Good Old Days, West Side of Union Sq.

From the Union Square Partnership:

Union Square’s fourth quarter performance capped a strong
2024, marked by year-over-year growth across key metrics:

Ground Floor Leasing: 49 new businesses opened in 2024,
with Union Square’s signature culinary scene driving 65%
of leasing activity.

Foot Traffic: An average of 370k daily trips in 2024
reflected a 4% increase over 2023, which itself saw a 15%
rise compared to 2022.

Consumer Spending: A 5% increase in 2024 over 2023,
fueled by higher spending at restaurants and bars (+7%),
entertainment (+18%), and retail (+3%), continuing upward
trajectories from 2023 (+8%) and 2022 (+17%).

In Q4, the district experienced a 23% surge in visits and a
28% jump in consumer spending during Urbanspace’s Union
Square Holiday Market, highlighting Union Square’s appeal for
unique experiences and shopping. With notable Q4 restaurant
openings such as Leon’s and Le Basque driving momentum,
18 new businesses are already set to debut in 2025. These
include Seahorse at the newly renovated W New York – Union
Square, Café Zaffri at The Twenty Two, and Flight Club,
signaling strong economic growth for the year ahead

Yelp is unimpressed with its other location on Canal Street, but LoveMi Yogurt will try its luck at 4th Ave. and 13th Street.

Check out the renovated YMCA on West 14th St. at the open house on Sunday, September 13 from 10-2. Kids are welcome, and there will even be a rooftop carnival.

Dynamic!

We may or may not technically live in Greenwich Village, but here are some fun stats anyway:
Though it’s known as a hotbed of diversity, Greenwich Village is really quite homogeneous according to a new New York University-commissioned study by Appleseed, an economic analysis firm. Some highlights from The Economy of Greenwich Village: A Profile:

** The population of the Village last year was 72,025, virtually unchanged since 1990.
** Children under 18 comprise only 9.2 percent of the population, compared to almost 23 percent citywide. But between 2000 and 2009, the number of children under age 5 grew by 48 percent.
** Working age people (25-64 years) account for 69 percent of the Village population.
** Almost 80 percent of Village residents are white folks, 9.3 percent Asian, 6.2 percent Latino, 3 percent mixed race and 2.2 percent black.
** Village people have a median household income of just over $100,000 a year, more than double that of the rest of the city.
** 82.4 percent of Village residents have college degrees, beating even Cambridge (71.4 percent) and Palo Alto (78.7 percent).
** Ten percent of Village peeps work in the arts, recreation and hospitality industries compared to a whopping 18 percent in finance, insurance and real estate.
** Universities and colleges employ 10,350 people in the Village and their plans to expand are expected to stimulate growth in the local economy.

Here’s an update on what NYU plans to build on the now vacant lot on Washington Square Park South where the Catholic Church used to be.

At least it’s only six stories high.