Latest New School Construction Update

It served the neighborhood well for years from the corner of University and 13th, but Vietnamese restaurant L’Annam is no more. So long, lemongrass chicken.

Next week (November 19 to November 23), Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors. Curtain wall installation on the lower floors along 14th st. has been completed and the crane has left the job. The site will be closed on the 22nd for the holiday but will be open Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th.

The following week (November 26 to November 30) Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, November 17th for interior related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. Con Ed will be working in the street.

The Union Square Partnership reports:

Amid the broader success of the Union Square area in 2024, the performance of 14th Street between 1st and 6th Avenues stands out as exceptional. This segment alone welcomed 18 new businesses in 2024, including Q4 openings such as Adonis Barbershop, Upperz Café & Bar, Kamisama, and Harlem’s famous soul food restaurant Amy Ruth’s. These family-owned establishments enhance Union Square’s vibrant and diverse retail and food scene.

Thanks to strong leasing activity this quarter, the storefront vacancy rate along 14th Street between 1st and 6th Avenues has dropped to 9%, with just one available ground-floor listing east of Broadway.

According to LiveXYZ, this is below the average vacancy rate for Manhattan Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) (16%) and the vacancy rate for the Union Square Partnership BID as a whole (16%).

Beyond retail growth, investments in residential developments and transit upgrades have modernized 14th Street’s appearance and accessibility at Union Square’s western gateway. The completion of upgrades to the F/L/M/1/2/3 subway station at 6th Avenue has made the station fully accessible, complementing new residential landmarks like FÖRENA (540 6th Avenue) and 101 West 14th Street at the intersection’s northern corners. Meanwhile, construction is underway on a 71-unit condominium at 525 6th Avenue on the southwest corner, poised to complete the transformation of this important intersection.

The north end of Union Square Park will soon look a lot better. 21 trees are on the way.

Next week (December 9th to December 13th ), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on the academic floors inside the building.

The following week (December 16to to December 20th ), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on academic floors

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday and Sunday, December 7th and 8th for interior activities between the work hours of 7AM and 7PM as permitted by the City.

From the Observer:

Jason Scherr, owner of the cafe that the New York Press named best new coffee shop in 2008, has signed a lease for about 1,600 square feet at 123 Fourth Avenue, between 12th and 13th streets, in which he will open his third Think Coffee by the end of the summer, according to Jason Turner, his broker at Zelnik & Company Real Estate. Think is taking the space of the closed Panorama Galleries on an otherwise rather shoddy block that just happens to be steps away from N.Y.U.’s Third Avenue North dorms and its soon-to-be-completed new dorm on 12th Street.

Think Coffee’s two other cafes are at One Bleecker Street and 248 Mercer Street.

“Think Coffee thought it was an emerging street that had some upside,” Mr. Turner said. “Rents are significantly lower than on Broadway or University, so he can be within the Union Square submarket without having to pay Union Square rents.”