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New face for former Jekyll & Hyde flagship in Midtown
Empire Hotel Group’s Ron Domb files permits to convert space into offices
Developer Ron Domb of the Empire Hotel Group plans to convert the former site of themed restaurant chain Jekyll & Hyde into an office complex, according to building permits filed with the city late last week.
The fright-filled Gothic eatery and bar occupied all 12,250 square feet of the five-story commercial property at 1409 Sixth Avenue between West 57th and West 58th streets until closing in late 2011. Architect Matt Markowitz was tapped to design the conversion. Although a change in building use was proposed, the project would not involve expanding the current structure, permits show.
In addition to 1409 Sixth Avenue, now-retired developer Sam Domb, Ron’s father, also owns the Travel Inn and the Belvedere hotel in Midtown and the Lucerne hotel on the Upper West Side. The Domb family listed the building with Blu Realty Group in 2011 for $19.5 million and hired Newmark Grubb Knight Frank broker Marc Frankel to find a new tenant.
The retail lease would have been $600,000 in annual rent and $180,000 in annual taxes, as The Real Deal reported. But the building was not sold, and a replacement tenant was not found.
Jekyll & Hyde Entertainment Group has since relocated its flagship location to the former New York Times building, where it now leases more than 23,000 square feet on two floors of 216 West 44th Street in Times Square.
Neither Markowitz nor Ron Domb could be reached for a comment. Sam Domb declined to speak.
In January, the Department of Buildings rejected Empire Hotel Group’s proposal to build an 18-story, 122-room Midtown South hotel at 100 West 37th Street, as The Real Deal reported.