The Benjamin Group Will Open a Restaurant at 285 Madison
By Terence Cullen June 12, 2015 3:00 pm
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The Benjamin Group has inked a 16-year deal to open a yet-to-be-named restaurant at RFR’s 285 Madison Avenue, Commercial Observer has learned.
The restaurateur, which also owns Benjamin Steakhouse and Sea Fire Grill, signed a lease for 9,020 square feet across the basement, ground floor and mezzanine of the 29-story building between East 40th and East 41st Streets, according to RFR.
Jordan Claffey of RFR, who represented the landlord in-house in the deal, said the restaurant, which has yet to be named, would be an amenity to the recently renovated building, offering private dining areas and catering for tenant meetings. What kind of restaurant that will be is still in the works, a spokesman for RFR said.
Dean Valentino of ABS Partners Real Estate represented The Benjamin Group. Mr. Valentino declined to comment.
Asking rents in the building range from $350 to $450 per square foot on the Madison Avenue side, according to the RFR spokesman. They’re slightly cheaper on the East 40th Street side, ranging from $150 to $275 per square foot.
It will be the third location in the area for The Benjamin Group. Its Benjamin Steakhouse is currently in the Dylan Hotel at 52 East 41st Street between Madison and Park Avenues—around the corner from the new restaurant at 285 Madison Avenue. The Sea Fire Grill, its nautical fare restaurant, is roughly half a mile away at 158 East 48th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues.
RFR is also adding London-based Taylor Street Baristas to 285 Madison Avenue for the coffee brewer’s first location in the U.S. Taylor Street Baristas inked a deal for 1,040 square feet, according to the landlord. The lease is for 10 years, the RFR spokesman said.
Both the restaurant and coffee house will move in by the beginning of 2016.
Mr. Claffey also represented the landlord in this deal, while Fritz Kemerling and Joe Mastromonaco of the Dartmouth Company represented the new tenant. Neither returned a call for comment.
“The restaurant concept and coffee house will provide attractive and unique options for both the building’s tenants and the neighborhood,” Mr. Claffey said in prepared remarks. “This is a very desirable place to work given its proximity to Grand Central Station, Bryant Park and numerous subway lines.”
