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Union Square

1 By Daniel Geiger 1/10 1:16pm

Lease of the Week

149 Fifth Avenue. (Courtesy Property Shark)

Risk Analyst Eurasia Group Calculates the Odds at 149 Fifth Avenue

When in 2006 the real estate investor Joseph Moinian bought the office building 475 Fifth Avenue in partnership with the firm Westbrook Partners, the Eurasia Group—a tenant in the building—saw it as an opportunity. The company had years left on its lease, but word quickly spread among tenants that Mr. Moinian was going to offer handsome buyouts to empty the building so he could gut renovate the skyscraper and re-lease it at sky-high rents.

Mr. Moinian’s strategy hardly seemed audacious at the time. The economy was hot, Manhattan rents were rising by the month and prime office space was in strong demand.

Read More

6 By Matt Chaban 11/15/11 10:11am

Occupy Wall Street

Protest art!

Why Do Vendors Get Tents in Parks and Not Occupy Wall Street?

Robert Lederman, a crusading artist and a bit of crank who was a frequent antagonist of Mayor Giuliani, thinks the Bloomberg administration is being two-faced in expelling the Occupy Wall Street protestors tents from Zuccotti Park. He points to tents set up for holiday markets as the unjust, commercial expropriation of public space.

The holiday vendors have permits, of course, and a portion of their proceeds goes to the parks they occupy, so there appears to be a public good here, whatever your opinion of overpriced tchokes. Mr. Lederman has his own agenda, as he has run afoul of the city for trying to sell art in parks without permits. Still, his thoughts, which he just emailed around, are intriguing in light of last night's events. Read More

6 By Tom Acitelli 8/25/11 2:07pm

office space

Those were the days. And they still are!

Ctrl-C Everlasting: Tech Firms Keep Moving to Silicon Alley, We Keep Writing About It

God bless the Silicon Alley trend piece. We've done one (and then another about a colony of the alley); and, incidentally, we cover the industry regularly every day here. No matter how much ink is proverbially spilled in deference to the tech industry's growth, we as New York reporters can't seem to get enough of the nerds-are-among-us-and-they-need-space-to-work angle.

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3 By Laura Kusisto 6/08/11 10:46am

lease beat

High-Brow Coupon Concern Lands Union Square Digs

If whipping out a crumpled coupon following dinner at Le Cirque doesn’t exactly appeal, this might be the start-up for you. E-coupon innovator Village Vines has landed its first grown-up office.

“When we went to see the space, it helped that the agent said, ‘I know what you guys are. I just used you!’” the tenant’s broker, Elliot Warren of The Kaufman Organization, told The Observer. Village Vines then successfully landed its first 2,500-square-foot permanent digs near Union Square for five years at 37 West 17th Street.


The company is less than a year old, so for the less technologically inclined, he explained the concept thusly: Read More

By Laura Kusisto 2/23/11 3:50pm

lease beat

Juicy! 5 Napkin Burger Comes to Union Square

It was only a matter of time before the high-end burger craze hit Union Square. Sorry Shake Shack, because 5 Napkin Burger is opening on the corner of 14th Street and Third Avenue.

The burger chain has opened three other New York locations since 2003. It does face some stiff compeition from Goodburger, at Broadway and Read More

By Laura Kusisto 2/21/11 7:23pm

Prospective Tenants

Apartment Hunter-Gatherer Prowling

From the glamorous to the quotidian, everything you need to know about New York City's apartment market is contained on StreetEasy, except this: The city's most powerful residential real estate site has begun a quest for new office space.

"We've got half a dozen places that are of real interest," chief executive Michael Smith told Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 12/16/10 10:54pm

The Future

Citi Opens Space Bank in Union Square

Citibank is taking the free lollipops to the next level.

Citibank opened The Bank of the Future in Union Square today, a flagship branch featuring technology from Singapore and Hong Kong that makes simple financial transactinos look  like something out of Minority Report.

Customers can browse banking products at one of six touchscreen "sales walls" or watch Read More

By Dan Duray 11:54am

Eye Opener: Blankfein’s New Digs

New occupants for the Dia Art Foundation's old building in Chelsea. [

Obama hangs out downtown. [NYT]

NPR investigation shows gulf oil spill to be at least 10 times larger than previously believed. [NPR]

Union Square bomb scare interrupts Buzzcocks show. [NYDN]

By Gillian Reagan 11/04/08 4:12pm

Obama’s Got Union Square All Buttoned Up

This morning, Richard Taub of Queens was taking his own exit poll outside the subway station at Union Square West and 14th Street.

“For every 200 Obamas, there’s one McCain,” he said. But Mr. Taub was talking about his sale numbers of the hundreds of political buttons at his makeshift sales table.

Hundreds of buttons were Read More