Condos, Tech Hub, hospital to transform area
With several important residential,
retail and healthcare
projects well underway, not
to mention plans for a cutting-edge
tech center and digital training hub, the
Union Square-14th St. district is undergoing
a major transformation.
“All this activity on virtually every
corner of Union Square-14th St. refl ects
the diversity and attraction of our community
to a wide range of stakeholders
and newcomers alike,” said Jennifer E.
Falk, executive director of the Union
Square Partnership.
Two major residential projects with
street-level retail are being built just
steps from the PATH train and 14th
St. subway stations. At the northwest
corner, at 101 W. 14th St., excavation
work has begun for a 13-fl oor, 45-unit
condo building led by developer Gemini
Rosemont. With a facade of glass
boxes, plans for the building, designed
by ODA New York, call for 21 duplexes
and two retail spaces with a combined
5,830 square feet.
Directly across Sixth Ave. at the
northeast corner of 14th St., Landsea
Homes, with partner DNA Development,
is leading a 86,145-square-foot
project at 530-540 Sixth Ave., which
will include retail and 50 residential
units, enclosing 57,029 square feet of
residential space. There’s work coming
underground, too. The M.T.A. is planning
to upgrade the subway station at
this intersection with a handicap-accessible
elevator.
These investments, coupled with
mixed-use developments on 14th St.
nearing completion on the district’s east
side, will bring streetscape improvements
and new ground-fl oor retail options
to the entire community, including
the neighborhood’s second Trader
Joe’s, at 14th St. and Avenue A.
The Union Square Tech Training
Center, coming to 124 E. 14th St. at Irving
Place, is now moving through the
government-approval process. It’s expected
Union Square’s energy and central location appeal to both the tech
sector and residential developers. Union Square East is home to major
Mount Sinai health facilities, and a mini Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital
is coming to E. 13th St.
to generate 600 well-paying jobs
and to create what the New York City
Economic Development Corporation
calls a “multilevel ecosystem for diversifying
talent and growing the next generation
of companies and industries.”
E.D.C. is developing the project with
developer RAL Development Service.
The glass-fronted building, with
240,000 square feet of space, will house
a workforce-development center operated
by the nonprofi t Civic Hall that
will span three fl oors and serve tens of
thousands of New Yorkers a year, and
pave the way for future tech entrepreneurs
and leaders.
“As a central transportation hub for
all New Yorkers, the center of New York
City’s ever-growing technology ecosystem,
and the historical heart of local
and national labor movements, Union
Square is the ideal location to create a
new tech training center dedicated to
COURTESY UNION SQUARE PARTNERSHIP
making sure all New Yorkers can participate
in the 21st-century economy,”
said Andrew Rasiej, founder and C.E.O.
of Civic Hall. “The new Civic Hall at
Union Square is being developed to
both help the underserved get the job
training they need and also ensure that
the technology industry itself becomes
more diverse, inclusive, and supportive
of the public interest.”
Digital skills training will be offered
to the public, as well, at daily and weekly
public events, including book talks
and hackathons. The building will also
feature step-up, affordable offi ce space
for growing companies that have graduated
from Civic Hall, incubators or coworking
spaces. In addition, the center
will offer modern, market-rate space
to attract established, industry-leading
corporations to the ecosystem, according
to E.D.C.
As plans for the modern glass-fronted
tech center take shape, one of Union
Square’s historic buildings, the iconic
Tammany Hall, at 44 Union Square
East, is in the midst of a total makeover.
The structure’s interior is being transformed
into offi ce and retail space. A
glass-and-steel dome will provide a
modern contrast to the landmarked edifi
ce, famed as the headquarters of the
city’s Democratic political machine of
the late 19th century.
Moving on to the core of the district,
Union Square’s robust healthcare services
are getting even stronger. Mount
Sinai Beth Israel’s new 70-bed mini
hospital on Second Ave. between 13th
and 14th Sts., slated to open in 2022,
will include a state-of-the-art emergency
department. Neighboring New York
Eye and Ear Infi rmary will stay open
during the work, and is getting its own
upgrades.
Meanwhile, Mount Sinai-Union
Square, at 10 Union Square East, a
healthcare anchor in the district, has
added an urgent-care center open to the
public 365 days a year.
“As Union Square continues to grow
and evolve as one of the city’s leading
cultural and business centers, we at
Mount Sinai are working hard to transform
Mount Sinai Union Square into one
of the city’s leading healthcare centers,
as well,” said Jeremy Boal, president of
Mount Sinai Downtown and executive
vice president and chief compliance
offi cer of Mount Sinai Health System.
“In addition to our new state-of-the-art
urgent-care center, our newly renovated
facility will provide one-stop access to
specialty and primary-care doctors, diagnostics,
labs and pharmacy services.
“Our goal is to create a destination for
excellence in healthcare and wellness
that works seamlessly with our larger
Downtown network,” Boal added. “The
future of healthcare is in Lower Manhattan
and we couldn’t be more excited
to offer these essential services to the
entire Union Square community.”
Visioning and planning report coming soon
The Union Square Partnership is
in the midst of its most robust
community engagement effort to
date to develop a vision for the future of
the Union Square-14th St. district.
With the help of Marvel Architects,
an award-winning New York design
fi rm focused on “the intersection of
public and private space,” USP conducted
its outreach effort. USP has interacted
with close to 1,000 residents,
employees, businesses, elected offi cials,
state agencies, Partnership board members
and area visitors to create a plan
for the community and guide how USP
will spend future capital dollars.
USP is gearing up for a big public
announcement in July that will detail
this initiative’s fi ndings and recommendations.
It will be the culmination of
a nine-month process, including input
and analysis from two forums, more
than a dozen listening pop-ups, residential
building visits, commercial offi ce
events, and conversations with community
stakeholders.
“The Partnership is committed to
implementing innovative programs to
further enhance the district and position
the neighborhood for continued
growth,” said Jennifer E. Falk, USP’s
executive director.
“We have spent six months understanding
the subtle interactions of the
square and neighborhood,” said Guido
Hartray, a founding partner of Marvel
Architects. Some ideas so far include
more art, trees, pop-up food kiosks and
additional seating for Union Square
streets. The community expressed
strong interest in a shared pedestrian
space from the 17th St. Broadway Plaza
down Union Square West, expanding
seating and adding more benches
to Union Square Park, upgrading the
Union Square Dog Run, particularly
the drainage, paving and seating, and
composting on non-Greenmarket days.
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