After 10 incredible years at 155 Varick Street, City Winery has just signed a 25-year lease with RXR/Young Woo for a 32,000-sq. ft. space at Pier 57 in Hudson River Park. The Pier will be anchored by Google, which will occupy a majority of the art deco former Marine and Aviation Pier. The Pier is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places and occupies a highly visible location in the park at West 15th Street, near Chelsea Market, the Meatpacking District, the High Line and the recently opened Whitney Museum.
“We are excited and honored to have found a home in Hudson River Park and to be amongst so many architecturally significant buildings in this area,” says Michael Dorf, City Winery founder and CEO. “Pier 57 is going to be an amazing adaptive reuse with its own market, Google, and an 80,000-sq. ft. rooftop public park. We are so happy to be part of this unique space and instantly felt a connection to it. To bring our winemaking, food, and music to this market complex feels like a karmic honor.”
“City Winery is loved both in the community and across the city by New Yorkers who know there’s nowhere better to see a concert while enjoying locally produced food and wine,” says Madelyn Wils, president and CEO of Hudson River Park Trust. “As part of a larger marketplace, City Winery will add to the amenities and cultural opportunities available at Pier 57, and will offer additional indoor public space alongside Google.”
City Winery’s new flagship location in NYC will feature two performance venues; a seated 350-seat concert hall, a smaller 150-capacity loft space, a 100-seat capacity restaurant and tasting room with breath-taking views of Hudson River Park (including the park’s forthcoming Pier 55), and a fully functioning winery/wine production facility. The wine-making facility and barrel storage room will be visible from both from the street along the Hudson River Park esplanade, and from the main entrance to the Pier. Within the restaurant area will be a pizza bar and coffee roasting station to complete the “maker” feel of the offerings. The tasting bars will feature the company’s proprietary tap system featuring over 12 wines straight from the keg. City Winery strives not only to create wine that contains low to no sulfites, but also to reduce the carbon footprint they leave behind. City Winery at Pier 57 will be open 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Dorf opened his first City Winery location in Manhattan in 2008, and it quickly became a household name for its unique ability to operate as a successful urban winery, concert venue space, restaurant, and private event space. The company has expanded over the years, now with over 10 locations across the country. With this new NYC location, the ultimate culmination of the combined culinary and cultural experience that City Winery is known for is expected.
Scott Rechler, CEO and chairman of RXR Realty, says this of the deal: “RXR and Young Woo are thrilled to be welcoming City Winery, a true New York institution, to Pier 57. City Winery’s combination of maker, food and beverage and cultural spaces will not only advance the long-standing vision of the Pier as a premier public destination in Hudson River Park, but will also complement and enhance the other food-related uses that are planned for the balance of the Pier’s retail areas. We are confident that, in its new location at Pier 57, City Winery will, for many years to come, continue to play the leading role in the City’s culinary and cultural scene that it has played at its current location in Lower Manhattan.”
The deal was brokered by Peter Braus, Lee & Associates.
Construction will be underway shortly with plans to open in early 2020.
