Famed chef Michael White, who re-invented classic Italian cuisine at Marea and other Michelin-starred Manhattan eateries, is coming back to town.
In a move reflecting East Midtown’s slow-but-steady revival, he signed a lease for a recent restaurant at Tishman Speyer’s 520 Madison Avenue, the owner and the chef revealed.
It’s the sixth marquee-name restaurant deal signed previously yr for the supposedly dying East 40s and 50s — a phenomenon ignored amidst “doom cycle” chatter that under-populated offices are killing Midtown restaurants.
White’s recent, modern-Italian place will open next yr behind the tower’s recessed plaza.
White once ran celebrated Alto at the identical location.
East Midtown dining spots rely on the lunch trade driven by office staff.
Although every week brings one other tale of possible foreclosures and downgrades of business debt, the back-to-office trend is accelerating at high-end properties.
Tishman Speyer’s and White’s confidence in the long run of the Manhattan office market is shared on a bigger scale by private lender Fortress Investment Group, which recently acquired $1 billion of office loans from Capital One, because the Industrial Observer first reported.
Michael White re-invented classic Italian cuisine at Marea and other Michelin-starred Manhattan eateries.Annie Wermiel/NY Post
The acquisition represents a “big bet on the rebound of Latest York City’s office sector,” a source told the CO, because Big Apple office loans accounted for a big chunk of the portfolio.
Real Estate Board of Latest York director of market data Keith DeCoster cited Placer.ai data for 190 Midtown buildings that showed “device visits” up 11 percent in July over the previous July and 64 percent office visits in prime A-plus properties in the primary quarter of 2023.
The restaurant influx reflects East Midtown’s improved fortunes.
Opening this fall are Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s 4-Twenty-Five at L&L Holding Company’s 425 Park Ave. — easily the district’s most momentous debut — and David Burke’s Park Avenue Kitchen at 277 Park Ave.
The fashionable-Italian place will open next yr behind the tower’s recessed plaza.Google Maps
Next yr will see the launches of Simon Kim’s as yet-unnamed, “multi-faceted” venue at The Olayan Group’s 550 Madison Ave.; Rocco’s steakhouse on the previous BLT Steak site at 106 E. 57th St.; and a recent outpost of mini-empire Rosemary’s on the Durst Organization’s 825 Third Ave.
All of the arrivals aside from Rocco’s are in office towers whose owners wanted signature restaurants for his or her marquee properties.
Some landlords helped tenants with shared build-out costs and versatile lease terms, but, “No one gave away the shop,” one restaurateur said who didn’t wish to be named.
“I only wish they did.”
L&L Holding Co. chairman/CEO David W. Levinson, who lured Vongerichten to the Norman Foster-designed 425 Park Ave., said, “We’ll have over 1,000 people within the constructing by March. Our tenants including Citadel are still within the means of moving in.”
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s 4-Twenty-Five will open this fall.stefano giovannini
David Burke plans to open his brasserie at 277 Park on Dec. 1.Tamara Beckwith
“Midtown could be very, very busy,” Levinson said. “The talk doesn’t match up in any respect really with reality.”
Reflecting the renewed energy, Ralph Lauren’s Polo Bar on East fifty fifth Street plans to resume its pre-pandemic, seven-night schedule in October after serving only on Tuesday-Saturday since mid-2021.
Simon Oren, managing partner of two-year-old Monterey on East fiftieth Street, told us, “We definitely have more events being booked for the autumn,” including designer Zang Toi’s party for Fashion Week. Cellini owner Dino Arpaia also cited a big uptick in private-event bookings before the July doldrums kicked in.
Simon Kim will open a recent venue at The Olayan Group’s 550 Madison Ave. next yr.simonkimnyc/Twitter
Gracious Hospitality Management principal Kim, who’s behind Flatiron’s Korean steakhouse Cote, said, “What makes us especially confident is the others who’re coming along for the ride, like Jean-Georges and David Burke.”
Burke plans to open his brasserie at 277 Park on Dec. 1. “It would be fully leased by the point we open,” he said.
“Is there risk given the present week office market? Sure, but that’s the restaurant business. There’s all the time risk,” Burke said. “We are able to either take it or sit home and do nothing.
“We consider in the town and we consider we are going to do well.”
