How Manhattan’s Union Square Is Shaping Up

Like other pockets of New York City that are rebounding post pandemic, Union Square is fast evolving and with a burgeoning presence of food and beverage and experiential retail.

Known for its hyperactivity and teeming crowds of students, office workers, tourists and protesters, Union Square saw 49 business openings last year on top of the 57 opened in 2023, with the culinary sector driving 65 percent of the leasing activity. Among the 2024 openings: Levain Bakery; Mission Ceviche, a high-end Peruvian restaurant; Schmackary’s cookies, cakes and brownies; Nomé, a kosher dairy-free Nikkei-style restaurant; La Dong, a Vietnamese restaurant, and two upscale European-style restaurants, Leon’s for Italian fare and Le Basque, a vegan restaurant blending the culinary traditions of France and Spain. 

“There are extremely beautiful, high-end food and beverage establishments here but people also want more lunch spots, more cafés, more places that are either for grab and go, or just at a lower price point,” said Julie Stein, executive director of the Union Square Partnership.

This year, at least another 18 businesses have opened or will open, including the Flight Club restaurant and darts bar; STK Steakhouse; Smashy’s, a Hungarian burger chain; the Museum of Mathematics; Nespresso; Dazed for cannibas products, apparel and accessories, and the Seahorse restaurant. On the fashion side, Aritzia, the Canadian chain, is moving in, and last year, Vuori, the athletic and athleisure brand, and Rothy’s, for shoes and bags made from recycled materials, opened shop.

“A lot of storefront leasing and consumer spending is around experiential retail,” Stein observed. “People are looking for more experiential offerings, activities, entertainment, things to do. We are very excited to see Flight Club, which is the new lease in the old Blue Water Grill space at 31 Union Square West. It’s a darts bar, not just a place to eat.” Flight Club is billed as an “upscale technology-enabled social darts concept.”

She also cited Genius Gems, a “learning through play” after-school concept for children, which opened in Union Square two years ago, as well as Books of Wonder, a children’s book store that has storytelling and a selection of rare editions, which opened in the district in late 2020. “There has been a real push to try to make the neighborhood feel more family friendly,” Stein said.

The city recently passed the City of Yes zoning amendments aimed at stimulating the conversion of non-residential buildings to residences and also to make it easier to open and grow businesses. “A lot of the impact that we think we’ll see in Union Square is the ways City of Yes has opened up [opportunities] for experiential retail and the ability to do more experiences indoors,” Stein said.

Stein said Union Square has seen “a real uptick” in vintage and thrift stores, some offering high-end consignment pieces for fashion-forward customers seeing unique styles, and others offering budget finds. “There’s a huge element of sustainability focused shopping happening in these stores. For example, Thrift NYC opened up two stores in the last three years on 14th Street within the district, one on the east side and one on the west side. What we’re seeing is that a lot of these stores are clustering around the L train corridor, and attracting folks from Union Square, from the New School, from NYU, but it’s also really convenient for a Brooklyn shopper” coming off the L.

According to statistics from the Union Square Partnership, in 2024 consumer spending in the district rose 5 percent over 2023 and was fueled by higher spending at bars and restaurants, where sales were up 7 percent, and entertainment formats, which saw sales rise 18 percent. Retail store sales rose just 3 percent. The partnership gathers spending data through Replica, a data analytics company providing urban planning insights, as well as data from credit card receipts and other sources.

The vacancy rate in Union Square for retail storefronts was at 16 percent last year, slightly lower than 17 percent in 2023, while 14th Street was at 9 percent, according to partnership statistics.

Foot traffic in the area in 2024 grew 4 percent over 2023, to 370,000 daily trips on average. Currently, the Union Square subway station, with 58,000 riders passing through the turnstiles each day on average, is the city’s fourth busiest behind Times Square, Grand Central and Herald Square.

“Union Square has this tremendous culture of pop-up events and markets,” she added. “A lot of the foot traffic is driven by the year-round Union Square Greenmarket, as well as the Union Square Holiday Market between mid-November and the end of the year. Also, last year we enjoyed a number of what we call ‘third-party events.’ We had Tulip Day in April [which] drew 17,000 people. I think there were 200,000 tulips they could pick.”

The event had a positive impact on the area. “There was 26 percent higher foot traffic compared to a typical Sunday. And we also saw throughout the district an 8.9 percent increase in that week’s retail spend.

“Part of our strategy is to work with third-party operators to bring these signature events to Union Square. We know the Greenmarket, the Holiday Market, these third-party events do a tremendous amount for the foot traffic, the vibrancy. We have car-free Earth Day in April, which the Department of Transportation runs.”

Last summer, the Union Square “Night Market” was piloted on four dates, which offered prepared foods from about 35 vendors, unlike the Greenmarket. “We saw a 19 percent increase in foot traffic for those four nights alone compared to typical Thursdays…There are tons of other events that happen…What we see people wanting are unique in-person experiences that really feel authentically New York.” For 2025, “you can be sure that we will build on all of the lessons and insights from 2024.”

