The Good Ol’ Days: 1899

It’s at this time of the year that street life returns to our sidewalks, and with it comes litter, especially on 13th St., where fans of Joe Coffee linger on our stoop, smoke up a storm, and drop their butts. Such is life in the big city. The big problem with this is that we sometimes get sanitation tickets that aren’t our fault. The Board of Directors has a very cordial relationship with Joe’s owner, Jonathan Rubenstein, who is a good guy and a great example of a successful local entrepreneur fighting off the big chains. He’s busy expanding his empire, but he does care and responds to our complaints. In the meantime, feel free to remind visitors to our stoop not to drop their trash, and if you have the time, call 311 to complain because city inspectors will get Joe’s attention.

Sad to see Patsy’s Pizzeria leave University Place. For more than 15 years it was the most reliable pizza in the neighborhood. What will take its place?

From the current issue of The Villager:

When Danny Meyer opened the Union Square Cafe 24 years ago, area rents hovered around $8 per square foot. Today comparable space could rent for up to $400 per square foot.

The business dilemma of astronomical rents was one of the issues under consideration on Mon., Nov. 10, at the Union Square Partnership Fall Forum titled, “Spotlight on Commercial Diversity in Union Square.”

A panel of four experts joined moderator William H. Kelley, the Partnership’s director of economic development, in a roundtable discussion of the area’s commercial landscape.

More than 75 residents and local business owners attended the forum in the Union Square Ballroom, in what one participant described as an attempt to “think outside the box and look forward.”

Kelley explained the motivation behind the forum:

“In its heyday, Union Square had this wonderful gathering of mom-and-pop businesses,” he told The Villager. “Recently, the area has become an international gathering of businesses.”

Forum participants debated if this evolution was an inevitable result of growth or if there were there any tools the Union Square area or even city government could employ to create a more stable mix of large and small businesses.

“I think Union Square is fascinating,” said panelist Larisa Ortiz, of Larisa Ortiz Associates and a co-author of “Real Estate Redevelopment & Reuse.” “It’s a model and a template that other cities have followed,” she said, noting the presence of iconic restaurants and the Greenmarket.

According to an examination of gentrification trends by New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, the number of businesses in the Union Square area rose almost 20 percent from 1990 to 2000, and have grown an additional 8 percent since 2000.

Of those businesses, 11 percent represent food services and “accommodations.” The largest number of retail businesses — 23 percent — are clothing and accessory stores.

Ortiz was concerned how the neighborhood could maintain its character when park-fronting property is privately owned and rents are set by overheated market forces.

“Let’s help interesting speciality business and restaurant spaces on the side streets,” she suggested.

To gauge interest in topics for the forum, the Partnership sent out a questionnaire in September to more than 3,500 local residents and businesses. A question asked what the most important issue facing Union Square is.

The survey drew almost 300 responses. Topping the list of concerns, 43 percent of respondents said pedestrian congestion and safety are of primary importance. Another 24 percent believed addressing the neighborhood’s changing character was paramount. Six percent saw completing reconstruction of the square’s north end as important.

Next week (March 5 to March 9), Superstructure work will continue at 6th and 7th floor levels. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

The following week (March 12 to March 16), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 7th floor level.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, March 3rd for superstructure related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. To control noise levels within the site, work activities will be limited to the placement of formwork and concrete, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement, using the crane and equipment to support all activities. Safety horns are used, and required by law, to coordinate lifting with the crane and to alert the workers of the danger overhead. We have directed the operators to limit the use of horns to one short sounding and to use the crane later in the day so as to avoid any excess noise.

In addition to the normal work we will be having the boilers delivered to the site on Saturday along the 5th Ave. entrance to the site. The 14th St. Con Ed Vault utility connection street work will continue per DOT Permit granted for weekends only.

Next up in the new retail strip on the west side of University Place between 12th and 13th is Glaze, which will offer vaguely Asian fusion bowls, like this:

Nom!, whatever that is, has signage up at University and 11th at the former site of Whitney Chemists. One can assume it will provide food of some sort, but no other details are available yet.