University and 13th: 1935

Ralph Lauren Denim and Supply, a fixture on the corner of University and 12th for the past few years, is done.

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.

Here is the summer newsletter from the New School giving all sorts of info about the new building. Let them eat cake!

Crain’s reports:

Time may be running out for brides to dash to Filene’s Basement. The off-price retailer, famous for its Running of the Brides discount wedding dress events, is on the block. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday, the chain’s Columbus, Ohio-based parent Retail Ventures Inc. said efforts to cut costs “is not likely to lead to sustainable operations for Filene’s basement.”

In January, Retail Ventures had announced the closing of 11 underperforming Filene’s stores, including one in Levittown, N.Y. Yet performance at the remaining 25 locations, which include four in New York City, “has continued to deteriorate significantly since that time,” according to the filing. Retail Ventures, which also owns footwear chain DSW Inc., said it will delay the filing of its annual results with the SEC.

Not that we needed a store full of notebooks…but here it is.

From the NY Times:
Eataly, a giant market for artisanal Italian food products that opened in Turin two years ago, signed a lease this morning for an even larger location at 200 Fifth Avenue. (23rd St.) With 32,000 square feet of food halls and restaurants, Eataly New York will be twice the size of the Turin original. The partners in the venture are B&B Hospitality Group, the company behind nearly 20 restaurants around the country operated by Joseph and Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali, along with Oscar Farinetti and Luca Bassigo, the Italian founders and managing partners of Eataly. There will also be an 8,000 square foot rooftop garden, although the plans for that space are still being worked out. “I’m not sure whether it will be for beer, sausage and pizza or just beer and sausage,” Mr. Batali said in a phone interview today from a beach in Spain.