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.

“This is a very well trafficked area in one of Manhattan’s leading residential neighborhoods,” Mr. Spiegel said in a prepared statement.  “Le Pain Quotidien should surely enjoy having a presence here.”

The somewhat high-minded chain--organic ingredients, communal tables, Francophile appeal--was founded in Brussels in 1990 and has since developed a presence just about everywhere in Manhattan below 96th Street. There are currently 29 stores, including one in Central Park (at 69th Street) and prime areas like Rockefeller Center and 50 West 72nd Street, near Central Park West.

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.

"We're already talking to a big wine store and maybe a wine bar," Ms. Consolo said. She said that if conversations with Mr. Meyer are productive, the man behind Shake Shack, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Gotham Bar & Grill, The Modern and other blockbuster restaurants would bring a modest--though not Shake Shack modest--bistro concept to Harlem.

The square footage of units in the portfolio ranges from 500 to 5,000 square feet. Average asking rents are $75 a foot.

The Douglas Elliman retail team has been very busy in Harlem. In the past six months, they've brought the Children's Aid Society, Tribeca Pediatrics and Sunshine Day Care to the changing neighborhood. Ms. Consolo noted the need for similar community services in this central area of Harlem, but also spoke of several "name" stores interested in the block.

"This is a huge portfolio," said Ms. Consolo, adding with characteristic understatement that "we run all of Harlem."

Representatives for Mr. Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group could not immediately be reached for comment.

]]> 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.

"We're already talking to a big wine store and maybe a wine bar," Ms. Consolo said. She said that if conversations with Mr. Meyer are productive, the man behind Shake Shack, Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Gotham Bar & Grill, The Modern and other blockbuster restaurants would bring a modest--though not Shake Shack modest--bistro concept to Harlem.

The square footage of units in the portfolio ranges from 500 to 5,000 square feet. Average asking rents are $75 a foot.

The Douglas Elliman retail team has been very busy in Harlem. In the past six months, they've brought the Children's Aid Society, Tribeca Pediatrics and Sunshine Day Care to the changing neighborhood. Ms. Consolo noted the need for similar community services in this central area of Harlem, but also spoke of several "name" stores interested in the block.

"This is a huge portfolio," said Ms. Consolo, adding with characteristic understatement that "we run all of Harlem."

Representatives for Mr. Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group could not immediately be reached for comment.

]]> http://commercialobserver.com/2013/06/danny-meyer-in-talks-for-bistro-in-harlem/feed/ 0 billygray Untitled http://commercialobserver.com/2013/06/subway-squeeze-no-end-in-sight-for-sandwich-spots-expansion/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 09:00:27 -0400 http://commercialobserver.com/2013/06/subway-squeeze-no-end-in-sight-for-sandwich-spots-expansion/ Billy Gray http://commercialobserver.com/?p=253086 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.

A Subway restaurant in the East Village.

That’s a saying one could never apply to Subway, which got its start in 1965 as Pete’s Super Submarines in Bridgeport, Conn., and has since grown to encompass 26,000 American locations. By the end of the year, the chain hopes to have opened an additional 3,000 branches around the world, crossing the threshold of 40,000 international stores. McDonald’s, by comparison, operates roughly 33,000 burger joints worldwide.

“We’re targeting just about everywhere for growth,” said Don Fertman, Subway’s chief development officer. “In North America, I’d say Boston and Philadelphia are the markets with the most potential. Internationally, Brazil, Germany, France and Russia have grown quite a bit and are still growing.”

Could the sub shop chain possibly continue to grow in New York City, where it has 400 stores? “New York is an interesting market,” Mr. Fertman said. “For one thing, the demographics change relatively rapidly. Certain neighborhoods become trendy. Others change and go away. We have sites where the next block over suddenly becomes the place to be, so we’ll move to that block.”

As for the chain’s popularity in a city famous for its ubiquitous corner delis and bodegas, Mr. Fertman listed the same things that propel all fast food (or, as the industry prefers to be called, quick service) restaurants.

“What draws people to us is consistency,” he said. “In the local bodegas and mom-and-pop stores, sometimes a pastrami sandwich at one can be very different from another.”

The yearning for the familiar is perhaps more pronounced for tourists than for harried office workers. “People traveling from all over the country and the world,” Mr. Fertman said, “tend to go with the recognized brand. But we’re pretty strong in residential neighborhoods and not just tourist-heavy ones.”

There are perhaps less pronounced differences between the food offerings at Subway and its rival chains. In Manhattan, the sub behemoth will have a new competitor in Jersey Mike’s, another sandwich franchise with regional roots that will enter the Manhattan market for the first time this summer.

