Meet Fresh debuts on Cooper Square

NYC's first Meet Fresh is now open on Cooper Square at Sixth Street.

While we don't have photographic evidence of this, an EVG reader reported a long line outside the popular Taiwanese dessert and tea chain on Saturday.

As previously noted, the company, now with 100 locations worldwide, was started by the Fu siblings. Here's their story via the Meet Fresh website:

Sister and Brother Fu grew up in a generational farming family in the Feng Yuan District of Taichung, Taiwan. Using traditional food materials and processes, they made chewy taro ball desserts, soft herbal jelly, and delicate traditional tofu pudding, as a continuation of traditional delicacies while integrating innovation!

Meet Fresh resides in the corner retail space of the 13-story dorm for Marymount Manhattan College students that opened in August 2015.



Previously on EV Grieve:
Meet Fresh bringing teas and taro balls to Cooper Square

Meet Fresh bringing teas and taro balls to Cooper Square

The second retail space in the base of the Marymount Manhattan College dorm has a new tenant.

Signage went up yesterday here on Cooper Square and Sixth Street for Meet Fresh, a Taiwan-based chain that serves teas and desserts. (Thanks to EVG reader Harry Weiner for the photos!)



The company, now 100 locations strong, was started by the Fu siblings. Here's their story via the Meet Fresh website:

Sister and Brother Fu grew up in a generational farming family in the Feng Yuan District of Taichung, Taiwan. Using traditional food materials and processes, they made chewy taro ball desserts, soft herbal jelly, and delicate traditional tofu pudding, as a continuation of traditional delicacies while integrating innovation!

This marks the first NYC location for the brand. It joins neighbor Pourt, the cafe-networking space, in the dorm storefronts.

The 13-story dorm opened for Marymount Manhattan College students in August 2015. The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building that dated to 1825.

Pourt softly opens on Cooper Square

Pourt, a cafe and workspace, opened this past Friday at 35 Cooper Square at Sixth Street (in one of the retail spaces in the base of the Marymount Manhattan College dormitory).


[Photo Friday by @unitof]

For now, in this soft-open mode, only the cafe portion of the operation is up and running. They are serving Intelligentsia coffee and tea as well as offerings from Tompkins Square Bagels and Liquiteria, among others. (You can find the other vendors here.) They were also approved for a beer-wine license last summer.

There will also be a workspace for freelancers, students... and anyone else. The space has fiber-optic Internet connection and access to color printers. According to the Pourt website, a desk space (with a comfortable-looking chair) is $7 an hour, and an extra $2.99 gets you unlimited coffee, espresso or tea drinks. There's also a five-seat conference room available for rental. You can find more details here.

Pourt's hours are 7 a.m. to midnight.

Pourt signage arrives at Cooper Square dorm retail space

Back in August, we noted that one of the retail spaces in the base of the Marymount Manhattan College dormitory on Cooper Square was becoming a "shared office space and café concept" called BRUD (or Brud, depending on the source).

In June, CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license for BRUD. And the retail listing for the adjacent space mentions BRUD as a neighbor.

Anyway, we mention all this because new signage up at the space at Sixth Street shows a business called Pourt (or maybe pourt)...



Looks like a cafe — the U being a coffee cup and all. And Pourt/pourt is more cafe-sounding than BRUD/brud, which maybe rhymes with C.H.U.D., a pretty good bad movie to watch this time of year.

Anyway! The CB3 application fshowed daily hours of 7 a.m. to midnight for BRUD/brud/CHUD... with menu items including breakfast wraps, deli sandwiches and salads... as well as tea and coffee.

Cafe-office space in the works for Cooper Square dorm retail space

It looks as if preliminary work is underway in one of the two storefronts at 200 E. Sixth St., home of the Marymount Manhattan College dormitory on Cooper Square.

In June, CB3 OK'd a beer-wine license for applicants opening a cafe called BRUD. (Or maybe Brud. We've seen spelling for it both ways.)



The CB3 application shows daily hours of 7 a.m. to midnight... with menu items including breakfast wraps, deli sandwiches and salads... as well as tea and coffee. (There's a sample menu on file with the questionnaire at the CB3 website.)



The approved DOB permit for the retail space shows that Emporium Design, whose East Village credits include Boulton & Watt and the Blind Barber, is working on the interior.

The Emporium Design website states that BRUD is a "Shared Office Space and Café Concept."

Here's one of the renderings...


[Emporium Design]

The 13-story dorm opened for Marymount Manhattan College students last August. The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building that dated to 1825.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Marymount Manhattan College's Cooper Square dorm opens on Aug. 28

[Photo by Jim Rogers]

It has almost been three years to the date since when we first learned that a dorm was in the works for Cooper Square…. at the former 35 Cooper Square at East Sixth Street.

And now the dorm is ready for students starting on Aug. 28.

Here's part of the official news release that we received yesterday:

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) is pleased to announce the opening of its brand-new student residence at 200 East 6th Street, in the thriving downtown East Village community known as Cooper Square.

“MMC’s expansion into downtown Manhattan is an expression of our commitment to fully engage with all corners of the city, as part of our “city as a campus” philosophy, while also offering students an intimate community and academic experience,” explained Dr. Kerry Walk, President of Marymount Manhattan College.

MMC worked closely with developer Arun Bhatia from The Arun Bhatia Development Organization to conceptualize the building plans and construct a residence that would serve the college for many years. The completed building meets the needs of MMC’s urban students with 24/7 security, on-site MMC Residence Directors, an outdoor terrace space, a 24-hour study lounge, laundry facilities, bike storage, a modern fitness center, as well as wireless Internet throughout the building.

“We are thrilled to expand our student residence footprint in Manhattan to accommodate our growing student population, within the dynamic East Village neighborhood just a short commute to MMC’s main campus,” said Emmalyn Yamrick, Director of Residence Life.

MMC is a private liberal arts college with its main campus on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, at 221 East 71st Street.

Per the release, the Cooper Square Residence Hall will accommodate 272 students in total. This year, 199 MMC students will be moving in ... while the additional 73 spots have been contracted out to Cooper Union.

No word just yet on the retail tenants for the space. Too bad that the Cooper 35 Asian Pub isn't still at 35 Cooper Square, where the dorm now stands — students may have liked that.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Here's what's coming to 35 Cooper Square: 9-story dormitory

Proposed dorm for former 35 Cooper Square looks to be 4 floors taller

City OKs 13-floor dorm for Cooper Square

Updated: Here's what the newest East Village dorm will look like

Dig bottoms out on Cooper Square; here comes the dorm, here comes the dorm!

Your chance to lease the retail space in the new Cooper Square dorm