High-Profile Restaurateurs Ink Deal at AKA Times Square
By Al Barbarino May 15, 2014 7:30 am
reprintsInvestment entrepreneur Anthony “Mooch” Scaramucci has signed a 10-year, 10,000-square-foot deal for The Hunt and Fish Club at 125 West 44th Street, Commercial Observer has learned.
The high-end steak and seafood restaurant is under construction and expected to open at the base of the luxury extended stay AKA Times Square in late August, taking a space previously occupied by the Dopo Teatro Italian Eatery for 18 years.
Mr. Scaramucci, a former Morgan Stanley executive, started SkyBridge Capital in 2005 and is known for his SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas, the largest hedge fund industry conference, which has featured former President Bill Clinton to actor Al Pacino as speakers. Mr. Scaramucci appeared on the big screen himself in a cameo role as a trader in Oliver Stone’s 2010 sequel “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.’’
“It’s a relevant concept and they have some pretty big names attached to it,” said James Famularo, senior director of retail leasing at Eastern Consolidated, who exclusively represented both the landlord and the tenant in the transaction. “You’re going to have a high-end design and sophisticated place to bring clients or dates.”
Along with restaurant partners Eytan Sugarman and David Barrett, Mr. Scaramucci will cater to young and high-income employees at the city’s top financial firms, sources said. Mr. Sugarman’s other restaurants include New York’s Southern Hospitality BBQ and Destino, which Justin Timberlake and Mr. Scaramucci have invested in. Mr. Barrett is a former Morgan Stanley executive and managing director at Gotham Asset Management.
The square footage at the space is split evenly between a ground floor and lower level, which sources said may have commanded rents well into the $200 per square foot range.
Designed in 1893 by architect George Keister, the building’s façade provides what the AKA describes as a “picturesque combination of the late Romanesque Revival with German Gothic and Renaissance forms.” In 1981, the building – and former Hotel Gerard – was designated a national historic landmark.
Mr. Famularo declined to specify rents, but he noted that asking rents in comparable space in the area go for as much as $250 per square foot.
