British restaurant giant bringing two eateries to Hudson Yards

A sky-high pleasure palace is joining the food-and-fun scene at Hudson Yards.

London-based hospitality giant rhubarb has signed for two major eateries at the fast-rising 26-acre Hudson Yards complex — which is being developed by Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group — including a 10,000-square-foot dining and event space on the top floor of 92-story 30 Hudson Yards.

Although little-known in New York culinary circles, rhubarb (the lower-case “r” is the outfit’s idea) operates eateries and event venues at prominent locations in England. In London alone, it boasts nearly 4,000 seats at a dozen venues including at the top of 20 Fenchurch (the “walkie-talkie” tower) and the Royal Albert Hall.

At Hudson Yards, rhubarb will launch a 5,800-square-foot restaurant on the fifth level of the Neiman Marcus-anchored Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards mall, which has also drawn eateries run by Thomas Keller, José Andrés, David Chang, Michael Lomonaco, Costas Spiliadis and D&D London.

Rhubarb’s plans are even more ambitious at the 1,296-foot-tall 30 Hudson Yards, which will be home to Time Warner, Wells Fargo Securities and KKR.

The eating-and-drinking spaces will be on the 92nd floor, one story above a 5,000-square-foot observation deck that will be the city’s highest outdoor viewing platform.

The Shops & Restaurants eatery is to open in March 2019, while the 30 Hudson Yards complex should open by the end of that year.

This is rhubarb’s first expansion outside of Britain. Company CEO P.B. Jacobse said he’s wanted to open in New York for several years. He credited Related’s “commitment to a fully collaborative approach with all their partners from retail to food and beverage” for the choice of Hudson Yards.

“It’s always been our desire to go to New York,” Jacobse told us. “I lived there in the 1990s when I worked at the Waldorf Astoria for five years.” The Hudson Yards venues will employ more than 250 people, he said.

Jacobse noted, “We operate at locations like Sky Garden [at 20 Fenchurch] — a three-level restaurant, bar and event-facility complex at the tower’s top. When we started talking to the Related team in March, it sounded like they wanted somebody with just those skill sets.”

Jacobse said half of the 30 Hudson Yards top-floor venue will consist of a restaurant, bar and private dining room with a total of 150 seats facing Midtown. The other half will be an event space facing New Jersey.

In addition to occupying the 10,000 square feet on the 92d floor, rhubarb will operate an indoor-outdoor bar on the observation deck itself.
Hudson Yards’ restaurants are “curated” by superstar chef Keller of Per Se fame and Kenneth Himmel, president and CEO of Related division Related Urban.

In more Hudson Yards leasing news, jewelers Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels and watchmaker Piaget have joined the retail mix’s 720,000 square feet. Some 70 percent of the space is already leased. Stores include Aritzia, Banana Republic, Coach, Stuart Weitzman, the Body Shop and Sephora.

Meanwhile, the Vessel — the eye-popping, 15-story-high sculptural folly designed by Britain’s Thomas Heatherwick — is to top off by the end of this year, Related said. The structure of bronzed steel and concrete, which will boast 154 interconnecting flights of stairs, is the centerpiece of Hudson Yards’ five-acre public plaza.

Source: New York Post

Image Source: New York Post

Filed under: Headlines by Alec Reimon
No Comments »