Notice of Annual Shareholders’ Meeting

The new and huge Union Square Park Playground looks like this.

Now at 51 University Place:

“The Hemp Philosophy was founded in New York City by Jack Scaba. Like many of our customers, his team came across hemp while looking for alternative solutions to ailments. What they found was a need for quality hemp that was more accessible. Thus, The Hemp Philosophy was born. Since then, this philosophy has defined the new standard for premium quality hemp products.”

Next week (October 10 to October 14), contractors will continue to excavate earth and load out material. Concrete foundation walls at the South East corner of the site and slab on grade work will continue. Underground electrical and plumbing work will continue. DOT approved street connections to underground utilities on Fifth Avenue will progress. Formwork and rebar for superstructure will continue at cellar levels.

The following week (October 17 to October 21 ), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs, street utility connections and underground electrical and plumbing.

The sale of two units at Brack Capital Real Estate’s condominium conversion at 15 Union Square West may be set to shatter records for the sale of a single-family home on the square, the Corcoran Group’s Timothy Rothman told The Real Deal yesterday, since the new owner plans to combine them into one duplex spread. Rothman, a vice president at Corcoran on the Spiegelman team, represented a mystery foreign buyer in the deal for penthouse 11 and unit 10B at the building, which closed together yesterday for between $16 million and $17 million, he said, though he declined to give a specific price. The units were not on the market as a combination; their individual asking prices were $10.7 million and $6.5 million respectively. Rothman would not reveal the identity of the buyer due to a confidentiality agreement.

The lovely little 113-room Jade Hotel has opened on West 13th St. near 6th Ave.

The renovated W Union Square Hotel now boasts a hot new restaurant that the New York Post loves:

It took Seahorse, the new seafood spot in the W hotel, four years to open after it was first planned — and only two weeks to conquer Manhattan.

The wonderful eatery from owner John McDonald and chef John Villa is a rare, instant artistic and commercial success that’s just what Union Square needed.

The blocks around the park lost their culinary cred after Brazilian-style Coffee Shop closed in 2018 and Blue Water Grill a year later, leaving the famous Greenmarket its only claim to glory. Seahorse, on Park Avenue South at East 17th Street, puts the juice back. The corner will be even more of a food destination when a giant STK Steakhouse opens soon across the street.

McDonald’s Mercer Street Hospitality owns a half dozen crowd-pleasing eateries including Bowery Meat Company, Bar Mercer and, most famously, Lure Fishbar in Soho, which might lose its home of 20 years to Prada.

Seahorse tops them all. The stunning design by David Rockwell offers everyone open views of the sea of booths, banquettes and tables. Nautical blue trim sets the theme. Walls of rich teak refer to, but don’t copy, Lure and its yacht cabin vibes.

Villa is equally at home in corporate and individual-restaurant settings. He was recently culinary head of Tao Group, but I remember him as well for Pico — a great modern-Portuguese restaurant that didn’t survive Tribeca’s street closings after 9/11.