Latest New School Update

From the press release:

Soon New Yorkers, known for their culinary palettes, will be able to enjoy the taste of Nutella® in a variety of unique dishes tailored especially for them. Ferrero, a global confectionery company and the maker of Nutella® The Original Hazelnut Spread®, today announced it will be opening a Nutella Cafe at 13th Street and University Place, near Union Square, by the end of the year. Nutella Cafe New York will feature a Nutella-inspired cafe menu and specialty espresso beverages. The first Nutella Cafe opened on May 31, 2017 in Chicago.

“There truly is nothing like the taste of Nutella® hazelnut spread, and with the overwhelmingly positive reaction to Nutella Cafe Chicago, we know our fans feel the same way. It’s their excitement that propelled us to open another Nutella Cafe and continue to showcase the uniqueness and versatility of this beloved product,” said Rick Fossali, vice president of operations, Nutella Cafe.

“Nutella is global power brand and the popularity of the spread is built on Ferrero’s uncompromising focus on quality ingredients. As a multicultural epi-center, New York gives us the opportunity to explore and offer new ways for our local fans to enjoy Nutella, while reaching millions of tourists visiting the city,” added Fossali.

For more information and updates on the Nutella Cafe New York, please check out the Nutella USA Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

After 17 years of selling pizza by its weight, the appropriately named Pie by the Pound has closed on Fourth Avenue between 12th Street and 13th Street. June 30 was the shop’s last day.

Here’s part of the message from owner Jeffrey Reiss on Facebook:

It is time to say goodbye😭🙁😢. I want to thank the local community and beyond for supporting us and who have been our fans until the end. I will deeply miss the vegetarian, vegan and especially the Gluten Free Communities. Such beautiful memories of all the families and kids and my staff….that will last a lifetime. I will miss this place. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU.

Love,
Jeffrey

Manhattan’s second legal marijuana store will open in February at the site of the former Chase bank on the corner of Broadway and 13th Street.

When it opens  it will donate 51% of its revenues to the Doe Fund, which helps vulnerable populations in New York City with work, housing, and access to continuing education, career training, and counseling.

The Doe Fund was one of more than a dozen NGOs and businesses to get a dispensary license in November, indicating that the city is poised to see an influx of legal recreational dispensaries.

The 5,000-square-foot area will be a “higher velocity” store, which means it will be designed to accommodate a larger volume of consumers effortlessly, whether they come in to pick up a pre-order or speak with a budtender.

Here’s a 1910 view of the south side of 14 St. looking east from 6th Ave. from what was then the platform of the elevated train. As you can see, Macy’s was headquartered there (where Urban Outfitters is now) and expanded along the block over time as it grew. Eventually, the cobbled-together space got too complicated and the store decamped for its massive new digs in Herald Square. If you look closely at this building today, you can still see vestiges of Macy’s red star icon in a few places.

A major renovation is coming to the former Tammany Hall headquarters in Union Square where owners want to put a new glass dome over the landmarked building and demolish a theater to make way for retail and office space, the project’s architects said.

The historic structure at 44 Union Square East, built in 1929 to house the Democratic Party machine, will undergo a major overhaul that will restore the facade, gut the existing theater and add windows and glassier storefronts, according to BKSK Architects which is designing the project.

The most striking change will be a new 30-foot glass dome on top of the building, which will add about 27,000 square feet to the structure and will house office space, according to Harry Kendall, a partner at BKSK.

“Our effort is…to make it a more distinctive destination and presence on Union Square,” Kendall said. “We think we can make this building into something it never was.”

After hearing a presentation about the proposal this week, Community Board 5’s Landmarks Committee voted unanimously to reject it, saying the changes would be too drastic for an historic building that was just landmarked last year.

“While I like the way it looks — can you put something like this on a landmarked building?” said Edward Klimerman, a committee member. “It turns it into a different building.”

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a landmark in June 2013, noting its references to early American architecture, including Colonial columns out front. The building’s design drew inspiration from the original Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan, where George Washington took his first oath of office.

It looks like a crepe joint called Vive Le Crepe will open on University near 13th in a former day spa. It joins an upcoming falafel place and the glam Italian place to come on the corner. That’s three chains filling spaces formerly operated by three local businesses. Times change.