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.

The Union Square Partnership Annual Report is full of fascinating statistics. Check it out.

The Observer reports:

Richard Cantor, a principle in the real estate marketing firm of Cantor-Pecorella, considers that the best of Village life consists of “very luxurious” apartments that incorporate the “open expanse” of loft-style living with the communal intimacy of townhouse residency. How serendipitous that Mr. Cantor’s firm should happen to be marketing the new(ish) eight-unit development at 12 East 13th Street co-engineered by DHA Capital and Continental Properties, which, he recently told the Observer, evinces just these same qualities! You know what they say, it’s always easier to sell a product that you truly believe in.

Certain longtime denizens of the Village, of course, would no-doubt quarrel with the tenets of Mr. Cantor’s appraisal, but his luck on East 13th Street has been pretty good so far. He reports that the development has made its first sale, of the full-floor Residence #4, which, he said, went for just shy of its $11.25 million asking price. The buyers, he said, were a young-ish family already living in the area and pleased indeed to find a place of this size–four bedrooms, 4,816 square feet–so near the heart of the neighborhood. The patriarch, naturally, is in finance.

But surely it was not size alone that lured the new owners; there is also, for example, the very luxurious open expanse of the condo’s townhouse-like intimacy to consider. The building, which was converted from a parking garage, retains a trace of automotive functionality, offering private parking spaces gratis for residents via a state-of-the-art robotic system. More creaturely comforts include high ceilings and big windows for plentiful light and air, custom Italian cabinetry, and bathrooms with generous portions of slab marble and Italian limestone.

Mr. Cantor said that he expects several more closures in the coming weeks, and occupancy no later than this summer. But for all you big spenders out there, the glass-sheathed triplex penthouse, we were given to understand, remains available. All you need to move in is $30.5 million, which seems eminently reasonable, for the very best of Village living.

Read more at http://observer.com/2015/03/best-of-the-village-garage-to-condo-development-notches-first-sale-around-11-25m/#ixzz3UYu20ZHe

A model apartment has been completed, and you can see it in all its glory here.