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The Union Square area is becoming a high-tech hotbed. Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore was interviewed about why he brought his company here:

Last September, Pete Cashmore moved Mashable’s headquarters from 23rd Street to the heart of Union Square. What he found when he arrived was a climate he says is perfect for startups.

Factors that play into the business climate he found just a few blocks south of Mashable’s previous location include a fertile history of innovation, access to creative talent, and proven professionals. But in the end, what’s most attractive to Cashmore is good, old-fashioned, face-to-face interactions.

“Union Square has always been a meeting place, where people come together and share ideas,” Cashmore told me on Tuesday at an event at the British Residence of New York. “And now with it becoming a real hub of innovation it is a great place to be.”

Now employing about 140 people, Mashable’s offices occupy two floors on Fifth Avenue and 17th Street.

No doubt, part of what Cashmore found there was nurtured by venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures (USV), which was founded in 2004 and now manages $1 billion in assets across six funds. USV’s previous investment in New York City-based companies include Etsy (Nasdaq: ESTY), Tumblr (acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion), and MongoDB, which has raised $311 million venture capital.

But over the past year, the number of significant real-estate investments in Union Square shows that it’s much more than just Fred Wilson’s influence at work in the area.

The top three lease transactions of 2015 are BuzzFeed, which now occupies 194,000 square feet at 225 Park Avenue South, Gawker Media, which is in 58,900 square feet at 114 Fifth Avenue, and First Look Media in 58,206 square feet at the same location, according to a Union Square Partnership report published in May. New and expanded office tenants in Union Square also include Dropbox, Adobe Systems Inc. Hulu, Lippe Taylor, Pop2Life, Capital One Labs, The New Republic, and Compass.

The top sector in the area is “professional, scientific, and tech services,” with 1,514 firms, followed by retail with 1,393 firms. Among the top firms by number of employees is J. Crew, listed with 3,800 employees and Tory Burch, with 1,800. In total, 9,700 businesses are located within the half-mile radius of Union Square considered by the report, employing over 153,000 people.

What’s attracting all this talent? Not the rent. According to a May report by San Francisco-based real estate analytics firm Zumper, only two neighborhoods are more expensive than Greenwich Village, where Union Square technically is designated as being located. Average rent for a one bedroom apartment costs $3,850. In Chelsea it’s $3,920, and in Tribeca, $4,450. According to the same report, New York City was the second most expensive city in the United States, just behind San Francisco.

In an interview Wednesday, Union Square Partnerships managing director Scott Hobbs ventured his own theory as to why so many innovative companies are moving to his neighborhood. “The biggest reason is it’s a transportation hub,” he said. “You’ve got Williamsburg for creatives across the river, and midtown for business.” Trains that depart Union Square Station are the N, R, Q, 4, 5, 6, and L.

As for Cashmore, his explanation is much more simple. “What’s really great about Union Square is you can go get a coffee and bump into someone doing something interesting in tech,” he said.

From the Times:
The countdown has begun to the closing of the 16th Street space that this influential restaurant has occupied for 30 years. The cafe, which was the first piece of Danny Meyer’s culinary empire, has been a favorite of New York’s publishing world and jump-started the renaissance of the Union Square area. But it will not renew its lease at a higher rent, and in the spring will relocate to nearby 235 Park Avenue South, at East 19th Street.

To mark the final days at its current spot, from Dec. 1 to 12, the last day of service, the restaurant will switch to a three-course dinner menu called the 12 Nights of Union Square Cafe, highlighting some of its best-known seasonal dishes, including garganelli with white truffles, beef tartare, lamb braciole and Berkshire rack of pork. There are optional wine pairings from some of the restaurant’s favorite producers. Lunches will feature the regular à la carte menu:

Dinner reservations Dec. 1 to 12 by phone only, $85 prepaid; lunch reservations up to 28 days ahead, opentable.com;

Union Square Cafe, 21 East 16th Street, 212-243-4020,

unionsquarecafe.com.

If there was any doubt about the national momentum on legalized marijuana use in America, consider this. There will be a medicinal marijuana dispensary off Union Square come January 2016. The dispensary on 14th Street between Second and Third Avenues will be run by Columbia Care, a New York City-based company that was awarded one of the state’s five licenses to open a medicinal marijuana shop. The selections were made in July, and companies are moving forward on grand openings.

