Florida-Based Indian Restaurant Chain to Open First NYC Spot

Florida-based Aashirwad Indian Restaurants is preparing to open its first New York City restaurant, taking a 17,000-square-foot space at Cohen Brothers Realty’s Grand Central Plaza at 622 Third Avenue.

Cohen Brothers Realty was represented in-house by Marc Horowitz, while Newmark’s Jason Pruger represented Aashirwad.

Asking rent on the 15-year lease is $88.24 per square foot. 

The restaurant — the creation of Indian chef Amit Kumar — will feature modern Indian cuisine.

While the exact name of the new restaurant was not included in the announcement, the company’s Orlando, Fla., flagship is Aashirwad Indian Food and Bar. 

Kumar also runs Tamarind Indian Cuisine restaurants in Winter Park and Orlando, Fla., and his Bombay Street Kitchen, also in Orlando, has for the past three years won a Michelin Bib Gourmand award, which is like a Michelin star for restaurants with more affordable prices. 

Grand Central Plaza is a 39-story, Class A office tower of around 1 million square feet on the southwest corner of 40th Street and Third Avenue in Murray Hill. 

Tenants in the building include advertising company McCann Worldgroup, the staffing agency TemPositions and title insurance company Tower Abstract.

Cohen Brothers Realty bought the building from Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield (now known as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield), for which the building served as a longtime headquarters, for around $171 million in 1997. Cohen Brothers then spent around $80 million renovating and repositioning the building.  

Representatives for Aashirwad did not immediately respond to requests for information.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.