Chase Takes Over Iconic Union Square Coffee Shop Next Week

UNION SQUARE, NY — A Chase bank will open in place of the iconic Union Square Coffee Shop on December 17, according to a sign posted outside the new branch.

Workers were prepping the exterior of the now-shuttered Brazilian-American restaurant Tuesday morning, and a sign posted in the window informed passersby the anticipated Chase branch would open next Tuesday.

"Your new Chase branch will open December 17, 2019," a sign posted at the southwest corner of West 16th Street and Union Square West said.

The former Union Square Coffee Shop on Union Square West was made famous for its role on HBO's "Sex and the City." In October 2018, the mainstay shuttered after 28 years in business. The neon "coffee shop" sign had been removed for the changeover — a de facto landmark in the Union Square area, and building managers GFP Real Estate said they are still deciding what to do with the sign.

There is a silver lining for neighbors still lamenting the bank takeover: GFP Real Estate plans to lease three other spaces as restaurants, a GFP property manager Eric Gural has previously said.

Gural said Tuesday by CHLOE., a plant-based restaurant that will open this week, and a taco shop from the former Coffee Shop restaurant team, Flats Fix, will be two of the other tenants. Chase bank will have a cafe as a part of its location with an entrance on Union Square West.

The basement tenant is still in the works, Gural said.

Chase declined to comment ahead of the branch's opening.

This article has been updated with comment from GFP Real Estate.