“We certainly look at the competition constantly, “ Mr. Fertman said. “We have the benefit of being first to market in a lot of places. If anything, competitors help us keep on top of our game.”

A less obvious competitor is 7-Eleven. While not, strictly speaking, a sandwich store, the quintessential suburban convenience store has been making inroads locally. “They’re the largest chain in the world,” Mr. Fertman said. “We’re the largest QSR in the world. They have a sandwich program, but that’s not the main destination. It’s a byproduct.”

“Not to mention,” he said, “that we have very high-performing Subway locations within 7-Elevens.”

Mr. Fogle, a longtime brand ambassador, has avoided the nitty-gritty of Subway’s expansion as his once-formidable waistline has contracted. But he may play a more direct part in it.

“I don’t think I could ever go into real estate,” Mr. Fogle said. “I have friends who do it, and there seem to be too many ups and downs. Still, I might be interested in owning a Subway.”

Pulino's

The Wall Street Journal broke news of the sale earlier today, but, as EV Grieve noted, has yet to publish the story online. Faith Hope Consolo, chair of the retail group at Douglas Elliman, told the Journal that the Bowery "is the place to be" and that in the next five years she expects retail rents on the erstwhile skid row to climb to $325 a foot from a current $175 per square foot.

A representative from Massey Knakal told the Journal that several tenants included in the portfolio have leases expiring in "the next few years." Massey Knakal representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mr. McNally opened the casual pizza and pasta joint Pulino's in 2010 on a then-emerging stretch of the Bowery. In the past three months, two chefs departed Mr. McNally's Soho brasserie Balthazar. Rumors quickly followed that the downtown institution was shuttering. The restaurateur called those rumors "ridiculous." However, he did confirm that Pastis, in the Meatpacking District, would close for nine months starting early next year. A representative for Pulino's could not be reached for comment.

In yet another recent rumor, Mr. McNally was said to be eying the old Capsouto Freres space at 451 Washington Street.

Mr. Betesh owns the "urban clothing" chain store Dr. Jays.

"The properties are located at 83, 85, 88, 103, 105, 219, 221, 262, 276, 280, and 284 Bowery," Massey Knakal said in a prepared statement. "The buildings total approximately 143,230 above grade square feet with all air-rights intact. The properties are not contiguous, but nine of the 11 buildings are paired with an adjacent property...These properties have been family owned since the 1930s which presented a rare opportunity for Milestone Equities to acquire a portfolio with tremendous upside."

[Update: This post has been changed to include information from a Massey Knakal press release on the transaction.]

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.

“In stark contrast to the dignity and storied character of this quiet, residential, family-oriented building, Denny’s is a fast food chain synonymous with a late night party atmosphere, as well as drunk, disorderly, violent and criminal conduct,” said the complaint, filed by Gabriel Levinson, a partner at Tarter, Krinsky and Drogin.

Babaev Group, owners of 150 Nassau Street's commercial space, told The Real Deal it expects to prevail in any legal proceedings.

“We’ll defend it vigorously,” Meir Babaev, owner of the Babaev Group, said in an interview with TRD. “We’re going to have a Denny’s in the building one day.”

"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."

The location, where Big Smoke Burger expects to open in the next four months, has been occupied by the previous tenant for 20 years and features 1,000 square feet on the ground floor, 500 square feet in the basement and an 880-square-foot outdoor courtyard.

Big Smoke Burger operates U.S. locations in Chicago, Colorado and Michigan, in addition to locations throughout the Toronto-metropolitan area and the Middle East. The restaurant's menu includes a number of classic and signature burgers and sandwiches.

Ross Berkowitz of RKF represented the tenant in the transaction. Mr. Hill and Jonathan Banayan of Winick represented the landlord.

Calls to Winick and RKF were not immediately returned.

Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisini (Courtesy of Just Jared)

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.

According to CB4's meeting records, the pair's liquor license application was approved in April.

This will be the team's third endeavor in the Manhattan bar scene. He is known as the co-owner of the gay and Soviet-themed Eastern Bloc and Bedlam, two bars located in the East Village. Despite previous report accounts, Mr. Cooper's involvement in either venture could not be established.

Despite declining to comment about the owners of Oxido Corp., James Famularo, a broker at NYCRS, stated that "Ninth Avenue is becoming increasingly desirable for all food and beverage concepts because of the traffics from Times Square and the Theater District."

Mr. Famularo was joined by his colleague Ravi Idnani in representing both Oxido and the landlord, an undisclosed LLC. Given the prime location of Ninth Avenue, the asking rents were requested at $200 per square foot.

