Lease Signed for Restaurant, Café, Bakery and Catering Venue at 450 West 33rd Street
A long and diligent search for a high-quality restaurant operator to take over the vacant 15,000 square feet of hospitality space at West 33rd Street and Tenth Avenue has been concluded. A lease has been signed between the building owners, Broadway Partners, and Simon Oren, owner of the highly popular New York based Tour De France Group. The successful outcome is very good news for the building population and promises to be highly beneficial to the surrounding area.
The tenant will be making a significant investment in the building and the future of the neighborhood. According to Jack Brundige, Vice President of Asset Management at Broadway Partners: “We are delighted to have worked successfully with Simon Oren to bring his next creative restaurant concept to 450 West 33rd Street. The restaurant promises to enhance the tenant experience at the building and to make it more attractive to prospective tenants.” The broker for the ownership was John D. Harding with the Robert K. Futterman specialty retail brokerage. John also consults on restaurant development with the 34th Street Partnership, the company that manages the business improvement district within which the building is located.
The tenant is a very experienced restaurant operator whose plans involve a spacious, two-level American bistro that will bring sophisticated dining at popular prices to a stretch of Tenth Avenue that has long been starved of culinary options. The restaurant and its roomy, comfortable bar are expected to become a popular gathering spot for local area office workers and occupants of new residential and commercial blocks to be developed nearby. The façade and street entrance to the restaurant will run approximately 130 feet along the avenue, between 33rd and 31st streets. There will also be direct access from within the building.
A self-serve café adjacent to the bistro will offer hot and cold breakfast, lunch and snacks including sandwiches, salads, soups, and pizza to the building population of 4,500, most of whom are employed by The Daily News, Associated Press, WNET/Channel 13, US News & World Report, Coach Leather and fashion retailer New York & Company. Private parties and social and corporate events will be comfortably accommodated within the roomy, high-ceilinged main dining area and on the 3,000 square foot mezzanine, with its west-facing views through 20-foot high, floor-to-ceiling picture windows.
A retail bakery is also planned where artisanal breads, pastries and cookies will be prepared for sale on-premise and within the Tour De France Group restaurants. The 3,000 square feet of existing kitchen facilities, dating back originally to a bank’s employee cafeteria, will be completely refurbished and refitted with state-of-the art equipment capable of handling a wide range of culinary production, including lunch and dinner restaurant menus, daily café offerings, high-volume office delivery orders, special event and private party catering, plus commercial bakery and dessert production.
The Tour De France Group has a long history as a gastronomic pioneer in New York, creating popularly priced, theme restaurants in underdeveloped Manhattan neighborhoods. L’Express, an authentic Lyonnaise bistro open 24/7 on the corner of East 20th, was one of the first restaurants to open on Park Avenue South before it became the “scene” dining strip it is now. Le Monde opened at Broadway and 113th Street before there were many dining options on the upper, upper West Side. Café D’Alsace has garnered excellent reviews from The New York Times and Zagat and attracts a capacity UES neighborhood clientele to Second Avenue at 88th Street. Pigalle and Marseille pull in the crowds to their Hell’s Kitchen locations and more recently the hip Nizza Pizza and Five Napkin Burger neighbors are creating a dining scene west of the Theater District on Ninth Avenue between 44th and 45th Streets. The group also owns the busy favorites Nice Matin, Maison and two French Roast eateries.
The location of 450 West 33rd Street augurs very well for the future success of this bold hospitality project. As one the very few remaining under-appreciated areas of Manhattan, it is surrounded by new development, major attractions and huge population concentrations. To the south, the hip neighborhood of Chelsea, with its art galleries, the Starrett-Lehigh building (home to Martha Stewart Living), and the High Line, reach up to within a few blocks of the building. To the north, there’s Hell’s Kitchen, new hotels, the Port Authority and the spectacular new Times Building. Surrounding Hudson Yards to the west, across Tenth Avenue, there are new office buildings and showrooms being developed and the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is two blocks away. East, towards midtown, sits Madison Square Garden, Macy’s and Penn Station with its massive commuter traffic. An entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel with access to New Jersey faces the building.
Broadway Partners is a private national real estate investment and management firm headquartered in New York City with a regional office in Los Angeles. Its partners represent a cross section of domestic and international private and institutional investors. The firm invests in high quality office properties in select markets nationwide. Since 2000, Broadway Partners has acquired office properties with a value in excess of $15 billion.
