Prime Retail Union Square/Greenwich Village – 4,450 SF with 2,720 SF Lower level

36 East 12th Street – Union Square

Union Square is an important and historic intersection in New York City, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road - now 4th Avenue - came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the Federal union of the United States nor labor unions but rather denotes the fact that "here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island." Today it is bounded by 14th Street to the south, Union Square West on the west side, 17th Street on the north, and on the east Union Square East, which links together Broadway and Park Avenue South to Fourth Avenue and the continuation of Broadway. Union Square Park is under the aegis of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Read more

Neighborhoods around the square are the Flatiron District to the north, Chelsea to the west, Greenwich Village to the south, and Gramercy to the east. The eastern side of the square is dominated by the four Zeckendorf Towers, on the site of the bargain-priced department store, S. Klein, and the south side by the full-square block mixed-use One Union Square South (Davis Brody Bond, 1999). It features a kinetic wall sculpture and digital clock expelling bursts of steam, titled Metronome. Among the heterogeneous assortment of buildings along the west side is the Decker Building.

Union Square is a popular meeting place, given its central location in Manhattan and its many subway lines. There are many bars and restaurants on the periphery of the square, and the surrounding streets have some of the city's most renowned (and expensive) restaurants. S. Klein's department store promoted itself in the middle 20th century as an "On the Square" alternative to higher prices uptown, and late in the century several big-box chain stores established a presence, including Barnes & Noble, Babies "R" Us and Staples. In addition, the W Union Square Hotel opened at the park's northeast corner, in the landmark building that formerly housed the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.


Some text and images from List of Manhattan Neighborhoods at Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.