Vanishing New York Backup

This article in the Guardian begins, "On a damp and humid Thursday afternoon Manhattan’s Union Square is looking sorry for itself. There’s 73,000 sq ft of empty retail space up for grabs at 44 Union Square in the now boarded up neo-Georgian landmark that was once Tammany Hall."  What it doesn't mention is the fact that several small mom-and-pop businesses were pushed out of the building in 2016 to make room for, undoubtedly, more chain and luxury businesses that would fit the class of workers intended for the building's high-tech makeover.      Frank's Wines & Liquors had been there for over 40 years. A deli went, along with a smoke shop and magazine shop. Also pushed out were the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater. It's unlikely that those high-tech workers are coming. And the chain stores probably aren't either, since they've now "abandoned" Manhattan after helping to destroy it.  It is deeply regrettable that the lea...

Back when Union Square's Coffee Shop shuttered for Chase Bank , thanks to a massive rent hike, we heard that the bank might be keeping the antique neon sign and re-doing the letters so it spelled out CHASE instead of COFFEE SHOP. Last month, the antique sign was removed . We wondered if it would come back--refurbished or repurposed. It has not. Yesterday, New York filmmaker Amy Nicholson tweeted a photo of the replacement: Thankfully, it's not a Frankensteined mashup of COFFEE SHOP and CHASE. That would be unbearable. It's also not neon and it's not faux antique. It is instead a sanitized, zombified, half-hearted riff on the old Coffee Shop sign. It's vertical and two-sided, like the old sign, and the word JOE (the name of the coffee chain inside the bank) is at the bottom, enclosed in a rectangular ring of yellow lights, also (sort of) like the old sign. I'm sure the PR people at Chase will call this an "homage." They might even call ...

When Coffee Shop on Union Square closed in 2018, we heard it would be turned into yet another Chase Bank branch . That signage is now up: We also heard the rumor that Chase might be keeping the antique neon sign and re-doing the letters so it spells out CHASE instead of COFFEE SHOP. That signage is now gone. Whether or not it returns is anyone's guess.

Remember when a tipster told us that Chase Bank would be taking the space of Coffee Shop on Union Square? Now it is confirmed. Earlier this month, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved Chase Bank's application to establish a branch on the southwest corner 16th Street and Union Square West. (There was apparently a public comment period, but we didn't get the invitation.) The bank is rumored to take over part of what was Coffee Shop, while the rest will go to restaurants and potentially other retail geared to attract the sort of people depicted in the rendering below. Coffee Shop opened in 1990 and closed in 2018 when the rent went up. According to my tipster, the rent was hiked to $3 million annually. Today, the businesses on Union Square are nothing but chain stores and banks .

The Strand Bookstore has just issued a plea against the landmarking of its building . I spoke to Leigh Altshuler, Communications Director for the Strand, who explained the unusual situation. "They're building these big, new tech hubs," she said, describing the tech building boom south of Union Square that is threatening the historic neighborhood, driving up speculation and demolition . "And in a trade-off, the Strand and a few other buildings along Broadway are now being calendared for landmarking." But the bookstore and building owner Nancy Bass has not been part of that decision. She didn't receive the LPC's draft designation report until after Thanksgiving, giving the Strand little time to prepare for the public hearing on December 4. Leigh explains that the building is already protected--by the Bass family. "The building is already overbuilt," she says, meaning it has no air rights to sell and it cannot be expanded upon. "There i...

A tipster friend tells us that the famous and just-shuttered Coffee Shop on Union Square is rumored to become yet another Chase Bank. He attended the post-closing auction this week and chatted with insiders there. They told him: 1. The space is going to Chase, 2. The rent was hiked to $3 million annually, and 3. Chase might be keeping the antique neon sign and re-doing the letters so it spells out CHASE instead of COFFEE SHOP. None of this is confirmed for sure, but if the sign switcheroo happens, it would be yet another example of New York City soul snatching , a.k.a. authentrification . (See also: Village Den , Rocco's , Bill's Gay 90s , and too many more to list.) Ironically, the original coffee shop here before Coffee Shop was called Chase--possibly Jack Chase in the 1950s. The name is still in the floor of the doorway. In the 1980s, it was Jason's Restaurant. photo by Karen Gehres , via Flaming Pablum Tax photograph Now it's empty, the pots and...