The Union Square Holiday Market, staged by Urbanspace which operates temporary markets and food halls, saw a 28 percent jump in consumer spending during its fourth-quarter run.

The partnership supports properties that front Union Square Park, and those along 12th to 20th Streets from First to Sixth Avenues. It is made up of two 501(c)3 organizations — a local development corporation (LDC) and a business improvement district (BID) operating through a management agreement. The BID provides its core services — a clean team, public safety officers, and landscaping — within the formal boundaries of the BID, which are 14th Street between First and Sixth Avenues, and all the properties that front on Union Square Park. The partnership also works to support and promote the greater Union Square area — 12th to 20th Streets from First to Sixth Avenues — through economic development, marketing and community building.

In 2021, the partnership unveiled its long-term “Vision Plan” for modernizing the area, including expanding its open public space, enhanced landscaping, new subway entrances, ADA accessibility, and other enhancements through a combination of public and private funding. It’s not off the ground yet, but continues to be a top priority of the partnership, which is working to advance the project and expects to share specific steps later this year. While the Vision Plan is still in planning, the partnership has spent two years working with community members, local business leaders, urban designers, landscape architects, transportation experts, and city and state agency partners.

Union Square is best known for its year-round Greenmarket, as a major subway hub where several lines converge; the giant digital “Climate Clock” mounted on a 14th Street building, and of course, the 6.5-acre, 192-year-old park with its tree-lined paths and statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and other historic figures. For decades and decades, Union Square Park has been a nucleus for protests and social activism, as well as yoga classes, kids’ events, concerts and festivals.

The area is anchored by New York University, Mount Sinai Hospital, Zeckendorf Towers and other residential high rises. Among the major retail draws: Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, the Strand Bookstore, Best Buy, and Target, which opened last year. And there’s an array of discounters including Burlington, Nordstrom Rack, DSW and Five Below.

Union Square Park and buildings close to the park underwent extended periods of neglect as well as redevelopment. However, in the late ’80s, several buildings and the park were designated as landmarks, helping to elevate the area’s quality of life.

“Since its revitalization in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the area has been centered around really excellent culinary experiences. And so we are leaning into that reputation,” Stein said, referring to efforts to attract new businesses. “We’ve seen a particular increase along 17th Street, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, so we have our own new little ‘restaurant row’ with a lot of new, buzzy openings that happened there this past year, like Kanyakumari [for South Indian cuisine] joining favorites like Kumari and Lillie’s Victorian Establishment [for Irish fare pub food]. We’re definitely leaning into that identity. But you know, it’s not just about food and beverage. It’s really about other family-friendly experiences that people can look to in Union Square. Last year, just as another example, we had a lot of success with our movie series,” held outdoors in Union Square Park.

Like other neighborhoods, Union Square is a beneficiary of the city’s post-pandemic recovery in foot traffic, the return to office, and retailers and brands capitalizing on the availability of real estate from businesses shutting down during the pandemic.

Stein characterized Union Square’s economy as “robust” and supported by its diverse population. Over 50 percent of the people who live, work or pass through the district every day identify as non-white, she said. “That makes the neighborhood really resilient and really interesting.”

While acknowledging that Union Square has shared in the post-pandemic rebound like other city neighborhoods, Stein believes the partnership can take some credit for the district’s uptick. “We’re seeing the fruits of our labor coming to bear,” she said.

“Our core service is really what we call enhancing livability in Union Square. So that is about our clean team, our public safety officers, our landscaping and beautification efforts.”

The partnership in the summer of 2023 launched a new program to bolster the presence of public safety officers and create a greater sense of safety and security. “It’s also an ambassador program,” said Stein. “What they do every day is check in with every business in the district. They have a route they walk. They ask folks how they’re doing. What are they seeing? Just to make sure business owners know we have the public safety officers there. They also spend a lot of time in Union Square Park, especially in the afternoon, when there’s a surge of visitors.

“It’s super critical to make sure that people feel safe and secure,” Stein emphasized, noting that Union Square’s holiday lighting program was intensified last year, including wrapping dozens of trees with lighting, to bring more light to the street level during the darkest hours. “Anecdotally, what we’ve heard from business owners is that the lighting is lovely and festive, but it also creates a sense of safety and security.”

Protests are part of Union Square’s DNA. It was the site of the first Labor Day parade, rallies for women’s suffrage and Black Lives Matter, and the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. “It continues to be a place for protesting, making your voice heard on issues of local, national and international import,” said Stein, pointing out that the architecture of Union Square Park, with its South Plaza and North Plaza, actually facilitates public gatherings, whether it’s a protest, a concert, or a holiday market.

“We love all of the parts of the neighborhood and all the foot traffic that comes here,” said Stein. “It’s important for us to balance safety and security, that’s obviously critical for our residents and our businesses, and also continue to be a place that leans into its history of civic expression.”