Certified Open: Little Italy Pizza

The retail retreat continues, with the departure of Bolton’s from the corner of Union Square and University. This is a high-traffic area. It’ll be interesting to see what comes next.

First Au Bon Pain kicks the bucket, and now Tisserie at corner of Union Sq. West and 17th is gone as well.

Yet another place to get coffee: Le Cafe Coffee on 4th Ave. between 13th and 14th.

Levain Bakery

Levain Bakery, known for its signature crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside cookies, just opened its 14th location at 2 West 18th Street. Check out its exclusive black-and-white cookie flavor, only found at this location.

An invitation from the New School to attend a preview of the new building on May 6:

April 26, 2010

To Our Neighbors, To meet the university’s evolving needs, plans for the construction of a new University Center at 65 Fifth Avenue will continue to move forward this summer. Because The New School has made it a priority to engage the entire university in the project’s development, we invite you to view the next phase of building design at a second exhibition featuring an overview of the current plan. We will also have a model of the building on display. Please join us on May 6 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center on the second floor of 55 W. 13th Street. This open house will include new renderings of the building design, academic and social spaces, sustainability systems, and details about the construction schedule. As in the past, attendants will be able submit comments and ask questions of many of the principals, including New School staff, architects and professionals from the design firm and construction trades. We hope to see you there.

Next week (September 26 to September 30), contractors will continue to excavate earth and rock, loading out material. Line drilling will continue as well in limited areas. Concrete foundation walls at the South East corner of the site and slab on grade work will continue. Interior core foundation work and underground electrical and plumbing will continue. Removal of the interior earth ramp will be completed. DOT approved street connections to underground utilities on Fifth Avenue will progress. The cherry picker crane on site will be removed upon installation of the Superstructure Contractors Crane which will be stationed inside the Fifth Avenue fence.

The following week (October 3 to October 7 ), we will continue with concrete foundation walls and slabs, line drilling, rock excavation, loading out, interior core foundation work, street utility connections and underground electrical and plumbing. Formwork for superstructure concrete construction will proceed.

DEP has completed the water main repair along 13th Street. As part of this work the DEP will be completing related road repairs.

This weekend in addition to the site being open on Saturday, September 24th for foundation related activities between the work hours of 9AM and 5PM as permitted by the City, there will also be a crane installation crew assembling a crawler crane for use by the concrete superstructure contractor.

Crane installation will involve a partial street closure on Fifth Avenue between E. 14th and E. 13th Streets, as well as a full closure of E. 13th Street between University Place and Fifth Ave. As permitted by the City this activity is to occur between the hours of 6 AM & 9 PM with Sunday, 9/25/11 as a backup date. We don’t plan on needing Sunday for the crane installation unless the weather effects us on Saturday or something else that’s unpredictable prevents the completion of assembly on Saturday. It is anticipated that this work should be completed by end of work day but it could extend until the time allowed.