Those who are brought down by the cold, gray weather and yearn for the sunny comforts south of the border, read on to visualize yourself elsewhere. Over the last month there were at least four leases signed by Mexican restaurants which can make one close one’s eyes and dream of Cabo or Tulum.
The biggest of the bunch was that of the new Taco Bell Cantina at 976 Avenue of the Americas (okay, maybe that’s more “American suburb” and less Mexico, but you get the point); it’s taking a sizable 4,610 square feet, spanning multiple floors, taking over for Five Boro Burger which has closed. But that wasn’t all that Taco Bell was up to last month—they also announced a lease for an almost as large 4,050-square-foot boozy cantina at the Paramount Building at 1501 Broadway.
Likewise, the foodie taqueria Tacombi announced twin leases: the largest is a 3,572 deal at TF Cornerstone’s 202 East 70th Street on the Upper East Side; plus, Tacombi announced their first Queens location, an 1,800-square-foot eatery at 27-10 43rd Avenue in Long Island City (a location, incidentally, owned by the other half of the TF Cornerstone’s Elghanayan family, Rockrose.)
Food and drink were big last month.
The Brooklyn-based Randolph Beer announced it was taking 12,228 square feet at Rubenstein Partners and Heritage Equity Partners’ 25 Kent Avenue in Brooklyn. And Turkish restaurateur, Salt Bae, aka, Nusret Gökçe, signed a 12,176-square-foot lease with Rockpoint Group and Highgate Holdings to open up his Nusr-Et steakhouse at 412 West 15th Street in the Meatpacking District.
Speaking of Meatpacking, and all of its luxury offerings, if one is forced to wait for a table at Nusr-Et, one can keep track of the time thanks to the 5,171-square-foot lease signed by Audemars Piguet at nearby 52-58 Gansevoort Street. Or, if that doesn’t float your boat, the Tourneau retailer that signed up for 3,950 square feet at 29 Ninth Avenue, also known as Soho House.
Those leases, however, were not the biggest ones announced last month. That honor belongs to Target which is landing in Union Square, nabbing 32,579 square feet at Empire State Realty Trust’s 10 Union Square East, in the space currently occupied by Food Emporium. Target is not moving in until 2023.
Those who know Union Square are no doubt familiar with its most storied bookseller, The Strand, the mammoth store on the corner of Broadway and East 12th Street; well, it seems that The Strand feels that the time is right for expansion. The New York legend announced that they were also taking the 4,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Book Culture at 450 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side.
