There has been some grumbling over the fact that the city may give the pavilion at the north end of Union Square Park over to a private entity to run a restaurant in and around it. We’ll see how that turns out, but in the meantime, some renderings have been revealed.
Pie Face, an Australian fast-food chain, has opened a few spots around town, including a brand new one at the corner of 13th and 4th Ave. An extensive menu of coffee, snacks, and pies–both sweet and savory–are available.
Next week (August 20 to August 24), Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors. Curtain wall installation on upper floors will continue and lower levels will continue on 13th st. with the aid of a small crane. The crane will remain on 13th st. for the purpose of curtain wall installation.
The following week (August 27 to August 31) Material and equipment deliveries and installation work will continue on all floors. Curtain wall installation will continue on all floors. Work on 13th st should be complete by the end of this week and will be moved to 5th ave. to continue wrapping the building.
This weekend the site will be open on Saturday, August 25th for superstructure related activities and curtain wall installation between the work hours of 7AM and 5PM as permitted by the City. The crane on 13th st. will not be used during the weekend. Con Ed is on site working on the building but is not in any of the streets.
Additionally over the holiday weekend the site will be open on Saturday, September 1st but will be closed on Monday, the 3rd.
Here is a photo of 5th Avenue looking north at 14th St. sometime in the 1940s. Note that 5th Avenue was a two-way street at the time.
Here’s a guide from the Union Square Partnership.
UPDATE: JAN 14: Trader John’s has covered up their sign. Apparently the idea didn’t fly past the lawyers.
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) — Trader Joe’s Co., the operator of specialty grocery stores, sued Gristede’s Foods Inc., alleging the supermarket chain committed trademark infringement by opening a food market in New York called Trader John’s.
Gristede’s is opening the Trader John’s “knock-off food market” three blocks from a Trader Joe’s store in Manhattan, according to a complaint filed Jan. 8 in federal court in New York. The Trader John’s name misleads consumers and diminishes the Trader Joe’s brand, according to the complaint.
“We take seriously any attempt to infringe on our trademark and we are taking the necessary action to stop this particular attempt,” Trader Joe’s spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said in an e-mailed message.
The lawsuit has no merit, said John Catsimatidis, Gristede’s chief executive officer.
“My name is John and I am a trader so I don’t know what their problem is,” he said in a telephone interview. Gristede’s lawyers haven’t seen the complaint yet, Catsimatidis said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The Trader John’s store at 5 West 14th St. in Manhattan will open Jan. 15, Catsimatidis said.
The Trader Joe’s store is three blocks away at 142 East 14th St. The company has 300 locations in 25 states and Washington. Gristede’s has about 35 shops in the New York area, Catsimatidis said.
Trader Joe’s sent a “cease and desist” letter Jan. 6 to Gristede’s, asking it to “immediately change the name and decor of the infringing store,” according to the company’s complaint.
The neighborhood is more fun now that crazy chef Eddie Huang’s Baohaus 2 is open on 14th between 2nd and 3rd. A bao is a little Chinese sandwich usually stuffed with some kind of pork. The inventive and very funny Huang, who has Taiwanese roots, is making many variations on the theme, plus coming up with all kinds of other funky Chinese home cooking. Check it out.