Anyone curious about what is happening to real estate values in our neighborhood (hint: they’re going down) should know about StreetEasy, currently the best available resource for block-by-block and apartment-by-apartment comparisons of current listings, including recent prices. An invaluable resource as we navigate these interesting economic times.
Visit Koi, at 32 Union Square East. They say:
A celebration, a date or just a relaxing break in the day, there is always a reason to get together around a cup of KOI tea. KOI brings joy to the world. Freshly brewed tea and flavorful ingredients, prepared with passion are the key to KOI’s authentic taste and the reason why people come back again and again. In each and every KOI store, the staff is keen to share our happiness and love of tea with you. They do their best every day to make your experience memorable. Hear the sound of tea being brewed, of ice being crushed, and of laughter. Smell the aroma of our freshly prepared ingredients. Be excited by the chewiness of our milk tea pearls. Enjoy the fun and comfortable surroundings. And the warmth of our tea shakers. With KOI, happiness happens naturally.
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!
Last month, Union Square had to say good-bye to Food Emporium, formerly located at 10 Union Square East. While we are sorry to see the long-time neighborhood spot go, we are excited to be welcoming Target to this location in 2023! In the meantime, there are still great places to buy your everyday groceries and household essentials with flexible in-store and delivery/pick-up options for a seamless shopping experience. Read up more here in our Grocery Shopping Guide and find a full map of where you can do all your shopping in Union Square.
The New York Times has a fascinating article about the deli across from the co-op on 13th St., reviewing its history as a Schraftt’s restaurant and talking about the importance of its now destroyed architectural details. But what’s really interesting is the revelation of the first details of what’s going to be built there: a ten-story building with one triplex, three duplexes, and ground floor retail. “As for the apartment house, which is being designed for an owner who bought the site this year, the architect says plans are still in flux but she will probably produce “a contemporary interpretation of the Fifth Avenue apartment houses in the neighborhood” — the same goal of harmony that Schrafft’s sought 70 years ago.”
As construction for the Union Square tech hub begins, Greenwich Village preservationists have resurrected their call for the city to designate a new historic district in the area, AM New York first reported.
Last October, following a contested upzoning of a lot on 14th Street to build the 21-story training center, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to consider designating a new historic district to protect 193 buildings in the area.
Over the summer, the LPC moved to designate seven of those buildings, but rejected the call for a full historic district. At the time, the LPC said that the area mostly contains buildings erected between the 1830s and 1930s, as well as new and altered ones, and that because of their variety in styles, types, and dates, “[the area] lacks the consistent architectural quality, cohesiveness, and sense of place necessary to merit historic district designation.”
But GVSHP is persistent, and this week resurrected its call for a proper district protecting more buildings in the area. In a letter sent to LPC this week, the group made the case for protecting 10 buildings, including 10 East 14th Street, a cast-iron structure that once housed the NYC Woman Suffrage League headquarters; 72 Fifth Avenue, a masonry structure that was the headquarters of Appleton & Company; and 17 East 13th Street, the brick Erskine Press building. The selection of buildings also includes structures associated with 19th-century architect James Renwick Jr.
“[These buildings] speak to the incredibly rich and important social and architectural history of the area, and to New York’s development as the capital of commerce and culture in the late 19th and 20th centuries,” the letter from GVSHP reads.
“With increased pressure on the area from the beginning of construction on the 14th Street Tech Hub, the recent loss of Renwick’s St. Denis Hotel (1855), and the completion of the woefully out of scale tech office tower at 808 Broadway, the time for the city to act is now,” Andrew Berman, executive director of GVSHP, told Curbed in a statement.
The group is also pushing for city lawmakers to implement protections that would regulate commercial development south of 14th Street through a “protective zoning measure,” which was promised at the time of the tech hub rezoning over a year ago.
City Council member Carlina Rivera, who represents the area, negotiated those commitments from the de Blasio administration, but advocates have said those promises hadn’t materialized.
“Councilwoman Rivera continues to work with the community to ensure the history of the Village is preserved and she is meeting regularly with LPC to discuss future protections for her entire district that should be considered,” Jeremy Unger, a spokesperson for Rivera, said in a statement.