Salt Bae Will Sprinkle a New Eatery in the Meatpacking District
By Nicholas Rizzi January 16, 2020 9:29 am
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Viral restaurateur Salt Bae — known for his tight white shirt and unique way of sprinkling salt on steaks — will open up a second New York City outpost in the Meatpacking District, a source with knowledge of the deal confirmed.
The Turkish chef — who’s real name is Nusret Gökçe — signed a lease with Rockpoint Group and Highgate Holdings for 12,176 square feet to open his Nusr-Et steakhouse at 412 West 15th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues, Crain’s New York Business first reported. Nusr-Et will occupy 7,059 square feet on the ground floor and 5,117 square feet on the lower level of the 18-story building, the source said.
The source could not provide details of the terms of the deal, but asking rents in the office portion of the building are more than $100 per square foot, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
Gökçe rose to worldwide fame in 2017 when a video of him cutting a steak and sprinkling salt from his fingertips down his forearm on it became viral. In January 2018, Gökçe brought his Nurst-Et chain to New York with a location at 60 West 53rd Street in Midtown, but received scathing reviews from publications like Eater New York, the New York Post and the Observer for the spot’s high prices, with steaks running between $70 to $275 a pop.
The Salt Bae lease comes as Rockpoint and Highgate put up the trio of Meatpacking properties it owns — 412 West 15th Street, 436 West 15th Street and 413 West 14th Street — up for sale for $275 million, which is a $75 million markdown from two years ago, Crain’s reported.
Developers Taconic Investment Partners and Aurora Capital Associates told Crain’s they were interested in picking up the properties.
Thomas Citron of Colliers (CIGI) International, who moved last year from Newmark (NMRK) Knight Frank, along with NKF’s Geoff Newman and Lucas Kooyman, represented Nusr-Et in the deal while Karen Bellantoni, Pierce Thompson and Caleb Petersen of NKF handled it for the landlords. A spokesman for Colliers declined to comment.
UPDATE: This story has been updated since publication to include the names of the NKF brokers representing the tenant.
