Some of these are old news, but I am mentioning them here as a paper-of-record thing and to get a grip on who’s opening and closing on the commercial strip that is the south side of Murray. Some of these spaces go through to Park Place and many of them were affected by the collapse of 21 Park Place that once housed Tent & Trails.

I still intend to do the retail vacancy count that Erik did every year; consider this another installment.

Also, this block has been especially plagued by sidewalk sheds. How is it that every building on the block has a shed up at the same time? I may have answered my own question: because they are allowed to stay up for YEARS and plague storefront businesses in the neighborhood. (Stay tuned for more about Tavern on Reade, fka Maxwell’s.)

CITIBANK
Murray and Broadway
Here for now, and let’s hope they stay since that is a huge retail space. They do have a new branch opening at Citi HQ as well.

MANHATTAN PROPER
6 Murray
Manhattan Proper never reopened this location after the advent of the pandemic; in fact it is now being prepped for a new business whose liquor license renewal comes before CB1 this month. In January 2019, the owners tried to join forces with the Whiskey Bar folks who have several locations around town, including on Baxter just north of Columbus Park, but neighbors shot them down.

AAHAR INDIAN CUISINE
10 Murray
I was glad to do this walkabout since I wasn’t even sure if Aahar had reopened post-pandemic. But it has! And it has a curbside setup as well. The restaurant opened here in 2016, a sister to Bombay’s on Pearl.

HEALTHY JOE’S
10 Murray
The fast casual health food lunch spot — an offshoot of Muscle Maker Grill — opened in January 2020, which of course was just about the worst luck. It’s open now, and hours go till 7p. They are also opening a new shop soon at 378 Broadway on the corner of White.

THE UPS STORE
14 Murray
Can we agree that the folks at the UPS store are some of the nicest and most efficient folks around? The Kinko’s manager and his tech staff are super nice too, but I always leave with a smile when I leave UPS.

16 Murray
The newly completed back side of 19 Park Place is TBD.

LILY O’BRIEN’S
18 Murray
The bar was owned by the folks at Monk McGinn’s, but they never reopened it once it was damaged by the collapse at 21 Park Place.

BARLEYCORN
20 Murray
Barleycorn closed permanently in May 2019, and remains closed. The space goes through to Park Place.

LENWICH
22 Murray / 25 Park Place
This is the delivery entrance for the sandwich shop which is open now but on weekdays only.

24 Murray / 111 Church / 27 Park Place
The former site of Famiglia Pizza and so many other shops along Church is being restored now, with an expected completion date of next spring.

21 PARK PLACE
The north side of Park Place has a little more action (Dunkin’ Donuts, Little Italy Pizza) but lots of empty storefronts and the sidewalk is still entirely blocked around the lot that once housed Tent & Trails before the entire building collapsed in December 2018. This side is also plagued with sidewalk sheds, and the city should demand that the sidewalks be liberated.

In summer 2019, plans were filed for a 14-story hotel for the site, but those were rejected in October 2019 by the Department of Buildings. Nothing has been filed since.