By Billy Gray 6/18 7:45am

Lease Beat

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Le Pain Quotidien Inks 2,941-Square-Foot Madison Avenue Deal

The international bakery and boulangerie chain Le Pain Quotidien has moved on up to Carnegie Hill after signing a 12-year, 2,941-square-foot lease at 1399 Madison Avenue, near 97th Street.

The store, already open, is the northernmost Manhattan location of Le Pain Quotidien, which also has Brooklyn and suburban offshoots. CBRE‘s Amira Yunis and Matt Krell repped the tenant. Rose Associates Senior Managing Director Bruce Spiegel and Commercial Leasing Manager William Bergman represented the landlord, MSMC Residential Real Estate LLC. Asking rent was $150 per square foot. Read More

By Billy Gray 6/17 1:28pm

Assignments

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Danny Meyer In Talks for Bistro in Harlem

The restaurateur Danny Meyer is considering opening a bistro in central Harlem, according to retail brokers leasing a nine-building portfolio around the intersection of West 135th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

Faith Hope Consolo, Joseph Aquino and Arthur Maglio of Douglas Elliman were named exclusive leasing agents for the 25,000-square-foot portfolio covering 216, 218, 229, 231, 233, and 235 West 135th Street, 2312 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and 2518-2524, 2540 and 2542 Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Read More

By Billy Gray 6/11 9:00am

Footlong and Strong

A Subway restaurant in the East Village.

Subway Squeeze: No End in Sight for Sandwich Spot’s Expansion

Normally, Jared Fogle would be the biggest in-store distraction for Subway customers hungry for a hero. But the larger commotion during Thursday’s lunch rush involved Elmo and the Cookie Monster.

Mr. Fogle, the improbable Subway spokesman for 15 years, turned a few heads at the sandwich chain’s 126 West 41st Street branch last week during a press meet and greet. He even posed for a quick picture with the Times Square Sesame Street mascots before the unflappable people beneath those full-body suits removed their masks and chowed down at a corner table.

“Only in New York!” squealed one Subway representative. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 6/07 4:30pm

Food & Drink

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Condo Board Files $10M Suit to Block Denny’s

A lawsuit for up to $10 million was filed yesterday by the condominium board of 150 Nassau Street in an attempt to block a Denny’s restaurant from operating out of the property’s commercial space, The Real Deal reported.

The condo board is requesting the New York Supreme Court block the restaurant from operating out of the building. The board argues the restaurant will attract disruptive crowds and violate  the structural integrity of the property, according to the report. Read More

By Gus Delaporte 6/07 4:14pm

Lease Beat

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Big Smoke Burger Bringing Poutine to NYC

Toronto-based fast casual chain Big Smoke Burger will soon be offering poutine–with real Ontario cheese curds and gravy–to New Yorkers after signing a lease at 70 Seventh Avenue.

“This is a great location to launch Big Smoke Burger in the New York market,” said Alexander Hill of Winick Realty Group, who represented the landlord, Group 868 Inc., in a prepared statement. “This area of Chelsea is growing rapidly with the 1, 2, 3 subway stop right nearby, the storefront is going to get seven-day foot traffic.” Read More

By Michael Ewing 6/07 3:56pm

Lease Beat

Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisini (Courtesy of Just Jared)

Anderson Cooper’s Partner Inked Deal for a Restaurant and Bar in Hell’s Kitchen

Anderson Cooper‘s partner, Antoine “Benjamin” Maisini, will be pitching in to open a restaurant and bar in Hell’s Kitchen.

Disguised under the entity Oxido Corp., Mr. Maisini and Pablo Raimondi, his business partner, will be teaming up together to open the 5,000-square-foot restaurant at 753 Ninth Avenue. The pair specifically sought after a location in the Hell’s Kitchen and Clinton area, likely because of the prominent gay community. Read More

By Billy Gray 6/04 10:00am

The Sit-Down

Michael Phillips (Credit: Jamestown)

Jamestown Properties’ Michael Phillips on Feeding Chelsea

As chief operating officer of Jamestown Properties, Michael Phillips has helped create and oversee a portfolio of more than 80 properties across nine states, totaling over 25 million square feet. But the jewel in his and Jamestown’s crown may well be Chelsea Market, the wildly popular foodie mecca in the Meatpacking District. Jamestown is currently working on a contentious expansion of that Ninth Avenue destination that will result in an additional 330,000 square feet of office space (an earlier plan for a 90,000-square-foot hotel was scrapped).

