NYC's Union Square area on a roll for retail, restaurant leases

Union Square Park and its surroundings lost much of their good-times juice after popular restaurant Coffee Shop on Union Square West closed in 2018 and Blue Water Grill followed it into history in 2019. It never felt quite the same even with big-name retailers on East 14th Street and the ever-popular Greenmarket still drawing crowds. But now the park's on a retail- and restaurant-leasing roll.

As reported by the Union Square Partnership, storefronts around the park are 82% occupied, a 68% jump over the last quarter of 2024. 3 Pop-up shops are filling vacant ground-floor spaces around Union Square Park, including Mets House at 1 Union Square West. Steve Cuozzo Major new tenants either in place or opening in the next few months include restaurants Seahorse, Flight Club and Smashy.



A huge outpost of popular...

Steve Cuozzo.