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From a long hallway of blindingly white tiles to stone screens carved by water jets, the former Hakkasan restaurant space includes nearly 5,000 square feet Calacatta marble, which prompted the New York Times to deem it a “multi-million dollar exercise in Orientalism.” Hakkasan spent about $10 million building out the space before opening a decade ago. But the restaurant shut down in late 2020, leaving the installation behind. The elaborate buildout was a major draw for the sushi chain Fushimi Group, which leased the massive space at 311 West 43rd Street. It spans 20,000 square feet and can seat 650 diners. In another Famularo deal, last year Brooklyn Chop House leased a 25,000-square-foot venue on West 47th Street where Buffalo Wild Wings left behind a $15 million buildout.
When restaurants build out a space, they buy tables and chairs and lease refrigerators, ranges and other equipment. But anything that gets glued, screwed or otherwise affixed to the premises becomes the property of the landlord. The restaurant opened in New York in 2012 to much fanfare but was derided as overpriced. The braised abalone priced at a “lucky” $888 was an easy target for critics. The owners closed the restaurant in November 2020, citing the impact of the pandemic.
Stead view signed a five-year lease for 9,943 square feet on the 11th floor of the 14-story building between East 11th and East 12th streets, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. The asking rent was $105 per square foot. The firm was founded in London in 2009 and focuses its investments on “high-growth” technology companies and currently has more than $5 billion in assets under management, according to its website.
Its U.S. outpost will be its first outside of the United Kingdom and it plans to move into 817 Broadway later this year, the source said. Other tenants in the 140,000-square-foot 817 Broadway include retail advertising firm Barrows, private equity firm SDC Capital Partners and venture capital firm Union Square Ventures, which took 13,500 square feet in the building last month.
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Ground was broken on the 200,000-square-foot, 10-story tower at 220 Eleventh Ave. at West 26th Street in the anxious days of February 2020. But work paused once the pandemic took lethal hold in the terrible weeks that followed. It’s one of a handful of entirely speculative buildings — meaning without pre-signed tenants — to go up since the coronavirus arrived.
The Hudson Arts project aims to exploit the West Chelsea neighborhood’s ongoing resurgence. It’s close by the massive Terminal Stores warehouse-to-offices conversion site in which L&L Holding Company is a partner. Other neighbors include the born-again XI condo towers that were recently rescued from foreclosure. As at the other spec office buildings now underway, owners Joseph and Mitchell Moinian are aiming high on rents — $200-plus per square foot for the penthouse floor and in the low-mid $150s for lower floors.
The structure will have a 12,000-square-foot roof deck and terraces on several tenant floors — more than 15,000 square feet of outdoor space in all. It boasts ceiling heights up to 17 feet and tenant amenities including a lounge, fitness area and even a dog park. The Moinians are also part of a joint venture with Boston Properties to build a nearly 2-million-square-foot office skyscraper known as 3 Hudson Boulevard in the Hudson Yards district — but that project won’t go up until an anchor tenant is signed.