Posts Tagged Incoming

  1. Work beginning on former Luna Sur conversion

    It looks like things are starting to happen at the site of the now-​closed Luna Sur. The main front doors were open this afternoon, with a few staff working going in and out and all the classic signs of construction (i.e. debris from various bits of furniture, etc, everywhere).

    The exterior of the former Luna Sur

    The inside:

    The interior of the former Luna Sur

    Luna Sur closed abruptly almost two ago, but it didn’t take long for the potential new tenants to show their interest, with signs pointing to “Toloache” taking over.

Sunday, Oct 13th

  1. Former strip club being rebuilt as…a strip club

    We’ve had our eye on the plans for the closed “gentlemens lounge” far west on 47th St for some time now, and this week DNAinfo discovered the full plans, including the name. The new venue will be known as “Esquire NYC Gentleman’s Club”, and is going to full five entire floors.

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    The initial plans were classing the establishment as a restaurant, which we naïvely believed.

    If you look close enough, you can see they’ve completely demolished the existing floors, leaving just the surrounding walls of the building up:

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    The club is planning to be “very upscale”, and apparently won’t have lineups, nor will it advertise with flyers, which should come as great news to anyone who’s had to dodge one of the guys handing out flyers along 8th Ave for the various clubs over there.

Thursday, Oct 10th

  1. Beauty products inbound at future Kiehl’s store

    A new outpost of the cosmetics brand Kiehl’s will be taking over from the former bike store at 47th & 9th, as the subtle plywood put up recently hints at:

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    This marks yet another chain1 opening up on 9th Ave, joining your Chipotles, American Apparels, etc. If this steady march frightens you, at least take some comfort in the fact that “they” haven’t yet make their way over to 10th Ave (although you could say the incoming monster developments along 10th & 11th are doing just as good a job).

    Back to the present, the bike store previously at the location closed down at the start of last month, semi-​relocating to 10th Ave, and less than a month later there’s a new tenant. Meanwhile, spots like the former Subway store and closed sushi place have sat empty for months. Those corner spots are irresistible.

    Oh, and they’re hiring.


    1. Although Kiehl’s originally started out as a single store in the East Village a century and a half ago, they’ve since become part of L’Oréal, and so that combined with their 250+ stores should be enough to count them as a “chain”. 

  2. Green Rancho exterior revealed

    The plywood has come down outside the rapidly-​approaching Green Rancho, revealing a much classier exterior than the previous Lime Jungle:

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    Here’s a “sneak peek” inside:

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    The plywood went up only a few weeks ago, after months of silence from the site, and it’s already come back down again after a massive appearance transformation. Here’s our previous coverage.

    With the exterior almost ready and the interior filling up inside the store, it looks like we can expect an opening very soon. The big question is whether they stick with that slogan of “Mexico history & guacamole is our passion”.

Tuesday, Oct 8th

  1. Get excited for Snack Taverna

    Hell’s Kitchen can look forward to our very own outpost of the Greek restaurant Snack Taverna. The store is taking over the checkerboard store formerly home to Sandwich Planet on the corner of 39th & 9th, bringing their Greek menu to the area around Port Authority.

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    The fitout of the store is now fully underway. Lots of dust flying around with the construction:

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    They’ve been steadily making progress over the past few weeks. Here was the scene last month:

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    Snack Taverna has been part of the West Village for a decade, so this store will be opening on their “10 year anniversary” of sorts. DNAinfo have more from July about the incoming restaurant. Their plan is to open either this month or November, just in time for winter.

Monday, Oct 7th

  1. Car-​vana Libre

    When we saw Havana Libre had taken over from Casa Havana, we mentioned how they chose to get rid of the “unique” street-​facing deli window, opting instead for the traditional folding doors. Over the weekend the paper came down from the windows, and they’ve taken the unique-​street-​facing-​part to a whole new level.

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    Less exciting, but addition to the half of the Chevrolet, the menus were also posted, and we got a glimpse at the interior of the store.

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    It should be open any moment!

  2. Signage up for Alquimia Bistro & Bar

    There’s been a cheap temporary sign up for a few months now at the empty store on 9th Ave between 38th & 39th, but now they’ve unveiled the official signage for the incoming Alquimia Bistro & Bar.

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    For the last several months here’s what’s been “teasing” bypassers:

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    I’m sure the place will be popular once the super-​historic Galerie 515 across the road is completed.

Wednesday, Oct 2nd

  1. Toloache coming to 9th Ave

    It looks like there’s already a new tenant lined up to take over the former home of Luna Sur. Notices have been posted on the window of the vacant store at 53rd & 9th with contact details for Toloache, a group of Mexican bistros. The application for the store will be heard at the community board meeting next week.

