The Good Ol’ Days: Broadway and 13th

You will soon, with the impending arrival of Baked by Melissa, the second branch of a Soho cupcake favorite. It will be opening directly across 14th St. soon. Enjoy.

Next week (September 24 to September 28), Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors. Curtain wall installation on the upper floors will continue. Curtain wall installation on the lower floors will proceed along 5th ave inside the construction site. The crane that is on site will remain for the duration of curtain wall installation and will not affect pedestrian or automotive traffic.

The following week (October 1 to October 5) Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors. Curtain wall installation will continue on all floors.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, September 22nd for superstructure related activities and curtain wall installation between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. Con Ed is on site working on the building but is not in any of the streets.

The Union Square Partnership (which is our business improvement district) has come up with a sweeping five-point plan to help the neighborhood bounce back after COVID. Check it out.

This week (May 16 to May 20), Contractors will continue to excavate earth and rock, and load out material. We will continue to underpin the 13th Street adjacent building. Drilling of tie-backs, installation of rakers, line drilling, lagging and sheeting around the perimeter will progress as well. Preparation for concrete foundation walls is scheduled to begin.

The following week (May 23 to May 27), we will continue line drilling, rock excavation, and loading out as well as, lagging and sheeting. Concrete foundation walls will progress.

Next week (December 12 to December 16), DOT approved street connections to underground utilities on Fifth Avenue have been completed. Superstructure work will continue at 1st and 2nd floor levels. Sidewalk sheds will continue being erected around the perimeter of the site. The roof protection at USC Condo courtyard will be started this week as well.

The following week (December 19 to December 23), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on 1st and 2nd floor levels.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, December 3rd for superstructure related activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. To control noise levels within the site, work activities will be limited to the placement of formwork, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement and use of the crane and equipment to support all activities. Safety horns are used, and required by law, to coordinate lifting with the crane and to alert the workers of the danger overhead. We have directed the operators to limit the use of horns to one short sounding and to use the crane later in the day so as to avoid any excess noise.

From The New York Times’ Metropolitan Diary:

Greenwich Village’s Bowlmor Lanes on University Place, open since 1938 and one of the longest continuously running bowling alleys on the East Coast, shut its doors on Monday to make way for new condominiums.

Much more than the disappearance of another landmark is the loss of Mark Braunreuther, Bowlmor’s man at the door for the past 16 years: benevolent minder, gentleman greeter, peacekeeper on the rowdy corner between Bar 13 and Bowlmor, an area labeled by one resident as the intersection between “Bucket” and “Blood.” On weekends, residents regularly awaken to police sirens and find violent traces splattered on early-morning sidewalks. Mark was always deep in the fray. His judiciousness was the reason so many revelers went home unharmed.

Mark B. was the mayor of University Place. He knew most of us, and all of our pets, by name. Last summer he tended corn seeds in the tree bed out front. Just seeing those struggling cornstalks made one glad for summer. This coming season, he was planning some tomatoes.

Mark regularly brought my husband and me cake from his favorite Queens bakery. The box always included biscuits for our dog. We reciprocated with Carolina barbecue sauce.

Mark lost everything in Hurricane Sandy — his entire apartment and his car. His bosses replaced the car so he could get in from Far Rockaway. And when our Bowlmor closed for good, they promised a good position at their Chelsea Piers location. Mark was very grateful but he admitted he’d miss our neighborhood.

Mark died suddenly a few weeks before Bowlmor Lanes closed its doors forever.

Rest in peace, brave knight. I, for one, will miss you long after a bowling alley is a distant memory.