"Finalizing this deal was a long process and sometimes very challenging – the former tenant Vintage Bar was there for 17 years and DID NOT want to leave," added Mr. Famularo. "But with everyone's help we did it. We are all excited for them to open, I'm sure they will create something amazing!"

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.

Michael Phillips (Credit: Jamestown)

The Commercial Observer: Let’s start by talking about the convention itself. I’ve been asking people how RECon 2013 compares with recent years past. Is the mood more upbeat?
Mr. Phillips: Sure. Clearly, I think people are expanding and retail is healthy. There’s demand. I think it’s very much a good time for the show.

Outside of the Jamestown booth, are there any you’ve made a big point of visiting?
I think [The McDevitt Company] is always a focus for us. But that’s a good question. It’s been so busy that it’s tough to get out of the booth sometimes.

What would you say is the Jamestown project that might be sparking the most conversations?
I think that Ponce City Market in Atlanta is really dynamic. We’re getting a lot of interest for this. It’s a two-million-square-foot adaptive reuse basically set to be Chelsea Market in Atlanta. I think that’s pretty exciting. We bought [seven assets in] downtown San Luis Obispo, California. That’s really unexpected and fantastic. It’s got the best demographics of a small coastal town, and Cal Poly’s based there.
In New York, we have Milk Studios retail. That’s a 13,000-foot box that’s getting unbelievable interest.

Which retailers, or types of retailers, have you been talking to about the Milk Studios space?
It’s soft goods. I would call it carriage trade—upper-middle. I don’t think it’s couture. It’s not microbrand couture.

Can you name anyone whom you’ve been talking to?
I can’t. I would be killed if I did.
So Milk’s there, and then 530 Fifth Avenue is pretty dynamic below it. That’s 44,000 feet. There’s a lot of exciting things happening on Fifth.

What’s the latest at 530 Fifth Avenue? That’s a fairly recent joint acquisition.
The lobby’s under renovation. It should deliver in the fall of this year. We’ve been doing sort of base building work to open up more space in the basement and offering a configuration plan. We have a corner 14,000-foot box and then an inline 25,000-foot box. There’s also the opportunity to go up to 44,000 foot in one swoop. That’s been tracking nicely, and we’re seeing a lot of activity come down Fifth Avenue.

Have you finalized any deals there?
No—it’s early yet.

I’m interested—and I think a lot of New Yorkers are interested—in Chelsea Market. And I know the whole evolution regarding that expansion, the local opposition, came as a surprise to you. How’s it going now?
We’re planning to move forward. We’re doing our construction drawings and working on the expansion plans. We just did a package of eight new kiosks in the market, which are really, really chic. We’ve got Cambodian sandwiches, spice vendors, a taco truck and Hybird ...

 ... Hybird is a fun one
Yeah, you know, Chelsea Market’s just on fire. It’s fantastic. We’re enjoying a great reception in the community. And I think the additions will be a non-event for people. They’ll be above the building and won’t impact the ground floor.

The Commercial Observer wrote a story earlier this year about a minor controversy regarding the distribution of ground-floor retail at Chelsea Market. People wanted it to remain 75 percent food vendors, and there was some confusion that a legal agreement allocated just 60 percent of the floor to that sector. Can you comment on that?
Well, Chelsea Market’s whole identity is food. So to have it not remain food long-term would be crazy. We agreed that on the interior concourse, excluding the avenues, that it would be 75 percent food.

It’s hard to talk about the Meatpacking District these days without mentioning the High Line. What effect do you think the High Line’s extension to 34th Street will have on the neighborhood?
I actually think 10th Avenue’s the great story here. There’s the retail being built under the High Line between 14th and 15th Streets. But then you have Steven Alan at 19th Street and 10th Avenue, you have Park, Cookshop, the new High Line Hotel [at 180 10th Avenue] going in. There’s Bottino. Tenth Avenue is just reaping the benefits of the High Line.

Christine Quinn has commented on the Chelsea Market expansion. Are you following the mayoral race closely?
I’m following it a little bit.

Do you have a favorite candidate?
I think it’s too early. There’s obviously a varied field of candidates, and they all bring their own perspective to it. It should be a very interesting next four months.

Are there any other newcomers heading toward Chelsea Market?
Yup, we’re working on a restaurant that we haven’t announced yet. I don’t know if you’ve been in the new oyster bar at Lobster Place, Cull & Pistol. That’s fantastic. And now we’re working on another one, which we’ll announce soon.

