Monday, October 17, 2016

Roosevelt Island Main Street Retail Update - New Ethnic Restaurant About To Sign A Lease, Pop Up Art Gallery A Success, 503 Main Street Cafe Gets Liquor License, Nisi (Trellis) Waiting For Fire Department Approval & More

The Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Main Street Retail Advisory Committee (MSTRAC) met October 11 with Hudson Related representative Alexandra Kaplan and Cushman & Wakefield retail broker Michael Azarian for an update on Main Street leasing progress.


RIRA's MSTRAC Chair Anne Kanninen provides the following summary of the meeting. According to Ms. Kanninen: 
Trellis (Nisi) is scheduled for fire department inspection to be able to start its operations. The waiting list is long, we were told, therefore impossible to say when the restaurant will open.

Urgent Care is looking for practitioners for the space which will require some negotiations and legal work before opening. At this point unclear when the place opens.

The PopUp Gallery has been very successful and this model of operation will be used for other business ideas in the future.

503 Main St. Cafe ( at the south end of Rivercross) has applied for liquor license to serve beer and wine on the premises. Their business model consists of offering coffee and breakfast in the morning, lunch in midday and beer/wine combined with light snacks during the evening hours. There will be no cooking in the premises, the food will be mainly salads, crepes and similar produce.

The owners are the same people who also own the Wholesome Food Factory and the model for this particular Cafe is “Carnegie Cup Cafe” on upper east side (88St.& Park Ave.) Since the Cafe is located in a residential building the opening hours will take that fact into consideration.

548 Main St. (the former bakery space) is/will be leased very soon for an ethnic restaurant. Since the lease was not yet signed when we had our meeting Azarian did not reveal to us what kind of ethnic food it will be. The food will be prepared in that space and there will be sit down tables despite the fact that the space is small.

To attract more businesses to the Main St., Hudson has started to improve the vacant spaces. Some of them have been painted white to create so called “white box effect” and you can see the effect for example the PopUp Gallery. These spaces include 507, 521, 544 and 563 Main St.

Both Kaplan and Azarian mentioned that Hudson has been generous and has provided allowances for the tenants in addition to other negotiations regarding rents and some infrastructure improvements on the space.

It appears that the Main St. is becoming more active.

Next meeting will be in December.
Hudson Related's Alexendra Kaplan adds:
Nisi is working on scheduling their fire department inspection (a date has not already been assigned)

As of 10/13 the café at 503 Main St. was approved for a liquor license by Community Board 8.
The new Art Gallery at 507 Main Street is owned by Roosevelt Island resident Paul Calendrillo.


I spoke with Mr. Calendrillo last September about his plans for the new Roosevelt Island Art Gallery.



and the impact his new art gallery may have on the revitalization of Main Street retail.



Mr Calendrillo's current Gallery exhibition features the work of artist Alexis Duque

Image Of Alexis Duque Work From Paul Calendrillo

through November 3.

Stop by Mr. Calendrillo's new gallery, check out the art and say hello. 

More information available at Mr. Calendrillo's web site.

Here's Cushman & Wakefield Roosevelt Island Shops On Main Street Brochure.



UPDATE 4:25 PM - A tipster adds regarding the liquor license for 503 Main Street Cafe:
The approval of the license on October 13 was only by the Street Life Committee of CB 8.The full board will vote Wednesday night and then State Liquor Authority must approve.

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