Now Open in Our Building: Nature Republic

Warby Parker’s 200th real-world store is located nearby at 73 5th Avenue.

The University Diner has finally found its new identity…as a European cookie shop. The details:

“Almost a year after the closure of the classic diner University Restaurant, an Austrian corporation will open a specialty food shop in its place later this month, the owner of the incoming business said Tuesday.

“Gunz Fine European Food will sell cookies, snacks and other fine foods imported from across Europe, Daniel Gunz said.

“It will be everything from Belgian chocolate to Spanish cakes to Italian olive oil,”

A private middle school partially funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has released renderings of its planned interior — which is slated to open near Union Square this fall.

AltSchool, a private school that uses a technology-driven approach to design individualized lesson plans for students, has started building out its new school at 90 Fifth Ave. on the corner of 14th Street.

The school, which charges about $30,000 tuition per year, revolves around a Montessori-like curriculum and bills itself as a hybrid tech company and education startup. It’s the brainchild of a team of Silicon Valley types with a long history in companies like Google, where AltSchool CEO Max Ventilla worked for more than a decade.

The new space takes up an office-building floor previously occupied by The New School. It will be divided into two main areas — each of which have a classroom and group area space, as well as a larger communal area with a small kitchenette, a lunch area, and amphitheater-style seating.

COVID strikes again. No holiday market this year. You’ll have to travel up to Bryant Park to pick up your scented candles and knitted mittens.

 

A Greenwich Village parking garage at 12 E. 13th St. between University Place and Fifth Avenue will be transformed into eight large condominiums, in another sign of the city’s booming ultra-luxury market.

The building, which sold for $32 million in 2012, will feature eight apartments—a mix of full-floor units and duplexes—with expected asking prices range from $7.5 million to $28.5 million for the top triplex, according to the project’s developers. Occupancy is expected by the end of 2014.

The project is a joint development by DHA Capital LLC and Continental Properties.

The developers plan to add four more floors to the eight-story building, which was built in 1930. A portion of the rear will be demolished and replaced with the new stories, and it will also receive a new façade with elongated bricks to make the windows wider.

The 10th, 11th and 12th floors will make up one triplex, while all of the ninth and part of the eighth floor will make up a duplex with an asking price of $18 million. The building will be topped by a glass structure being added as part of the 6,000-square-foot triplex penthouse.

The building will feature a 24-hour concierge, an automated parking system, a small gym, individual storage space and street-level retail.

The building is currently undergoing demolition, and reconstruction work will begin in a month or two.

Steven Fisch of Continental Properties, a family business started by his father in 1957, said this was their first joint venture with DHA Capital LLC, and the two groups looked at other properties before deciding on this one.

“One major factor was the size of the block, the location obviously, and the ability to do something very special, to create almost a work of art with full-floor condos,” said Mr. Fisch. “It’s very hard to find a 67-foot-wide building.”

Mr. Fisch said the two groups decided to create an ultra-high-end luxury building rather than smaller, more affordable apartments because there has been very strong demand for this type of housing over the past five years, and a shortage of supply.

He said they also wanted to distinguish themselves from large buildings featuring 150 and 200 apartments.

“It is in a location, and a time in New York City, when this can happen,” said Mr. Fisch.

Richard Cantor, a principal at Cantor-Pecorella, is marketing the condos. Mr. Cantor said none had been sold yet, but the ultra high-end luxury residential market is very strong.

“There’s been a huge uptick in prices in the high end, it’s a very strong market,” said Mr. Cantor.

He said the building doesn’t have a “pretentious” name, and is just known by its address to keep it simple.

The last tenant at the 45,000-square-foot parking garage was Hertz Rental Car, which vacated once its lease expired.

Union Square will host its first-ever Night Market by Urbanspace. Union Square is no stranger to Urbanspace, as the company is responsible for putting on the park’s beloved annual Holiday Market. However, this will be the first time Urbanspace will operate an open-air food market during summer nights.

The Union Square Night Market will run for four Thursdays, starting July 11th. More than 20 vendors will come together to bring New Yorkers some of the best bites in the city. It will all take place along the South Plaza of Union Square Park.

So whether you’re interested in grabbing something to eat on your summer commute home or planning a date night, the Union Square Night Market will serve as the perfect venue for either!