Will the upcoming restaurant have a chef whose name New Yorkers will recognize?
Hmmm. I think it will be with a chef who small foodies might recognize. We’re not doing any more star chefs or big chefs. I want to work with somebody who has grown up organically in the food scene in New York and provide them with a platform to do great food.

Speaking of foodies, Brooklyn is obviously often associated with the so-called artisanal food movement. Do you have any designs on Brooklyn?
Yeah, absolutely. I think that ... yes. I’ll have something to tell you about that soon.

Soho House, which began in London in 1995, currently has 11 clubs around the world, from West Hollywood to Berlin. The lone New York outpost opened a decade ago in the Meatpacking District at the height of that once-gritty neighborhood's Sex and the City-abetted chicness. Club founder and CEO Nick Jones in March announced plans for a second New York branch on the slightly less gentrified Lower East Side.

Ludlow Street locals leery of the strip's rapid transformation into a trendy shopping and nightlife destination immediately lashed out against the proposal. Mr. Jones wrote a letter to would-be neighbors that attempted to assuage their fears and invited naysayers to open house at the semi-private club that caters to a vaguely creative membership. At last night's meeting, Soho House member and advocate Jill Linton went so far as to tell the assembly that "we are not drunks" while countering comparisons to Ludlow Street's increasingly fratty barhoppers. Soho House will now take its case for a liquor license to the SLA.

The Lo-Down reports that a movement has started to landmark the facade of 139 Ludlow Street.

A team from The Shopping Center Group represented the tenant. Ross Spitalnick was the in-house landlord representative for Muss Development. Ariel Schuster and Brian Segall of RKF also represented the landlord. 

The casual Mexican restaurant chain has five locations in Florida. This will be its first NYC outpost. The restaurant, located near the Barclays Center,  spans the ground floor and a lower level and is expected to open by the end of the year. When it does, it will serve over 225 varieties of tequila and guacamole prepared tableside.

Messrs. Spitalnick, Schuster and Segall could not be reached for comment.  Representatives from The Shopping Center Group did not return a request for comment.

The restaurant space at 339 Adams Street was previously occupied by a Morton's Steakhouse, which closed last February on account of "shifting demographics" in the area. Muss also owns the nearby 345 Adams Street, which has recently signed with a slew of restaurant tenants. They include the fro-yo chain Orange Leaf , the sandwich purveyors Panera Bread and Potbelly, and Hill Country, an offshoot of the popular Murray Hill barbecue joint.

As of two months ago, 345 Adams Street was 100 percent leased.

“With the emergence of the Barclays Center and the overall evolution of Downtown Brooklyn, our space at 339 Adams Street made perfect sense for Rocco’s Tacos,” Jason Muss, a principal at Muss, said in a prepared statement. “They are popular in Florida and wanted to expand to New York City. They will be an excellent addition to the world-class dining options along the new Restaurant Row.”

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 to spin out of control, we at The Commercial Observer scanned the expo for national restaurant chains that haven’t made the leap to the Big Apple.

Below, a sampling of five notable restaurant franchises either on their way to New York or sadly reluctant about a move to the city.

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.

Fresh off the announcement of a 38,000-square-foot Ralph Lauren store in the Coca-ColaBuilding at 711 Fifth Avenue, Richard Hodos, executive vice president of tristate retail at CBRE, said his sights are now set on bringing a luxury apparel, shoe, accessories and jewelry tenant he declined to name to an address on Madison Avenue in the 60s. Mr. Hodos said the tenant is inching toward a deal for 7,000 square feet on that famed corridor.

More accessible, tenants that are on their way to a bulked up Manhattan presence include Chick-fil-A and Birdbath Bakery, Josh Siegelman of Winick told The Commercial Observer.

While deals have not been finalized on those fronts, Mr. Siegelman said that, like Dairy Queen, the established brands are currently scrutinizing the market. Chick-fil-A, the politically polarizing chicken sandwich joint whose president last year raised the ire of some for his views on same-sex marriage, has just one New York store, on the NYU campus. Birdbath, an offshoot of City Bakery, has four NYC locations in addition to a pop-up.

Mr. Siegelman said that two popular QSRs actively looking to enter the city for the first time are Carl's Jr. and the wing emporium Red Robin.

On the inevitable artisanal end of the culinary spectrum, Jamestown Properties chief operating officer Michael Philips told The CO that the company behind foodie mecca Chelsea Market is hammering out the details of a partnership with a high-profile member of the Brooklyn artisan set. Jamestown is also bringing a full-service restaurant to the market. It will join the building's first sit-down eatery, Cull & Pistol.

