A Yogurt Revival?

Both Saigon Market and Mint Kitchen are over. Two large spaces. What will replace them?

THIS LINK leads to the official new construction newsletter.

Witnick Real Estate Partners purchased a mixed-use, multifamily apartment building in Union Square for $23 million. The building, located at 30 East 14th Street between Fifth Avenue and University Place, came with 30,720 square feet of air rights and sold for approximately $1,124 per square foot, meaning that a larger building might be on the way. But, plans for the property are unclear and Witnick did not respond to a request for comment.

From the NY Times:

The latest record store to close in New York is a big one: the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Following its announcement last month that the Times Square Megastore would close down in April, Virgin Entertainment Group North America will shut down the Union Square shop in late May or early June, a spokeswoman said, confirming a report in Billboard. Virgin will also close its Market Street store in San Francisco in April. The New York closures will leave Manhattan without a large-scale record store. Thousands of music retailers have shut down in recent years as CD sales have plunged, and Virgin has been closing most of its locations around the country since it was bought by the real estate companies Vornado and Related in 2007, but its high-traffic New York stores were said to be profitable.

The Union Square area is becoming a high-tech hotbed. Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore was interviewed about why he brought his company here:

Last September, Pete Cashmore moved Mashable’s headquarters from 23rd Street to the heart of Union Square. What he found when he arrived was a climate he says is perfect for startups.

Factors that play into the business climate he found just a few blocks south of Mashable’s previous location include a fertile history of innovation, access to creative talent, and proven professionals. But in the end, what’s most attractive to Cashmore is good, old-fashioned, face-to-face interactions.

“Union Square has always been a meeting place, where people come together and share ideas,” Cashmore told me on Tuesday at an event at the British Residence of New York. “And now with it becoming a real hub of innovation it is a great place to be.”

Now employing about 140 people, Mashable’s offices occupy two floors on Fifth Avenue and 17th Street.

No doubt, part of what Cashmore found there was nurtured by venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures (USV), which was founded in 2004 and now manages $1 billion in assets across six funds. USV’s previous investment in New York City-based companies include Etsy (Nasdaq: ESTY), Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion), and MongoDB, which has raised $311 million venture capital.

But over the past year, the number of significant real-estate investments in Union Square shows that it’s much more than just Fred Wilson’s influence at work in the area.

The top three lease transactions of 2015 are BuzzFeed, which now occupies 194,000 square feet at 225 Park Avenue South, Gawker Media, which is in 58,900 square feet at 114 Fifth Avenue, and First Look Media in 58,206 square feet at the same location, according to a Union Square Partnership report published in May. New and expanded office tenants in Union Square also include Dropbox, Adobe Systems Inc. Hulu, Lippe Taylor, Pop2Life, Capital One Labs, The New Republic, and Compass.

The top sector in the area is “professional, scientific, and tech services,” with 1,514 firms, followed by retail with 1,393 firms. Among the top firms by number of employees is J. Crew, listed with 3,800 employees and Tory Burch, with 1,800. In total, 9,700 businesses are located within the half-mile radius of Union Square considered by the report, employing over 153,000 people.

What’s attracting all this talent? Not the rent. According to a May report by San Francisco-based real estate analytics firm Zumper, only two neighborhoods are more expensive than Greenwich Village, where Union Square technically is designated as being located. Average rent for a one bedroom apartment costs $3,850. In Chelsea it’s $3,920, and in Tribeca, $4,450. According to the same report, New York City was the second most expensive city in the United States, just behind San Francisco.

In an interview Wednesday, Union Square Partnerships managing director Scott Hobbs ventured his own theory as to why so many innovative companies are moving to his neighborhood. “The biggest reason is it’s a transportation hub,” he said. “You’ve got Williamsburg for creatives across the river, and midtown for business.” Trains that depart Union Square Station are the N, R, Q, 4, 5, 6, and L.

As for Cashmore, his explanation is much more simple. “What’s really great about Union Square is you can go get a coffee and bump into someone doing something interesting in tech,” he said.

DNAinfo Reports:

A 31-foot-tall sculpture resembling a stick of pink rock candy will rise on the plaza at 14th Street and Union Square East this fall, officials said.

The installation — dubbed “Rose Crystal Tower” and designed by renowned glassblower Dale Chihuly — will consist of a 22-foot structure made of glass-like resin sitting on top of a nine-foot base, according to Parks Department representatives.

The department is looking into whether it will be possible to use power sources in the area to light the sculpture from the inside, according to Jennifer Lantzas, deputy director of public art for the agency.

The tower will consist of numerous layers of pink crystals stacked on top of each other to create a column, according to early renderings.

The resin which Chihuly is using in place of his usual glass materials will be hard enough to withstand breakage, according to Dale Lanzone of Marlborough Gallery, which is sponsoring the Union Square installation.

“You could throw a rock at it or really do whatever you wanted to break it and it’s not going to break,” he said at Community Board 5’s Parks and Public Space Committee meeting Monday.

This will be Chihuly’s second public exhibition in the city, coming on the heels of an installation in the New York Botanical Gardens that will debut in April. It will be displayed from October 2017 until October 2018.

Chihuly, who sports a distinctive eye patch stemming from a glassblowing accident, is known for his creations that range from flora and fauna to abstract designs that have helped turn glassblowing into an avante-garde artform, Lanzone said.

“In the world of glass, he really invented the art form,” Lanzone said. “Chihuly is synonymous with glass sculpture.”DN