Last month, the NYC Department of Transportation started implementing its street improvement plan on Broadway and 17th Street. The bottom line: more pedestrianization.

The Union Square Partnership Business and Broker Report for the 1st quarter updates us on what’s new and pulsating in the neighborhood.

Union Square has started the year off on a high note with 10 new business openings and foot traffic recovering to 99% of 2019 levels, a 4% increase from the last quarter. Newcomers include a range of quick service eateries and high-profile sit down establishments, such as the new Coastal Indian
restaurant Kanyakumari from well-regarded Fungi Hospitality. Popular mattress retailer Saatva joined the established home goods corridor on Broadway, and Sweet Cats Cafe brings more family-friendly entertainment to the neighborhood.

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.

Travel back to 1901 and take a look at the 4,5,6 train being built up the east side of Union Square. Remarkable images! You can even see the statue of George Washington at bottom center of the first photo. This was his original location, at the intersection of 4th Ave. and 14th St., before he was moved into the park itself.

Dominique Ansel is opening a third bakery in Manhattan. The French pastry chef, famous for inventing the cronut in 2013, has signed a 15-year lease n at 64 University Place, between East 10th and 11th streets. The new bakery is located on the ground level of that yet-to-be-completed 11-floor luxury apartment complex.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has published a fantastic online photographic tour of all the historically important buildings in our neighborhood…. including our own building. So much fascinating history. The underlying message…. a lot of this history is constantly under threat.

View it here.

Here’s a very old and undated photo of Union Square West. The 1842 building at 35 Union Square West that currently houses Barn Joo is one of the neighborhood’s oldest structures.

Check out this New York Times profile.

Right across the street and down one block from the popular Unregular Pizza, you’ll now find Unregular Bakery at 4th Ave. and 12th St. in the former location of that place that sold pizza by the inch for years.

Expect slightly weird variations on usual bakery favorites.

The annual sharehoilders’ meeting will take place on Thursday, October 26th, 2023 at 7:00pm and will be held via Zoom conference call; both audio and video options are available. Please see your e-mail for log in instructions or contact Richard Cacciato, rcacciato@akam.com, if you need the instructions.