"We're not doing any star chefs," Mr. Phillips said when we asked for details of the project. "We want to work with people who've grown up organically in the food scene in New York."

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.
Charmless cafeterias in skyscraper atriums, however, had fallen out of favor, if they were ever in it.

It was the perfect time to open Eataly, and when the 58,000-square-foot Italian marketplace and dining area debuted (with Mario Batali as a principal investor) in August 2010 at 200 Fifth Avenue, corporate food courts across the city began rethinking their reliance on Cucina & Co. buffets.

“We went back to the drawing board,” said David Levinson, chairman and chief executive of L&L Holding Company, which owns 200 Fifth Avenue. “Our original concept was a food hall surrounded by typical retail space. Eataly envisioned taking over the retail spaces and then injected the idea of a market. It was very powerful.”

This year, two Financial District institutions announced plans for revitalized food courts. The Sandy-ravaged, and once chain-ridden, South Street Seaport has partnered with the creators of the Brooklyn Flea and its foodie offshoot, Smorgasburg, for Smorgasbar, a 497-seat food and drink concession area. More improbably, Brookfield Office Properties will open a gourmet market and 14 food stalls of varying indie-mindedness at Brookfield Place, formerly the World Financial Center.

“One of the things we wanted to do was create a sense of place that’s true to what’s emerging in Battery Park City and Tribeca,” said Ed Hogan, Brookfield’s national director of retail leasing. “And one way you can be authentic to where you’re at is food. Retail, fashion tenants—once they’re good, they go global.”

Jonathan Butler, who with Eric Demby founded the Brooklyn Flea in 2008, hasn’t made an international brand of his vintage shopping and artisanal food market. But it has expanded within New York, with a pop-up shop in the Whole Foods on Bowery and concessions at Central Park SummerStage.

None of these projects, not even the Seaport Smorgasbar, could be mistaken for a corporate food court. Still, can the Seaport and the former WFC shed their mall-ish restaurant layouts? Mr. Butler is less worried about the Flea’s mindset being co-opted than “general public fatigue with artisanal food.” He said that he’s “had the unfortunate experience” of working in the Financial District and knows there are plenty of people in the area who need to eat lunch.

“My question isn’t about a clash between bearded artisans and the suits,” Mr. Butler said. “It’s more, does the business model work? I have no idea how the Brookfield vendors will pay rent.” Mr. Hogan said that “scrappy vendors would not work” at Brookfield, where rents reach $450 per square foot. Vending stations at Brookfield will range between 700 and 750 square feet.

Smorgasburg charges a flat daily rate of $120 to $275 to rent a booth for a day, but the Williamsburg and Dumbo locations are open once a week. Brookfield is another animal. “The volume requires a certain expertise and a proven ability to handle crowds,” Mr. Hogan said. “We carefully curated our vendors.”

The Brookfield Place vendors will cater to tourists and Lower Manhattan’s growing residential population, but will youthful chains like Umami Burger and Dos Toros feel out of place in a property with strong ties to financial institutions?

“They’re not selling out,” Mr. Hogan said. “We’re not building a mall. You won’t see a formula.”

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.

The Harrison at 355 Greenwich Street

Eastern Senior Director Adelaide Polsinelli said that despite being priced as a package, the firm is offering the option to sell separately because of the restaurants' different stages of occupancy. Flor de Sol is on a new lease at 361 Greenwich Street, while The Harrison is mid-lease at 355 Greenwich Street. The Five Guys lease expires in July, and in all likelihood the burger joint will vacate at that time.

"Someone could buy the long-term leased property and put money away," said Ms. Polsinelli. "Or someone who needs the space immediately could take the LaGuardia property."

Ms. Polsinelli emphasized that The Harrison and Flor de Sol will stay put for the time being. 355 Greenwich Street has 2,300 square feet above grade, 361 Greenwich Street is 2,225 square feet and 496 LaGuardia Place offers 1,304 square feet.

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.

184 Kent (Credit: Fortis Properties)

JMH began leasing 184 Kent's 338 apartments in 2010. The building was formerly the home of grocery wholesaler Austin, Nichols & Company and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, 6,650 square feet of retail space remains on the market. La Nonna is expected to open this August with a larger trattoria feel than the Bedford Avenue slice joint.

"It will be an expanded Italian menu," Mr. Bailey said. "Right now they're in about 1,200 square feet on Bedford. The chef, Cono Morena, is a character. He's the nicest guy and an incredible chef who's also built like a bodybuilder and is covered in Polynesian tattoos. He needs a restaurant where he can serve a full menu." Mr. Cono also owns the restaurant with his wife, Anna.