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-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.”
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
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.
Next week (May 27 to May 31), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building. We will be working on the new sidewalks around the building and installing new curbs and will be removing the sidewalk shed along 13th st. Additionally we will be working on the roofs of the building. The site will be closed on Monday, the 27th for the holiday.
The following week (June 3 to June 7), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors as well as sidewalk work.
This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, May 25th for interior, roof, and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.
When the New School builds its new building on the corner, one of its major uses will be to house a consolidated Parsons School of Fashion Design, which is currently scattered among many midtown buildings. That’s according to the New School student newspaper. So expect even more groovily dressed teens outside our front doors.
Looking ahead to the upcoming holiday, the New School construction site will be closed on Saturday, December 31st and also on Monday, January 2nd. Next week (January 2 to January 6), Superstructure and concrete work will continue at 2nd and 3rd floor levels. Sidewalk sheds will continue being erected around the perimeter of the site and we will be opening the one on 14th st. The following week (January 9 to January 13), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on 2nd and 3rd floor levels. In the upcoming weekend, January 14th, we plan on installing the new crane on Fifth Avenue.
Travel back to 1901 and take a look at the 4,5,6 train being built up the east side of Union Square. Remarkable images! You can even see the statue of George Washington at bottom center of the first photo. This was his original location, at the intersection of 4th Ave. and 14th St., before he was moved into the park itself.
Finally, the big part of the renovation is complete. And the fountain lines up with 5th Ave., which, apparently, was really important to the architects even though no one else seemed to care much.
