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Jean-Georges has veto power over tenants at Seaport market
Celebrity chef has nixed potential candidates at Howard Hughes Corp. redevelopment
Being a celebrity chef has its advantages.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who is opening a seafood market and restaurant at the South Street Seaport’s Tin Building, has the power to decide who gets to join him at the Howard Hughes Corporation development.
Vongerichten, who goes by Jean-Georges, has already kiboshed several potential candidates — either because they weren’t the right fit or competed too directly with his spots, the New York Post reported.
High-end food halls are become all the rage — Anthony Bourdain’s Bourdain Market at Pier57, for example — so it is not strange that a chef of Jean-Georges’ caliber has veto power.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved last month converting the Tin Building, which was once part of the Fulton Fish Market, into the seafood-themed market. It is one piece of Hughes’ $1.7 billion plan to Redevelop The South Street Seaport. Another star chef, David Chang, is opening a restaurant at Pier 17.
Last month, Howard Hughes finalized the sale of 80 South Street — just outside the Seaport — to China Oceanwide Holdings for $390 million. The site allows for up to 818,000 square feet of development potential. Howard Hughes bought the property in 2014 for $100 million and a parcel at 173 Front Street for $24 million in 2015. [NYP] — Dusica Sue Malesevic