Lobster Rolls for Everyone

Next week (May 28 to June 1), Superstructure work will continue at the 18th floor level. The superstructure concrete work will be completed on the building by the end of the month. We will begin pouring concrete at 6am on Friday the 25th in order to finish in a timely manner. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic. The site will be closed on Monday, May 28th for the Memorial Day Holiday.

The following week (June 4 to June 8), we will be working on the machine room levels on the 18th floor. Additionally we will have another crane on the Northwest corner of the site to help with a steel truss installation. This should not greatly affect pedestrian or road traffic. Deliveries for the internal systems of the building have been ongoing and will continue, although they should not greatly affect the flow of pedestrian and road traffic.

Osso Buco on University is closed for renovations. Rumor has it that it will return in a more “contemporary” form. We’ll see.

The Wall Street Journal has a lot to say about what’s happening in our neighborhood. For example: ““I think the area was quite spectacular and bohemian to begin with, but it’s becoming a bit more adult,” said Madeline Hult Elghanayan, a broker at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “You now see a new, luxury-oriented clientele that’s looking for places to live in this immediate area.“

Cars will mostly be banned from 14th Street starting July 1 as the city launches a busway to help speed up traffic on the busy Manhattan thoroughfare, DOT announced Monday.

Private through traffic will be banned between Third and Ninth avenues from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily to accommodate the pilot busway during reconstruction work on the L train’s Canarsie tunnel. Cars will still be able to make pick-ups, drop-offs, and access area garages on the street during the pilot, according to DOT.

In April, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that buses, trucks, and emergency vehicles would be given priority on the stretch of road—the same span that had been pitched for a busway under the original L train shutdown mitigation plan but was thrown up in the air after Gov. Andrew Cuomo suddenly swapped plans to repair the Hurricane Sandy-damaged tunnel. But the city had yet to unveil a launch date or hours of operation for the pilot busway until now.

“The 14th Street busway is great news for transit riders and neighborhood residents,” said Danny Pearlstein, the Riders Alliance policy and communications director. “By ensuring fast, reliable transit starting July 1, the busway will provide an excellent alternative to jam-packed L trains and expensive, inefficient car trips.”

To enforce the busway, new cameras on the buses will issue tickets to those violating the street’s new restrictions. But drivers will be given warnings and tickets will not be issued until at least September, according to the DOT.

The busway’s July 1 launch will also be accompanied by the MTA’s new M14 select bus service that will replace the current M14A and M14D routes and nix 16 existing stops—that’s down from 22 after public outcry over the slashed stops. Riders will have to swipe their MetroCards at machines lining the curb before boarding the new select bus service.

The New School, has picked up 34-42 West 14th St, a five-story, 180,000 square foot building, for $153 million.

The seller was Samson Associates and the sale closed on Jan. 10, according to the Commercial Observer. Samson had owned the property since 1985. The building’s tenants will remain and pay rent to the school until their leases expire but those leases won’t be renewed. The school will take over space over time and convert it to academic uses. The building has about 25k SF of ground-floor retail space and comes with additional air rights.

Note that price: $153 million.