Avra Estiatorio to Open Fourth NYC Location at the Farley Building

A spokesperson for Vornado declined to share the asking rent, but average asking rent for retail space in the nearby Herald Square shopping corridor was $487 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a report by Colliers.

The Farley Building outpost will be the hospitality group’s fourth restaurant in New York City after co-founders Nick Tsoulos and Nick Pashalis opened locations at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center, 14 East 60th Street on the Upper East Side, and 141 East 48th Street in Midtown. The Greek eatery also has outposts in Los Angeles and Miami.

The restaurant’s menu is inspired by the Greek fishing village of Nafpaktos, where Tsoulos grew up before his family immigrated to Astoria, Queens, according to Avra’s website.

The newest dining option in the Penn District will likely see a lot of Facebook employees walk through the door since parent company Meta signed a massive 730,000-square-foot lease at the Farley Building, formerly the borough’s main post office hub, in 2020 and ditched space at Hudson Yards, as Commercial Observer previously reported. 

Vornado owns some 9 million square feet in the district and has lately been brainstorming some innovative ideas to generate revenue at the stalled Penn 15 development site a block away. The developer pitched temporarily adding a tennis complex with a 10-story billboard attached to generate revenue at the former Hotel Pennsylvania site.

CBRE (CBRE)’s Gary Trock arranged the deal for The Avra Group while Vornado was represented in-house by Edward Hogan.

“This location demands nothing short of the best possible experience from globally respected restaurateurs, which is why we are thrilled to welcome the Avra Group to this flagship location,” Hogan said.

Trock did not respond to a request for comment.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.