Chipotle Founder Steve Ells Opening Second Robo-Eatery Concept, Kernel, in NoHo
By Mark Hallum July 11, 2024 3:09 pm
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Chipotle founder Steve Ells has discovered a Kernel of truth in the Manhattan retail market.
Ells has chosen a 1,300-square-foot space at New York University’s 15 East Fourth Street for the second location for his vegetarian, robot-assisted eatery known as Kernel, Commercial Observer has learned.
Tenant broker Newmark (NMRK) did not disclose the length of the lease or the asking rent, but the average asking retail rates in nearby SoHo was between $378 and $600 per square foot, according to a report from CBRE.
15 East Fourth Street sits at the corner of Fourth and Lafayette streets. It’s one of many buildings that make up NYU’s urban campus in the blocks east of Washington Square Park and north of Houston Street.
“Our aim is to create a restaurant that is as special as the neighborhood it serves,” Ells said in a statement. “We are now more inspired than ever to welcome the NoHo community to eat at Kernel come fall.”
Ells founded Chipotle in 1993 out of Denver and stepped down as CEO in 2020, Nation’s Restaurant News reported. He raised $36 million in funding to start Kernel in 2023 and opened its first location at Columbia Property Trust’s 315 Park Avenue South in February, the New York Times reported.
For this second location, Newmark’s Ariel Schuster, Mitch Heifetz and Evan Roteman brokered the deal for Kernel. David Tricarico and Jake Horowitz from Colliers (CIGI) represented NYU. Colliers and NYU did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
NYU purchased the five-story, cast-iron property, with an alternative address of 400 Lafayette Street, from Alvin Flaster’s Sand Associates for $97.5 million in April 2023, according to property records.
Tenants include La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Lafayette House Painting, Coffeeface and marketing platform PebblePost, which occupies space on the second floor.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
