Curious to see what our block looked like 400 years ago. Check in at the Mannahatta Project, search for our address, and you’ll discover that as you might guess, it was covered with trees. There was also a lovely little river running north to south between 5th and 6th Ave.
The holiday shopping season kicks off in November with the opening of the popular Union Square Holiday Market, operated by Urban Space Management. The market is open every day from Wednesday, November 25th through Wednesday, December 24th with the exception of Thanksgiving. Be sure to stop by for a variety of unique items including handcrafted jewelry, fine art, clothes, handmade ornaments, and toys for kids of all ages. Market hours are Monday through Friday, 11 AM to 8 PM; Saturdays, 10 AM to 8 PM; Sundays, 11 AM to 7 PM; and 10 AM to 4 PM on Christmas Eve. Don’t forget to stop by the Holiday Market Information Booth to pick up coupons for special discounts at over 20 Union Square restaurants and eateries.
Next week (May 6 to May 10), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors inside the building. We will be working on the new sidewalks around the building and installing new curbs. Additionally we will be working on the roofs of the building.
The following week (May 13 to May 17), material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors as well as sidewalk work.
This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, May 4th for interior, roof, and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.
Urbanspace has opened a 10,000-square-foot food hall in Manhattan. Urbanspace Union Square is located on the ground floor of Zero Irving, a new mixed-use building on East 14th St. at the foot of Irving Place between 3rd adn 4th Avenues. Vendors include Summer Salt, Twenty One Grains, Kid Brother Pizza, Pita Yeero, Plant Junkie, Goat Café, Bao by Kaya, Bobwhite Counter, Playa Bowls, Wafels & Dinges, Top Hops, Casa Toscana and GoFish. The venue marks the fifth New York City food hall by Urbanspace.
According to a report from Crain’s New York:
Foot traffic is stepping up in Union Square. The area now sees 11% more visitors on summer Fridays than it did in 2012, according to a recent survey conducted by the Union Square Partnership, the neighborhood’s business improvement district. After counting pedestrians and using data from subway turnstiles, the BID estimates that 383,000 people are in Union Square on a Greenmarket Friday.
“Union Square has it all,” crowed Jennifer Falk, executive director of the BID, in a statement, referring to the park, transit options, shops and the Greenmarket.
In recent months, the neighborhood has also drawn a variety of retailers—from Brooklyn doughnut shop Dough to classic outdoor-clothing brand Eddie Bauer. E-commerce brand Rent the Runway also set up a showroom in the area last fall. According to the BID, Union Square has a ground-floor retail vacancy rate of 2.9%, though several spaces are currently on the market.
Retail rents in the area are pricey and rising. Dylan’s Candy Bar signed a deal for 3,300 square feet at 33 Union Square West, a spot formerly held by Puma, for $545 a square foot in the fall, for example. Such rents have pushed out several longtime retailers, including Union Square Café. The Danny Meyer-owned restaurant announced over the summer it will be vacating its space on East 16th Street after three decades. When Mr. Meyer opened the eatery in 1985, he reportedly paid around $50,000 a year in rent—that price has jumped to $650,000.
The Times reports that Jackson Diner on University Place will be replaced by Nix, a high-end vegetarian restaurant. Gentrification by carrots.