Here It Is: The New Hotel on 13th

Next week (May 20 to May 24), 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 and will be removing the sidewalk shed along 13th st. Additionally we will be working on the roofs of the building.

The following week (May 27 to May 31), 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 18th for interior, roof, and sidewalk activities between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City.

Signage indicates that a new, and rather large, Greek restaurant will be setting up shop on the east side of University Place around 10th Street.

Zoning changes around Union Square, specifically to OUR zone, C6, are designed to make it easier for a wider variiety of businesses to set up shop at the ground floor level and above. The details are here. For example,

• Arcades

• Axe-throwing

• Billiards/pool halls

• Bowling alleys

• Escape rooms

• Golf simulator driving range

• Indoor go-karts

• Indoor skateboard park

• Interactive or virtual reality attractions

• Laser tag

• Miniature golf

• Observation towers

• Ping pong/table tennis

• Play spaces/family fun centers

• Wax figure exhibitions

• Seasonally: haunted houses and similar fright attractions

• Comedy shows

• Concerts

• Dancing

• Open-mic night or poetry reading

• 3-D printing

• Brewery

• Ceramic studio

• Jewelry making

• Wholesale and/or large-scale bakery

• Woodworking

• Other food and beverage producers, such as coffee roasters, ice cream makers, and shared commercial kitchen or food business incubator space

• Other makers

13th St.’s Corkbuzz has been closed for a year, and it looks like its sucessor, Varith, a new Thai restaurant, is set to open in the space. Renovations have just begun. A partnership between New York City Thai restaurant operators Top Thai and Valla Table has signed a 10-year lease.The deal includes 3,500 square feet on the ground floor, 1,000 square feet of basement space, and 2,500 square feet of lower-level space for a speakeasy-style lounge. Led by chef and operator Chuck Valla, the new restaurant will be named after Valla’s mother and represents “a deeply personal passion project for all parties involved,” Meridian said.

Here’s an interview with Chuck Valla. 

Here are some details from the liquor license application:

–Premises will be operated and advertised as a full-service Thai restaurant with the kitchen open and full menu items available until closing every night.
–Hours of operation will be 11 AM to 11 PM Sundays through Saturdays (7 days a week). All
patrons will be cleared and no patrons will remain after stated closing time.
–Will not operate as a Lounge, Tavern or Sports Bar or allow any portion of premises to be
operated in that manner.
–Will not operate a backyard garden or any other outdoor area for commercial purposes including any sidewalk café and/or roadbed seating.
–Will play recorded background music at conversational levels only so as not to cause a
disturbance in any adjacent residences at any time.
–Will not have televisions.
–Will close all doors and windows at all times, allowing only for patron ingress and egress.
–Will not have patron occupancy/service to any portion of the basement of licensed premises.
–Will not install or have French doors, operable windows or open facades.
–Will not make changes to the existing façade except to change signage or awning.
–Will comply with NYC Department of Buildings Regulations and will keep current at all times required Permits and Certificates
–Will not have unlimited drink or unlimited food and drink specials. Will not have “boozy
brunches.” No pitchers of beer.
–There will be no “bottle service” or the sale of bottles of alcohol except for the sale of bottles of beer or wine products
–Will not have dancing, DJ’s, live music, promoted events, any event where a cover fee is charged or any scheduled performances, velvet ropes or metal barricades or security personnel/doormen.

Sausage Inc. has opened the doomed space on University between 12th and 13th that has housed a bakery, a Philly Cheesesteak shop and Wok New York.

From the NY TIMES:

As bikes abound and roads grow narrower, New York can seem to be turning its back on cars. The rapid disappearance of gas stations may not be helping things either.

Parking garages are befalling similar fates, which may not be that surprising: Often humdrum, and built for function, they rarely seem to be the focus of preservation efforts, and developers have long eyed their sites for their potential.

But in Greenwich Village, two garages are being incorporated into condo developments, at 12 East 13th Street, with eight units, and 17 East 12th Street, with nine.

On East 13th, near Fifth Avenue, DHA Capital and Continental Properties are at work on a garage once used mainly by Hertz, the rental car company, which also had a ground-floor office. With eight floors, the garage was built in 1930, before modern zoning laws were imposed on the low-slung area, limiting height.

Indeed, had the developers torn down the garage and built new, it is doubtful that a new structure could have been as bulky as what is there now, which meant converting was a better option, said Dan Hollander, DHA’s managing principal.

Still, the developers could shift some things around; by shaving off the back of the building and adding that mass to the top, they were able to boost the height to 12 stories.

Other alternations are needed. The windows were not big enough for residential use, so they are being enlarged, as the building also gains a new facade, Mr. Hollander said. But starting with a foundation and walls cut some construction costs on the $75 million project, he added; similarly, the condo will take less time to complete, about 16 months, versus 24 months for ground-up construction.

DHA is also keeping a parking area, but for 11 cars, not 100 as before, and just on the second floor. Residents will drive into the original bay, then a robotic lift will pick up the vehicle and stow it.

Starting at $7.5 million for a three-bedroom, the units went on sale in April, although no contracts had been signed by late June.

An almost identical game plan is being followed on East 12th Street, where Rigby Asset Management is removing walls and floors from the back of the eight-story building to allow it to grow to 11 stories, giving apartments more light and air. There, too, a floor will be kept for parking, on the ground floor, for nine cars; and the same automated apparatus as at East 13th Street will serve as attendant. The nine condos, most of which have four bedrooms, are much pricier, however, starting at $14 million. Sales began at the end of June.

“You get column-free space and tall ceilings,” said Peter Armstrong, Rigby’s managing partner, who previously converted a garage at 73 Wooster Street into a six-unit condo. “You feel like an artist with a blank canvas.”