Our New Neighbor

Please note that the annual shareholder’s meeting has been rescheduled to October 10th. Details to follow.

The nonprofit behind the Union Square Greenmarket plans to open a new community space in the neighborhood to host events and classes on sustainability and nutrition, and provide a spot for other nonprofits in the city to gather near Union Square, according to GrowNYC Assistant Director Julie Walsh. The space, called “Project Farmhouse,” is expected to open at 76 E. 13th St., near Fourth Avenue, by November with a test kitchen, a conference room and a vertical grow wall with moving trays designed to rotate plants so they all get the ideal amount of water, fertilizer and light, said Kate Chura of GrowNYC, who is overseeing the project.

Just a note that the peanut butter cookies at Momofuku Milk Bar are seriously amazing.

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On a recent visit to Everyman Espresso on East 13th Street, we were stopped by a sign saying the coffee shop will close for renovations starting June 25th.  A barista inside who explained the work should take 3 – 4 weeks.  After that,  they’ll have snazzy new interiors.

As you’re well aware, the demolition and construction of The New School site at 65 Fifth Avenue is well underway. On Thursday, The New School revealed for the first time the official design of the building, which includes some of the elements from its earliest sketches, such as the exposed staircases, but is different in two notable ways: the building is smaller than originally planned, and it is partially class in brass, rather than entirely in glass.

The building is being constructed as of right. There is no more debate over design or size. This is pretty much what we’re going to see: a university hub of about 16 stories with eight floors of campus space topped by a smaller eight floors of dormitory housing for 600 students.

To get caught up on what the building looks like and see many photos of the model, click here.

To read the somewhat positive New York Times architecture critic’s review, click here.

A neighbor attended the public viewing of the model and came away with some great facts:

–The loading dock is on 13th street at the eastern most corner of the lot.

–The main entrance to the building is on the southwest corner. This is for everything except the dormitories.

–The dormitory entrance is on 5th avenue, about 1/3 of the way down from 14th street.

–The northern 1/3 of the building at street level is retail – no word on what though.

–Directly above the retail is a cafeteria. It looks like seating for 300, which makes sense considering the 600 person dormitory.

–The dormitory floors are set back on all sides, and shaped in a ‘C’ with a light well on the eastern side of the stack. They are four bed suites, with kitchenettes in them.

–The set-back between the lower and upper halves is a green roof, and they say that for liability reasons it will not be open to the general building population. Pressing on this, and the answer was that while the green roof hasn’t been engineered yet, it is likely going to be possible to have foot traffic on it and will perhaps be open to supervised use (during a class, or for an experiment of some kind). (So no midnight keg parties, we hope.)

The green roof is at the level of 7 East 13^th St/10 East 14^th St, so about the same height as our roof.

— It looks like it’s designed to keep students inside the building, and not loitering on the street. The canopies are small, and the doors aren’t inset, so there isn’t any natural gathering space just outside on the sidewalk.

We hope that this brings everyone up to date on a project that will be a big part of the pulse of the neighborhood for the next two years….and beyond.