The deal that brought Avra Estiatorio to Midtown Sixth Avenue took two years to complete — due mainly to the pandemic’s disruption. But the popular Greek seafood empire’s journey to 390 Ninth Ave. occurred at relative warp speed, according to CBRE’s Gary Trock, who brokered the deal for Avra.
“The lease didn’t take that long to negotiate — only about six months,” Trock said.
We reported last week that the new Avra would have over 20,000 square feet, including 6,000 outdoors, at the Farley Building corner of Ninth Avenue and West 33rd Street.
The space, currently vacant, is next to Meta’s 750,000 square feet of offices and close to the building’s Moynihan Train Hall and food court.
Trock, who also handled Avra Madison’s lease on East 60th Street, said, the restaurant’s owners had also taken a look at Hudson Yards. But, “We walked through the Farley space. Vornado chairman Steve Roth got wind of who we were and it was a love fest right away.”
“He wanted a restaurant to energize the whole Penn District market,” Trock said.
He declined to comment on terms.
“The negotiations were all very amiable,” he said. But we’d bet that Roth was eager to make the deal happen to establish his company’s Penn District as a major culinary mecca.