Certified Expanded: Strip House

Boasting two floors, three studios (including a heated one), and over 100 workouts per week, the flagship location of Fithouse off Union Square  garnered the attention of over 500 new members in its opening weekend alone. Combined with the diversity of class types (barre, bounce, dance, HIIT, sculpt, and yoga) and instructors’ notoriously noteworthy energizing playlists, it’s the ultimate spot to sweat and be seen. Spread across 6,400 square feet, the one-stop shop also provides luxe showers, private changing areas, lockers equipped with charging stations, and a full refresh bar. Unlimited class memberships are $189/month.

The Girl Scout troop serving girls in the city’s homeless shelters that captivated New Yorkers last year will be selling cookies again in Union Square this week.

Troop 6000 will hold its cookie sale at Kellogg’s NYC Cafe, where members had their successful inaugural sale last year. Long lines quickly formed as news spread about the troop, and the girls ended up selling 36,000 boxes.
This year, the troop has a goal of selling 60,000 boxes. The girls will be at the store from 1 to 6 p.m. on April 22 to April 26.

The troop started at a homeless shelter in Queens in 2017, but grew to include hundreds of girls at 15 shelters across the five boroughs, the city announced last year. The troop is led by women and mothers also living in homeless shelters and holds meetings every week at the participating shelters.

There was a rumor that leading restauranteur Danny Meyer wanted to run the new restaurant to be established in the Union Square Park pavilion. Not true, says Meyer, but he will be taking over the cursed Wakiya space in the Gramercy Park Hotel and establishing an Italian restaurant there.

This report from Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservaation notes that 64 University Place, the non-descript building currently housing Agata and Valentina, may be scheduled to meet its destiny with the wrecking ball. In its place, a 12-story building.

Village Preservation has learned that a developer has filed plans to demolish 64-66 University Place (10^th/11^th Street) within our proposed South of Union Square Historic District we have been fighting to get landmarked.

No permits have yet been filed for a new building, though we understand a 12-story building is being contemplated. The zoning for the site allows a roughly 42,000 square foot building here, of residential, commercial, and community facility uses, with about 6-7,000 square feet of additional air rights purchased from neighboring 70 University Place. By comparison, neighboring 21 East 10th Street is approximately 56,000 square feet.

Village Preservation has been campaigning for landmark designation for this area, and our research and documentation submitted to the City shows that this building, in spite of its utilitarian looks, actually has an incredibly important history worthy of recognition and protection. While we have made some progress recently advancing our landmarking proposal, the City has nevertheless resisted landmarking the full proposed district, and Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who represents this area, has not endorsed the historic district landmarking proposal.

Truth be told, the pandemic will likely wipe hundreds or even thousands of NYC restaurants off the map, but in the meantime, a new one has just arrived at 24 East 12th St. Meet Fields Good Chicken.