Latest New School Construction Update

Sort of a surprise that the neighborhood is getting a new bodega at the corner of 13th and University, replacing Basics Hardware.

Expanded pedestrian space and more cycling lanes are central to a planned redesign of Manhattan’s Broadway between E. 17th and E. 21st streets, city officials announced on Monday.

The changes are subject to public outreach — but Department of Transportation officials said they could mimic a change to other areas of Broadway between Union Square and E. 50th Street, where crews in recent years have added more pedestrian plazas, outdoor dining space and wider crosswalks designed to keep pedestrians safe from crashes.

DOT officials also said they’re considering adding a two-way bike lane between E. 17th and E. 21st streets, which already has a one-way southbound lane for cyclists.

The city earlier this year completed an overhaul of Broadway between E. 25th and E. 32nd streets, adding more space for pedestrians, another two-way bike lane and other infrastructure designed to make motorists drive slower.

“This next phase of Broadway Vision will provide the same kind of vibrant public spaces connecting Union Square and Flatiron, just like our administration is doing with incredible success across the entire city,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

The latest planned improvements are just north of Union Square — and just south of where a taxi driver jumped a sidewalk last year, sending several pedestrians to the hospital.

What the heck happened to University Place between 13th and 14th? As part of the reimagining of 14th St., it appears that this block is now all but impassable to cars, and we have doubled down on Citibikes. Wow.

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.

Early rumors suggest that Union Square will become the center of Occupy-related protests on May 1.

The much delayed hotel going up at 13th and 4th will indeed be a Hyatt .