming from me, but Robert Moses built 800 playgrounds in the city and he did it without the help of commercial restaurants,” Greitzer said.

Also on June 5, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez issued a public letter about why she supports the project after have opposed it in the past. Instead of doubling the current playground area as originally proposed, the current plan triples the playground size to nearly 15,000 square feet, Mendez noted. And instead of a year-round restaurant in the pavilion, the plan was changed to a six-month, seasonal concession. Mendez also noted that Luna Park, the previous outdoor restaurant around the outside of the pavilion, occupied 6,507 square feet. The seasonal concession planned for the pavilion is 3,732 square feet, she noted.

“At first, I only heard from those opposed to the plan,” Mendez said. “But as the plan evolved, the feedback my office received was very mixed. Some residents expressed their support for the plan, eager to quickly build the playground and refurbish the pavilion regardless of its use.”

Moreover, while many people said they feared that 17th St. on the north side of the plaza would be expanded and take away plaza space, the row of trees planned for the north end of the plaza will be planted a few feet into the 17th St. roadbed, increasing the size of the plaza, Mendez noted.

After more than 15 years, the very first location of Crunch Fitness is closing on March 16. All members will be directed either to the new and much larger branch at 4th Ave. and 12th St. or the Lafayette St. branch.