Ruby’s Café, the Australian café from Wish You Were Here Restaurant Group, signed a lease for its third Manhattan storefront at 198 East 11th Street, located off of Third Avenue in the East Village.
The restaurant, which was first established in 2003 and operates locations in New York and California, had been seeking a new location for four years, according to Winick Realty Group director Daniyel Cohen, who represented Ruby’s Café in the long-term lease transaction.
The concept was drawn not only to the co-tenancy of the space, ts location across the street from the incoming Moxy Hotel and proximity to the NYU Campus and such high-profile office tenants as Facebook and IBM.
In addition, the space, which formerly housed Danny Meyer pizza concept Martina, was delivered in turnkey condition with an impressive buildout that also proved to be a draw for the incoming tenant.
“Ruby’s was drawn to the amazing condition of the space, including the open kitchen and high ceilings, not to mention the ability to incorporate outdoor seating. Also the space is laid out in such a way that they could easily recreate the atmosphere that customers have come to expect at their other locations,” said Cohen, who added that Ruby’s will also be installing their signature garage-door storefront ahead of their opening in Fall 2019.
“In addition to the turnkey nature of the space, we recognized that there was a void in this market for high-quality food at a reasonable price and, given that a lot of Ruby’s existing customer base lives and works in the area, we felt that 198 East 11th Street was a perfect location to expand our brand,” said Tim Sykes, principle at Ruby’s.
The restaurant will occupy 1,450 s/f on the ground floor with 33 feet of frontage, as well as 785 s/f in the lower level.
“Ownership had many offers on the space,” Cohen continued, “but they were drawn to Ruby’s because of their great brand and a loyal following that will make them an excellent addition to the building and to the neighborhood.”
Landlord HUBBNYC was represented by Benjamin Birnbaum and Andrew Taub of Newmark Knight Frank.