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    Somewhat-​interestingly, the “for rent” signs are still up too, so it sounds like Toloache signing the lease is dependent on their approval at the CB meeting. The store was home to Luna Sur, who abruptly closed towards the end of August.

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    August 2013

    Toloache will be yet another Mexican spot joining those few blocks, with El Centro, Limon Jungle, Mi Nidito and more on the surrounding streets. Here’s their dinner menu from some of their other stores, for a preview of what you can look forward to, or just walk three streets down from this spot and across to 8th Ave to find another one of their locations.

Tuesday, Oct 1st

  1. Not wasting any time at Turco II

    They’re not messing around with the incoming second outpost of Turco. We covered the new location last week, which had been sitting seemingly dormant for a few weeks, but it looks like whatever they were waiting for is over, and they’re getting straight in to the store fit out.

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    They’ll have to make the most of the small space in the old Verizon store:

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    In the mean time, you can get a taste (in every sense of the word) for what’s coming by checking out the original Turco at 43rd & 9th.

Monday, Sep 30th

  1. Renderings for future 10th Ave tower up

    Things are heating up at the future site of a new 40+ story residential tower joining the fray of similar projects in the area. Renderings have recently been published on the fence, and they are shiny:

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    The lot is at 41st & 10th, sitting next door to St Raphael’s Church, who developer Extell bought the rights for the development from last year for almost $16½ million (no big deal). Curbed covered the plans back in January.

    For future reference, here’s the site now. Try to imagine a wall of glass.

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    The plans have work scheduled to complete in June 2016, so don’t hold your breath.

    Update: Curbed linked us! Thanks guys. Also, the site photo was linked to the wrong photo. Apologies, it’s fixed now.

  2. Havana transition on 10th Ave

    We’re just on a roll today with these 10th Ave updates. Continuing that, the “Cuban diner” Casa Havana that used to be along 10th Ave has had its signage updated for the new incoming tenant, Havana Libre.

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    The former tenant, Casa Havana, used to be down in Chelsea some years ago, before closing up and ending up reopening here. Their new location unfortunately followed the same fate, which brings us to now.

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    Casa Havana back at the start of August

    Looking forward, the new location will be a Latin tapas bar, and it looks like they’ve decided to remove Casa Havana’s (this is just getting confusing) signature street-​facing deli window, and replaced it with the traditional folding doors. Won’t be long before you can get your tapas on.

  3. Ñaño bar & restaurant construction watch

    The new bar and restaurant opening up across from Hell’s Kitchen Park is coming along, and recently signage has been put up with the name. ñaño will bring Ecuadorian dishes and drinks to 10th Ave, between 47th & 48th.

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    Their website is up and has the full menu, complete with photos of each of the dishes. They’re also hiring, if you’re interested.

    The spot was formerly the home of Hell’s Kitchen Pizza, whose signature shutters always stood out:

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    Look forward to ñaño opening in the coming months.

Sunday, Sep 29th

  1. Totto Ramen 2 inbound, start lining up

    For the past several months the windows have been covered of the empty store just east of 51st & 10th. As of this week, the new tenant has been revealed to be the second coming of Totto Ramen:

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    We’ve had our eye on this place for a number of months now, staring at this the whole time:

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    Mysterious!

    The new outpost is scheduled to open in the coming months, and if it’s anything like the original over on the other side of 9th Ave along W 52nd St, there’ll be crowds outside at all hours of the day. This, plus the other Totto Ramen, along with the new Ippudo a block west on the same street means these few blocks have basically turned into Ramen Central™.

Wednesday, Sep 25th

  1. Turco II inbound

    The banner’s been up for a week or two now announcing the incoming Turco II the “sequel” to the original Turco at 43rd & 9th:

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    The new spot is taking over from a Verizon store that closed down some time ago, just two and a half blocks up between 45th & 46th.

    It looks roughly the same size as the original:

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    At first, the banner just read “Turco”, possibly signaling they were moving there. Last week they cleared any confusion up by slapping a “II” on it:

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    There’s no such thing as too many gyros.

Wednesday, Sep 18th

  1. Brooklyn Fare progress check-​in

    Brooklyn Fare is coming to W 39th St. Today, crews were setting up and stocking the inside, gearing up for their opening soon:

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    The restaurant/​supermarket hybrid will be the first Brooklyn Fare in Manhattan, with a $225 multi-​course dinner, and “a lot more seafood” that the original. It won’t be cheap. The Wall Street Journal ran an article about the incoming restaurant back in March of 2012, which more or less explains what you can expect.