In the latest display of faith in post-pandemic Manhattan, famed Greek seafood restaurant Avra Estiatorio is making a splash in Midtown, The Post has learned.
Avra just signed a long-term ease for a huge 16,500 square-foot eatery at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, the redesigned Rockefeller Group-owned tower formerly known as the Time-Life Building.
It will be Avra Group’s third Manhattan location, joining its hugely popular eateries on East 48th and East 60th streets.
The restaurant plans to open in the fall of 2021 for outdoor dining — and hopefully for indoors, although that will require Gov. Cuomo lifting the current indoor dining ban.
Talks for the space were first reported by The Post in February. But many real estate and restaurant-world insiders assumed the deal was dead when the coronavirus emptied out much of Midtown.
Sixth Avenue’s corporate corridor is still quiet. Few workers have returned to offices and outdoor dining — the only kind currently allowed — is scarce.
But Avra’s commitment shows that some companies believe the streets will soon be bustling with life again, said CBRE’s Eric Gelber who repped the landlord with his firm’s Jordan Kaplan and with Rock Group’s Ed Guiltinan. Avra’s “commitment in such unprecedented times demonstrates its belief in the resiliency of New York,” he said. CBRE’s Gary Trock and Zach Parisi repped Avra.
The Avra lease marks another milestone for 1271 Sixth Ave., where Rockefeller Group spent $600 million on a top-to-bottom, inside-and-out redesign — including a new, all-glass curtain wall facade and a public plaza.
The project helped lure a slew of new office tenants after Time Inc.’s move downtown in 2016 left the tower’s 1.8 million square feet vacant. It’s now home to Major League Baseball, H.I.G. Capital, Latham & Watkins, Bessemer Trust and Blank Rome.
The Post in recent weeks has reported on other big NYC bets, including a tower on 125th Street, a major new food hall on East 14th Street and big office leases for Facebook and AIG.