The Commercial Observer grabbed a few minutes with Mr. Phillips inside Jamestown’s swank, canopied, free-crepe-dispensing booth at ICSC’s RECon global retail real estate summit in Las Vegas. There, the James Beard Foundation vice chair and Real Estate Board of New York governor shared some morsels about Jamestown’s unannounced plans for a second sit-down restaurant at Chelsea Market, its imminent foray into the Brooklyn culinary world, and marquee projects in Georgia and California. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/29 3:30pm

Turf Wars

The Meatpacking District Soho House.

CB3 Denies Soho House a Liquor License at Proposed Lower East Side Branch

Community Board 3 last night voted to reject Soho House‘s application for a liquor license at 139 Ludlow Street, further imperiling the club’s fraught Lower East Side expansion plan. Last week, the State Liquor Authority Committee drafted a resolution to 86 Soho House’s booze application. Just 10 CB3 members voted against that measure, while 25 supported it and two members abstained. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/22 8:00am

ICSC 2013

5 Photos

In-N-Out Burger

Five Food Chains That Aren’t in NYC

The food options at the Las Vegas Convention Center during RECon peak with a Nathan’s stall and mostly subsist of ubiquitous free mints doled out by booth workers.

Still, grub is on a lot of people’s minds at this retail real estate hub.

As New York’s devotion to food concepts, both national and local, threatens Read More

By Billy Gray 5/22 8:00am

ICSC 2013

chick-fil-a sandwich

Chick-fil-A Looking for NYC Landings, New Madison Avenue Luxury Tenant In the Works and More…

Chick-fil-A, the controversial fast food franchise, may be expanding in the Big Apple some time soon if retail brokers get their way.

From high-end luxury brands to regional food concepts, and, yes, Chick-fil-A, real estate professionals yesterday offered The Commercial Observer hints of deals they hope to seal before next year’s journey to Sin City. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/21 11:00am

ICSC 2013

Consumer Spending Aids In First Quarter Economic Growth In U.S.

Courting the Foodies: These Aren’t Your Father’s Food Courts

In 2010, harried Manhattan office workers were hungry for new lunch options.

Food trucks were somewhat novel and all the rage. Puckish restaurateurs like David Chang (Momofuku) had dispensed with tablecloths and seatbacks and made barebones eateries the hottest tickets in town. Flea markets, with their quirky food vendors, had stormed Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/16 2:36pm

Assignments

The Harrison at 355 Greenwich Street

Eastern Consolidated Tapped to Sell Homes of The Harrison, Flor de Sol and Five Guys

Eastern Consolidated is marketing the $11.2 million sale of a package of buildings that house downtown restaurants The Harrison, Flor de Sol and Five Guys Burgers and Fries, The Commercial Observer has learned.

A Swedish investment group that owns the three properties tapped Eastern to sell the adjacent Tribeca buildings at 355 and 361 Greenwich Street. The Five Guys branch is located at 496 LaGuardia Place. Read More

By Billy Gray 5/08 12:02pm

Lease Beat

184 Kent (Credit: Fortis Properties)

Williamsburg Pizzeria La Nonna Expanding to Luxury Building 184 Kent This August

The Bedford Avenue pizzeria La Nonna will add a second Williamsburg location after signing a 15-year lease for 3,761 square feet at the luxury rental building 184 Kent. The pie slinger will join Soul Cycle (which opens this weekend), Pudge Knuckles Coffee and Pure Cleaners in the waterfront property’s 18,000-square-foot retail base.

The tenant represented itself in the transaction. Geoff Bailey of TerraCRG represented the landlord, JMH Development. Mr. Bailey said asking retail rent is $65 a foot. Read More