Vornado Realty Trust is doubling down — make that chowing down — on its near $2 billion investment in its redeveloped Penn Station-area office towers.
The latest catch for the publicly traded giant is a 150-seat outpost of the Bromberg brothers’ Blue Ribbon empire at PENN 1, The Post has learned.
It’s Vornado’s boldest gastronomic stroke yet at its reborn PENN 1 and PENN 2, which were previously known as Penn Plaza. It has inked over 700,000 square feet of office leases at Penn 1 alone since launching a $450 million redesign two years ago of the 1970-vintage, 2.5 million square-foot building that once seemed headed for irrelevancy.
Market watchers attribute much of the success to food options that would have been unthinkable there just a few years ago.
“That building was going to be an albatross for Vornado in this market. It badly needed a new image and [Vornado chairman] Steve Roth had just the right idea,” said one commercial broker who didn’t want to be named.
Roth has lured prime tenants with numerous other improvements and amenities, including a dramatic new lobby with unique “stadium” seating.
But snagging trendy restaurants also reflects the new era for the area, which has been eclipsed by dining destinations at Manhattan West and Rockefeller Center.
The new eatery will open on PENN 1’s West 33rd Street side on Oct. 24 as Blue Ribbon Sushi & Steak — the Bromberg brothers’ first place to offer sushi and steak in the same location. The venue will also offer oxtail fried rice and fried chicken, Blue Ribbon favorites for 30 years.
Among other food happenings at PENN 1, a new edition of Los Tacos. No. 1 — regarded by many as the city’s best places for authentic Mexican tacos — is slated to open in November on the 33rd Street side where Vornado is creating a pedestrian mall between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
The first Roberta’s outside Brooklyn is coming in spring 2024.
New venues are also in the works from Sunday Hospitality, the outfit behind booming Cafe Chelsea at the Chelsea Hotel, and pasta shop Bar Primi. No details or opening dates are yet available.
In addition, there’s a large sit-down cafe called The Landing on the PENN 1 mezzanine operated by DMK Hospitality and David Morton of the Morton’s steakhouse chain and a grab-and-go cafe called
Office Hours.
The new eating options in an area once known mainly for bad fast food are part of 160,000 square feet of so-called “WorkLife” facilities on the tower’s first three floors. They include a Life Time wellness center and Industrious-managed flexible workspace.
PENN 1’s most recently signed office lease was for 75,000 square feet for Canaccord Gennuity Group as we first reported in August. Other major tenants include Samsung, Dell, Empire Heath, Cisco, Hartford Insurance, Jacobs Engineering, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.
Some 370,000 square feet remain available according to online databases.
Vornado president Michael Franco said in the company’s second-quarter earnings call that the two buildings “now compete in the very top tier of the marketplace.”
Glen Weiss, co-head of real estate, said that several prospective large new leases are being negotiated at PENN 1. Vornado’s third-quarter results are to be released on Oct. 30.
Vornado also operates the food hall at nearby Moynihan train station where it just opened The Irish Exit, a spinoff of famed downtown bar Dead Rabbit.
Neither PENN 1 nor PENN 2, which is still under redevelopment, is part of the larger Penn Station district which Gov. Kathy Hochul wanted to massively redevelop before the current office-market slump.
Vornado owns many sites there including where it recently demolished the Pennsylvania Hotel.