Rosa Mexicano Moving Upper West Side Eatery to 12K SF at Empire Hotel
By Abigail Nehring September 17, 2024 2:42 pm
reprints
The rumors can stop. Uptown institution Rosa Mexicano will stick around Lincoln Center to serve guacamole and margaritas after a night at the opera.
Only now, the 40-year-old Mexican restaurant will move from 61 Columbus Avenue to the neighboring Empire Hotel, according to landlord broker Winick Realty Group.
Rosa Mexicano signed a 15-year lease for 12,000 square feet across the entire second floor of Joseph Chetrit and the Podolsky family’s hotel at 1889 Broadway, across the street from the performing arts plaza and directly above P.J. Clarke’s, Winick said.
Asking rent was $1.5 million per year, a spokesperson for Winick said.
The restaurant chain opened on the Upper East Side in 1984 and now has three locations in Manhattan, plus six outposts around the country, according to its website.
But Italian eatery La Pecora Bianca set a mystery in motion about the fate of Rosa’s Lincoln Center location in June when it revealed to Manhattan Community Board 7 that it planned to take over the Mexican restaurant’s longtime space at the base of the condominium building on the corner of Columbus and West 62nd Street.
The fate of Rosa’s Upper West Side outpost remained unknown until I Love The Upper West Side reported last week that it would take over the space inside the Empire Hotel that formerly housed Ed’s Chowder House. Its new home on the second floor of the 420-room hotel will include a private entrance on West 63rd Street, according to Winick.
“We’re excited to keep Rosa Mexicano in the neighborhood,” said Winick’s Jeff Winick, who represented the landlord along with Yoel Gorjian.
“They will continue to serve as a beloved staple in the community they’ve been part of for 25 years,” Winick added.
It’s unclear when Rosa Mexicano plans to reopen in the Empire Hotel, but the website West Side Rag reported La Pecora Bianca is gearing up to open at 61 West 62nd in the fall of 2025.
Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s Neil Seth and Kenji Ota arranged the deal for Rosa Mexicano and declined to comment.
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