VANISHING After 28 years on Union Square, Coffee Shop is closing. From The Post : Co-owner and President Charles Milite says: "The times have changed in our industry. The rents are very high and now the minimum wage is going up and we have a huge number of employees.” Personally, I never went there except once or twice. It was too expensive and full of models. But, you know, the rent. And God save that neon sign.

Last week, NY Yimby reported that permits have been filed to replace the historic St. Denis building with a new 12-story office building. The St. Denis is 165 years old, boasts an impressive history (Alexander Graham Bell, Ulysses S. Grant, W.E.B. Du Bois, and lots of communists) and was recently emptied of hundreds of small business people (myself included). You can read all about it here . For those who hoped the St. Denis would not be demolished, this doesn't look good. But a look at the permits reveals an important note: "Development Challenge Process is pending Zoning Approval. For any issues, please contact the relevant borough office." Does that mean there is hope to save this building? The GVSHP put out an email to explain the situation: "The bottom line is we are working very hard to get zoning or landmark protections for the University Place, Broadway, and 3rd and 4th Avenue corridors, which the Mayor continues to oppose. We are using the leve...

The St. Denis building south of Union Square is full of stories. For 165 years, it's been a place for the famous and the radical. Most recently, it's been full of shrinks. But that's all coming to an end as the building is emptied--displacing hundreds of small business people (myself included)--and as Union Square changes under the pressures of hyper-gentrification and City Halls' "Tech Hub." I talked to the people inside the St. Denis, and wrote up the story of the Death and Life of a Great American Building for the New York Review of Books Daily. Read it here .

VANISHED/MOVED Roland , auctioneers of antiques, has left the city. Family owned and founded in 1973, they've been in the neighborhood south of Union Square since 1974, and in the St. Denis building at 11th Street and Broadway for several years. But the neighborhood is being rapidly changed. In 2015, the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) put out a call to redevelop a city-owned site on E. 14th Street. They were looking to “create an iconic commercial development” for tech startups and co-working spaces. Mayor de Blasio soon announced the winning “ Tech Hub ,” a glass tower that politicians and developers hope will boost more high-end development. It is attracting major real estate speculation, including Normandy Real Estate Partners’ 2016 purchase of the St. Denis building for $101 million. Normandy stopped renewing leases, and hundreds of small business people--most of them psychotherapists and other providers of wellness--were forced to leave the building. I was on...

Back in November I noted the closure of Second Hand Rose Records . Its building, 817 Broadway at 12th Street, was sold to Taconic Partners in 2016. They planned to "reposition" the property -- as the Real Deal reported, "by April 30, 2021, all the building’s current leases will have turned over." Now another local small business has left the building. Broadway Kitchens and Baths has closed. They've been in business since 1995. Their big corner space is emptying out as they sell off their display sinks. As you can see in Taconic's rendering for the "Address of Innovation," the small business was not in the plan: This means the only storefront business left at 817 is Ribalta restaurant . For now.

VANISHED For a few weeks now, there's a been a sign on the door of the Second Hand Rose used record shop on 12th Street, saying they were closed temporarily for renovation. October As Alex at Flaming Pablum noted, "maybe they are just renovating, and will re-emerge, Phoenix-style, from the ashes of their former ignominy with a robust new outlook." But "I’m not holding my breath." Today the sign just says "CLOSED," no more note about renovation, and the shop is empty and dark. A few Bob Dylan posters sit in the window. When I asked, an employee of the building said, "They're closed forever." October We do not know the reason for the closure. But we do know that the building, 817 Broadway, was sold to Taconic Partners last year and they planned to "reposition" the property. As the Real Deal reported, "by April 30, 2021, all the building’s current leases will have turned over." More recently, its anchor ...

