Annual Shareholders’ Meeting: December 3 — In Person!

The last piece of structural steel has been installed at the top of the New School building.

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Steak Frites on 16th St., which morphed into Union Prime, is morphing back into Steak Frites. Go figure

Next week (March 12 to March 16), Superstructure work will continue at 7th and 8th floor levels. 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 following week (March 19 to March 23), we will continue superstructure concrete and slabs on the 8th floor level. 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. We also have an approved After Hours Variance for Thursday and Friday in anticipation of a large concrete pour happening on one of those days.

This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, March 10th 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 and concrete, plumbing and electrical work, rebar for concrete placement, using 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.

In addition, tomorrow, Friday the 9th, we will be starting operations at 6am in anticipation of a large concrete pour and will more than likely, with notification of the Department of Buildings, be going later into the evening to finish. Also on the weekend of the 10th the 14th St. Con Ed Vault utility connection street work will continue per DOT Permit granted for weekends only.

A major renovation is coming to the former Tammany Hall headquarters in Union Square where owners want to put a new glass dome over the landmarked building and demolish a theater to make way for retail and office space, the project’s architects said.

The historic structure at 44 Union Square East, built in 1929 to house the Democratic Party machine, will undergo a major overhaul that will restore the facade, gut the existing theater and add windows and glassier storefronts, according to BKSK Architects which is designing the project.

The most striking change will be a new 30-foot glass dome on top of the building, which will add about 27,000 square feet to the structure and will house office space, according to Harry Kendall, a partner at BKSK.

“Our effort is…to make it a more distinctive destination and presence on Union Square,” Kendall said. “We think we can make this building into something it never was.”

After hearing a presentation about the proposal this week, Community Board 5’s Landmarks Committee voted unanimously to reject it, saying the changes would be too drastic for an historic building that was just landmarked last year.

“While I like the way it looks — can you put something like this on a landmarked building?” said Edward Klimerman, a committee member. “It turns it into a different building.”

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a landmark in June 2013, noting its references to early American architecture, including Colonial columns out front. The building’s design drew inspiration from the original Federal Hall in Lower Manhattan, where George Washington took his first oath of office.

Double mask up + grab your popcorn: movie theaters can reopen as soon as Friday, March 5th. Officials announced that theaters are permitted to reopen at 25% capacity, with added safety measures including mask mandates and assigned seating.

The Union Square area is home to six movie theaters, three of which will be open on Friday, March 5th, including the two AMC Theaters at 19th and 11th Streets, and the Village East Quad. We will update this story as soon as we have reopening dates for the Regal Union Square on 13th, Cinema Village, and Quad Cinema so check back often!