London Coffee Chain WatchHouse Plans First U.S. Location at 660 Fifth Ave.
By Rebecca Baird-Remba March 6, 2023 5:36 pm
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Brookfield Properties’ redeveloped 660 Fifth Avenue is getting a British coffee shop.
London-based specialty coffee chain WatchHouse will open its first U.S. location on the ground floor of the Midtown office property between West 52nd and West 53rd streets, according to the landlord. The cafe will occupy 1,500 square feet on the ground floor of the 39-story commercial tower, which Brookfield is renovating for $400 million.
A Brookfield spokesperson didn’t provide lease terms.
WatchHouse — which operates 12 locations in London — will offer baked goods and grab-and go-lunch options during the day and cocktails with light fare in the evening. Brooklyn architecture studio Carpenter & Mason will design the space, which is expected to seat 20 customers.
“WatchHouse, with its daytime coffee and evening cocktail program, will serve as both a desirable amenity for our office tenants upstairs and a lively addition to Fifth Avenue’s famed retail scene,” Jason Maurer, executive vice president of retail leasing for Brookfield, said in a statement.
Marc Outmezguine of OM3 Retail Projects represented WatchHouse. He said that he has “every confidence this will be the catalyst for further growth across the US in the future” for the roastery and cafe.
Brookfield handled the transaction with an in-house team of Maurer, Elisa Young and Robin Dinkin along with Cushman & Wakefield’s Mike O’Neill, Alan Schmerzler, Steven Soutendijk, Jason Greenstone and Taylor Reynolds.
“From simple beginnings in a 266-square-foot former watch house in London Bridge, I could not be prouder that WatchHouse is now going trans-Atlantic, having put pen to paper on our first international House with Brookfield Properties on the iconic Fifth Avenue to kick-start our expansion stateside,” WatchHouse’s founder and CEO Roland Horne said in a statement.
Brookfield signed a 99-year lease for 660 Fifth Avenue — formerly known as 666 Fifth Avenue — in 2018, and quickly started renovating the 66-year-old, 1.3 million-square-foot building. Kohn Pedersen Fox is handling the revamp, which involves a new facade, lobby, elevators, outdoor terraces and mechanical systems.
Rebecca Baird-Remba can be reached at rbairdremba@commercialobserver.com.
