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Union Square Cafe closing
Danny Meyer in front of the space that would become the Union Square Cafe in 1985Courtesy of Union Square Cafe
Union Square Cafe closing
Michael Romano and Danny MeyerCourtesy of Union Square Cafe
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Union Square Cafe closing
The interior of the Union Square CafeNew York Post
Union Square Cafe closing
Another interior shot of the Union Square Cafe
Union Square Cafe closing
The exterior of the Union Square CafeNew York Post
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Union Square Cafe closing
Union Square Cafe regular Peter Schiaffini dines at his favorite eatery while enjoying his New York Post.Jennifer Weisbord
Union Square Cafe closing
Union Square Cafe founders Danny Meyer, chef Michael Romano and Paul Bolles Beven celebrate the restaurant's 20th anniversary.
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The popular Union Square Cafe, owned by famed New York restaurant mogul Danny Meyer, plans to close up shop at its current location in 2015.

A rep for Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group said cafe managers hope to find a new location for the eatery that’s been on East 16th Street for almost 30 years.

The restaurant’s current lease goes through December 2015.

“The team at Union Square Cafe is searching for a new location,” company spokeswoman Rebecca Carlisle said Tuesday.

Meyer — whose group also includes Shake Shake and Gramercy Tavern — blamed skyrocketing rent for the planned Union Square Cafe closure.

“There’s no such thing as a New York restaurant that is immune to real estate,” Meyer told the New York Times.

Danny Meyer plans to close the Union Square Cafe’s current location in 2015.Liz SullivanDanny Meyer plans to close the Union Square Cafe’s current location in 2015.Liz Sullivan

Meyer and landlords both said their positions are too far apart to come to an agreement, even if they kept negotiating for the next 18 months.

“It’s better for them as a restaurant business if they go elsewhere, and it’s better for us as a real estate business if they go elsewhere,” landlord Ari Ellis, of David Ellis Real Estate, told the Times.

For more than a year, the sides had been negotiating for a potential a 15-year renewal.

Those talks proved fruitless and Ellis said other landlords in New York will be willing to bend for Meyer.

“There are landlords out there willing to do back flips to get a Danny Meyer restaurant,” Ellis said.

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