From Curbed.com:

Word of the imminent demise of Greenwich Village’s iconic Bowlmor Lanes arrived in early 2014, when EV Grieve reported that site owner Billy Macklowe—whose father is none other than Harry Macklowe of 432 Park Avenue fame—wanted to slap a condo tower up on the site. Details of the new development have been few and far between in the meantime, but 6sqft has gleaned a few primary renderings of the project that seem to confirm 1) that it’s actually happening, and 2) that it will be amongst the tallest residential buildings in the neighborhood. According to 6sqft, the building will rise 23 stories to stand a “modest” 280 feet, and will contain 56 condos averaging more than 2,000 square feet apiece.

Plans filed with the Department of Buildings list SLCE as the Architect of Record, but a design architect has yet to be pegged, at least publicly, for the project. The building, which consumes a majority of the western side of the block between East 12th and East 13th streets, will have bike parking, a ground-floor community facility, a resident lounge and terrace, a parking garage, and ground floor retail.

Manhattan-based fans the of Indian culinary institution Jackson Diner will once again have to hop the subway to Queens to get their fix. The University Place outpost, which opened in 2010 with its primo cheap eats lunch buffet, closed this weekend, and it won’t be returning. Owner Manjit Singh told DNAinfo that the restaurant’s lease had expired and that the landlord planned to raise the rent to an unspecified amount. Already paying $25,000 a month, Singh decided it was best to leave. This morning, a sign with the name of the closest Indian Restaurant — Curry Kitchen on 8th Street — was posted outside the restaurant. No word yet on who will take over the space.

From YIMBY.com:
Earlier this month, developer Ranger Properties paid $22,000,000 for two buildings at the corner of University Place and East 13th Street, in the heart of the Village near Union Square. Then EV Grieve reported that longtime stalwart University Place Gourmet had shuttered, along with a Chinese laundry around the corner on 13th Street.

Now plans have been filed to construct a seven-story apartment building on the site at 34 East 13th Street, and Adjmi Architects is designing. There will be six apartments spread across 15,550 square feet of residential space, for a very spacious average unit of 2,591 square feet. They’ll definitely be condos, with just one apartment per floor. Six stories of apartments will be stacked on top of 3,200 square feet of ground floor retail

Amenities listed on the Schedule A include a “private/public” roof deck (maybe there will be both!) and a gym in the cellar.

The 3,300-square-foot property is currently home to three buildings—a four-story apartment building on the corner that has University Gourmet on the ground floor, a single-story building housing a doggy day care, and a three-story apartment building with the laundromat.

Demolition permits have not yet been filed to knock them down.

Before Ranger Properties snapped up the assemblage for $1,100 per buildable square foot, the site hadn’t changed hands since 1980.

However, 34 East 13th Street will seem small compared to the 23-story tower planned one block south at 100 University Place. Harry Macklowe is developing the building, which will stand 309 feet tall and include 52 apartments. Other projects in the hood will also be high-end condos, including 17 East 12th Street and the nearly complete garage conversion at 12 East 13th Street.

It’s almost too painful to think about. And while we’re at it, goodbye, Wet Nose Doggy Gym. Looks like the first three buildings along that side of 13th St. will come down and be replaced by…more condos.

….a fast casual vegan takeout place. Whatevs!

Farewell soon to Benny’s Laundry on 13th St., just the latest small business to fall to rapidly rising rents. Sigh.

Later this year, Capital One will open a new banking concept in New York City’s Union Square with a large café, operated by Peet’s Coffee, and an upstairs lounge that will function as a communal work space, complete with free Wi-Fi.

Not unlike the Apple Store, the bank will serve customers with mobile tellers, who will have iPads on which they will handle transactions, rather than the standard glass window setup.

The bank already operates a number of Capital One 360 Cafés, where customers are invited to enjoy coffee while they learn about ways to manage their finances, but the upcoming location takes a page from the rising popularity of communal office spaces, which are increasingly common in New York City.

The basement of the café at 853 Broadway will be used as a classroom. Customers can take courses on mortgage financing and other topics.

The elevated café concept is expected to expand beyond Union Square; the bank is reportedly already looking to open a location in the SoHo neighborhood, but a deal has not yet been made.