At long last, there might be a sign of life at Tavern on the Green. Emerald Green Group, the Philadelphia restaurateurs tapped by the city to re-launch the Central Park eatery, just posted a preliminary first filing with the Department of Buildings.
It’s a general “place of assembly” posting which spells out no particular work. But it seems to represent progress because all prior DOB filings were by the city’s Economic Development Corp., which is responsible for exterior work; Emerald Green partners Jim Caiola and David Salama are responsible for the inside.
Unlike the EDC filings, which described specific jobs to be performed — such as “installation of partitions” — Emerald Green’s does not.
The new license holders are supposed to re-open a scaled-down version of the Central Park eatery by year’s end. We reported last spring that Emerald Green had run into a financing glitch, but the fact they’ve gotten the keys augurs well.
Even so, there’s so much work yet to be done at the landmarked 19th century building it will be a scramble to finish it while Mayor Bloomberg is still in office.
Gaping holes remain in the scaffolded brick walls. New landscaping, an integral part of the new design, looks like a distant dream on the rock-strewn ground around the structure.
And although the Parks Department has told us Emerald Green has “agreements” with the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council Local 6, our sources described them as little more than memos spelling out a framework for negotiations. “There is nothing remotely like a union contract,” an insider said.
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Digital strategic agency Essence is moving and growing in Manhattan. The global firm is leaving behind 120 Fifth Ave. for digs three times larger at 54 W. 21st St., where it’s signed a 7-year lease for 19,083 square feet. The deal is for the top two floors where the asking rent was $64 a square foot.
Essence will grow from a staff of 50 to 150 at the new location. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Eric Cagner, Greg Wang and David Falk repped the tenant; Olmstead Properties’ Daniel Breiman and Steve Marvin acted for the landlord.
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QFR Capital, a financial investment advisory firm, just leased 4,000 more square feet at 1 Bryant Park. What’s the big deal about 4,000 square feet?
It achieves a milestone for the Durst Organization. With QFR’s expansion from 33,000 square feet on the 37th floor, the 2.1 million square-foot tower’s 2.1 million square feet of offices are now 100 percent leased.
No word on precise terms, but sources said the deal was in triple digits — as were QFR’s earlier leases of 13,000 and 20,000 feet.
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Rubin Schron’s Cammeby’s International has closed on the $250 million purchase of 1710 Third Ave., the Monterey, from Related Cos. The 521-unit apartment building at East 96th Street was reported in contract last April but — typically — all parties declined to comment at the time.
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Law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, the second-largest tenant at the Rudin Family’s 80 Pine St., has leased an additional floor of 13,500 square feet, bringing its total in the 1960-vintage tower to 250,000 feet.
Cahill Gordon is an original tenant in the building. Rudin Management CEO Bill Rudin noted the firm has “thrived in Lower Manhattan.” Asking rents in the tower range from $35 to $44 a square foot.
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Free People, a contemporary women’s fashion brand of Urban Outfitters, is doubling the size of its offices and showrooms at Savitt Partners’ 218 W. 40th St.
The retailer has signed a direct 13,100 square-foot lease renewal and a new 13,800 square-foot sublease, which will convert to direct once the sublease expires.
The 166,000 square-foot address is 100 percent occupied and offers adaptable open full-floor layouts.