This Saturday, April 22, show up for a rally to save the neighborhood just south of Union Square Park. Over just the past couple of years, we've watched this area be demolished and rebuilt into yet another dull center for luxury housing and corporations. Speculators are buying up whole buildings and evicting them of their small business tenants. This is happening, in part, because of Mayor de Blasio's plan for a "tech hub." the proposed tech hub on 14th st. As GVSHP's Andrew Berman wrote in The Villager : "the new building would tower over its neighbors and form the lynchpin of a new 'Silicon Alley' the mayor hopes to develop between Union Square and Astor Place." This is not a neighborhood in need of revitalization. It is already vital, its old buildings buzzing with small businesses from bottom to top. Say "no" to more luxurification. Say "no" to more corporate chains. Say "no" to more small business ev...

I regret that I never went into Asti, closed in 1999 after 75 years as "one of New York's most beloved and treasured restaurants." You may remember, it was the place on E. 12th Street where the waitstaff sang opera while they served Italian dishes. Said one baritone at the time of the closure, "In the last decade, our customers either died, retired, or could no longer afford to come regularly." If you missed it as I missed it--or if you just miss it--watch this extensive video report I recently came across:

Joe writes in about the closure of Mariella's Pizza on 16th Street and 3rd Avenue: "After 37 years, Mariella's bit the dust. I spoke to the owner and he was fuming over the long list of expenses, rent and rent tax being the biggest culprits. He was so pissed as he explained it to me, you would have thought I was the one throwing him out. They had the best food hands down of any pizzeria around! They always hosted a brisk business no matter what time of the day I went there, but as he fumed, 'After a while, how much can I charge for a slice?'" Back in February, I heard from Liz Solomon. She wrote: "There is a pizza place on the corner of 16th Street and 3rd Avenue called Mariella's. It has been there since 1976. Everyone needs a place like Mariella's in their life or they need to go back to Iowa. Great slices, pies, and low-end Italian food. Con-Ed workers came across the street in droves, kids from the extreme demographic divide of Fri...

Last spring, Curbed reported that the Tammany Hall building on Union Square East will be topped by a large glass dome as part of a major renovation. As you can see from the before-and-after renderings, all the small businesses currently on the first floor have been removed from the future vision. That removal is happening. I went by the find the owners of the magazine and smoke shop closing their gates for good. Frank's Wines & Liquors is draped with a large CLOSING SALE! sign. Inside, I was told that "the landlord is redoing everything." They've been there at least 40 years and don't expect to be reopening. The Trevi Deli on the corner is already gone. Around the corner on 17th Street, the building housed two cultural institutions, the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater. The Film Academy has now moved down to Bowling Green. They'd been in the Tammany building since 1994. The Union Square Theater has also closed....

Last week, we looked at the destruction of the historic Blatt Billiards building and the opinionated graffiti on its "Work in Progress" poster . On the image of the glassy luxury tower to come, people had written: "Ugly Work in Progress," "YUCK," and more. The poster was quickly replaced with a fresh one and covered in plastic, presumably to deter the detractors. They have not been deterred. This week they added "UGLY" and the colorful descriptor "Douchebag Storage Locker," with an arrow pointing straight at 809 Broadway , so there could be no mistake.

Barnes & Noble is removing its stores from Queens , including a location in Forest Hills that preservationists tried to save . It's ironic to fight for a chain, but the neighborhood is otherwise a bookstore desert. And what's coming to replace it? A Target . Meanwhile, on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street, the flagship Barnes & Noble bookstore ( since 1932 and closed in 2014 ) has been completely transformed into a Banana Republic. The plaque on the outside wall ("Founded 1873") has been pried off, leaving a shadowy scar on the masonry. Inside, a message for all who might still think books have value: THINK LESS. (I took this picture awhile ago, so it may not be there anymore. It was there when they opened.)