ACCORDING TO PLAN: EMM Group’s Mark Birnbaum (left) and Eugene Remm will open a 6,000-square-foot dance club called Finale at 199 Bowery this month; down the block, 250 Bowery (below) is coming to market with condos ranging from $700,000 up to $5 million. (
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… 250 Bowery (above) is coming to market with condos ranging from $700,000 up to $5 million. (
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TRUE BLUE: A Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken should open in the Avalon Bowery rental building this spring. (
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TRUE BLUE: A Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken should open in the Avalon Bowery rental building this spring. (Steve Hill )
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If you’re a restaurant and nightclub owner who wants to open the next big thing in a crackling hot neighborhood, here are three signs you’re on the right track:
One, you find a spot with 20,000 square feet of space, big enough to divide into three venues.
Two, you make sure there are enough nearby restaurants and bars (with the requisite big-name chefs and operators) to add heat-by-proximity.
Three, you take a look at the local residential real estate and see big numbers. If there are new condos across the street that are trading for millions of dollars even before the offering plan is approved, that’s a good sign.
It would seem that Eugene Remm, Mark Birnbaum and Michael Hirtenstein of EMM Group have checked off each of these boxes with their new 199 Bowery space.
The 199 Bowery location will include Finale, which EMM Group will operate with dance-music bookers Eddie Dean and Rob Fernandez of New York’s Pacha club. Finale will have its grand opening in November.
“We really wanted to do multiple concepts in one space,” Remm says of 199 Bowery. “And the neighborhood is definitely up-and-coming. It’s similar to the Meatpacking District.”
On the ground floor of 199 Bowery will be Finale, which will consist of a dance floor, an elaborate sound system and a ring of stadium-like seats around the perimeter of the club for observing the scene. There will also be a ground-floor restaurant opening in December called the General, a 300-seat venue where Hung Huynh, a “Top Chef” winner and the menu master at EMM Group’s Catch in the Meatpacking District, will offer a hybrid of Asian cuisines.
Below the restaurant will be a still unnamed subterranean lounge with live music, indie DJs and more.
“The look is going to be La Dolce Vita meets Mr. Chow,” says Travis Bass, a partner in the downstairs lounge. “There’s going to be an exclusive permanent list — and [space in the club] will be malleable.” Walls will be moved to make it seat 100 on a weeknight or 200 on the weekend.
While this strip of the Bowery has not yet fully gentrified (199 Bowery is next to a men’s shelter, and the lower Bowery will still be associated with kitchen-supply and lighting-fixture stores for some time), it seems like only, say, a natural disaster could stop this area’s ascent. (Heidi Klum had to postpone her Halloween party at Finale.) Just down the block, demolition is under way at 191 Bowery for what’s reportedly a proposed hotel. The Wyndham Garden Chinatown at 91 Bowery recently opened.
And the area is also getting a healthy dose of residential real estate and becoming more livable.
“We wanted something with a lot of life,” says Marissa Volshteyn, who, with her husband and 2-year-old son, moved to a two-bedroom rental on the Bowery just below Houston two years ago after living in the West Village. “What we like most is there’s so much variety of ages and income. . . . The age difference, especially, was kind of what was missing from the West Village.”
A block away from 199 Bowery is 250 Bowery, a 20-unit condo building that Prudential Douglas Elliman’s John Gomes and Fredrik Eklund are selling. That new development should be sending out contracts in the coming weeks (there is apparently a waiting list of eager buyers), with apartments ranging from about $700,000 to $5 million.
And all of this lower Bowery activity seems largely in line with what’s been happening north of Houston Street.
“Prices on the Bowery vary quite a bit depending on the exact location and level of finish — although most of the new product is on the higher end,” says Jeff Wachtenheim, a broker with Town Residential. “Condos are trading between $1,200 and $1,800 per square foot. I recently closed on a full-floor loft — which was 1,777 square feet — at 344 Bowery for $2.535 million, which comes out to be $1,426 per square foot.”
While there have been earlier pioneers in the neighborhood, such as Freemans, which opened in 2004; followed by Daniel Boulud, who opened DBGB in 2009; and Keith McNally, who opened Pulino’s in 2010, a new wave of restaurateurs are opening on or around the Bowery, too.
At 28 E. First St., in the Avalon Bowery rental complex where available apartments range from $3,590 studios to $7,110 two-bedrooms, Eric and Bruce Bromberg are planning to open a Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken this spring.
“We’re going to be doing fried chicken, chicken burgers, salads and making our own ice cream as well,” Eric Bromberg says. The roughly 2,000-square-foot restaurant will offer takeout and delivery, and be at a slightly lower price point than the other Blue Ribbon restaurants.
And not only will the restaurant have customers from Avalon Bowery, it should also benefit from the opening of the under-construction 12-story rental building across the street.
And two weeks ago, chef Gabe Thompson and Epicurean Management, the restaurateurs behind Dell’Anima and L’Artusi, opened L’Apicio at 13 E. First Street. The Italian hot spot is decked out in exposed brick and wood refashioned from crates of mushroom. And it features everything from $14 bowls of spaghetti to $19 Italian beers and $24 wines by the glass.
“From a vibe standpoint, we wanted something fun and upbeat, yet a warm and welcoming atmosphere,” says August Cardona, managing partner of Epicurean Management. “We want to see a lot of people smiling. It’s chic and sexy but warm.”
Of course, real estate on the north side of Houston has been warming up for years. Some apartments on Bond Street, just off the Bowery, have traded for about $3,000 per square foot, including condos at Ian Schrager’s 40 Bond.
And in the student-saturated area around Cooper Union, rental prices have exploded. The 144-unit 2 Cooper Square, which was finished in 2010 near the northern edge of the Bowery, has only three units on the market. They range from a 450-square-foot studio for $3,650 per month to a 1,443-square-foot two-bedroom for a whopping $14,500 per month, according to Streeteasy. Renters there have included “Twilight” star Ashley Greene.
But to a lot of people, it’s the part of the Bowery south of Houston Street that holds all the promise of a blank canvas.
“It will just take time,” says Wachtenheim. “Everything is already in motion, in my opinion. I think owners that were not once willing to sell will have a change of heart and the development will continue.
“Many [owners] typically were family-oriented and the thought of selling to anyone outside their family . . . was completely unheard of.”
“We like finding the next neighborhood,” Remm says as he stands outside 199 Bowery with Birnbaum and Hirtenstein.
Hirtenstein, a perpetual collector and flipper of real estate, who has spent tens of millions in up-and-coming neighborhoods over the past decade, lets his eye wander across the street to 190 Bowery. That’s the storied, 35,000-square-foot gilded age treasure owned by photographer Jay Maisel, who bought it for $102,000 in 1966.
With a grin, Hirtenstein says, “Maybe I’ll buy that building next.”
Bowery wow!
20,000 – square feet EMM Group has at 199 Bowery
300 – seats at the General, “Top Chef” winner Hung Huynh’s new restaurant
65 to 70 – seats at forthcoming Blue Ribbon Fried Chicken in Avalon Bowery
$7,110 – monthly rent on a two-bedroom at Avalon Bowery
$24 – glass of 2010 Hirsch Vineyards “Bohan-Dillon” pinot noir at L’Apicio
$18 – charred octopus at L’Apicio (pictured)
$10 – hot dog and a beer at bar of DBGB
$3,650 – monthly rent on a studio at 2 Cooper Square
$5 million – price of a penthouse condo at 250 Bowery