BY HARRY BUBBINS | The intersection of Waverly Place and Mercer St. is just east of Washington Square Park. This unique part of town is still world renowned for history, culture, arts, creativity and university intellect. Just the place we need…another Starbucks.
A tip from a local resident who saw the construction led us at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation to scope out the permit posted behind a dumpster. Indeed, a Starbucks is being constructed in the ground floor of 10 Waverly Place at the southwest corner of Mercer St. It’s formerly the location of Brad’s, a local joint where you could get a coffee, or a drink or a sandwich, and use the Wi-Fi.
This location will bridge the terrible gap between the Astor Place Starbucks, less than a 3-minute walk east, and the other Starbucks, a whole 150 seconds by foot in the other direction, at 43 W. Fourth St. on the N.Y.U. campus.
N.Y.U. owns the 10 Waverly Place location, as well, so this is not a case of a struggling building owner seeking to make a few bucks in rent from whomever they can get to rent the space. N.Y.U. actually has a $3.5 billion endowment — the investment of which the student-formed Alternative Endowment Coalition wants to influence. (We’re guessing the coalition isn’t interested in more Starbucks).
Is this what this space needs?
What about using the ground-floor space to feature the small businesses and entrepreneurs served in the N.Y.U. Stern School of Business W.R. Berkley Innovation Lab, the stated purpose of which is to equip students, alumni and researchers from across N.Y.U.’s campus with the skills and know-how to launch and grow sustainable ventures?
Why does yet another outpost of a national retail chain like Starbucks — with an overwhelming presence — have to go here? Don’t people attend N.Y.U. and visit this area because of the unique character and quality of the community? A seemingly quaint sentiment, I know, but one shared very widely.
Not content with nine stores for every square mile of Manhattan, Starbucks is reported to be opening a 20,000-square-foot “Roastery” at 61 Ninth Ave., at W. 15th St., in the Meatpacking District in 2018, too. That site is where Prince Lumber had been located since 1923, next to the Apple Store.
This latest case of chain-store proliferation erasing individual and independent businesses is particularly bitter and insulting coming from N.Y.U. The administration’s standing in the local community is at an all-time low, as the university begins demolition and construction on its widely opposed 20-year South Village expansion plan, which currently involves cutting down rows of beloved cherry trees just a few blocks away on Mercer St.
Of course there are alternatives for coffee. Just down the block, Oren’s Daily Roast started on Waverly Place 30 years ago in 1986! Think Coffee is also on Mercer St. Fair Folks and Goat has two locations, one on W. Houston St. and one on E. 11th St.; if you become a member for $35 a month, you can have unlimited coffee, tea, even lemonade.
Bubbins is special projects and East Village director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
