Flushing Commons has landed a Chinese restaurant known for giving free shoulder massages to waiting customers as its first major retail tenant.
The eatery HaiDiLao has signed a lease for 12,000 square feet at 38-18 Union Street, where it will be on the second floor, according to the New York Post. The asking rent was $75 per square foot, while the asking price for retail on the ground floor is between $150 and $190 a square foot.
HaiDiLao has 176 locations throughout 53 cities in China and one location in Santa Anita, California. The company expects to see $1.5 billion in revenue this year.
Jonathan Plotkin of Colliers International, who represented the developers, told the Post he was “not 100 percent sure” whether the company would bring its free shoulder massages — as is customary in China — to the Flushing location.
A partnership of F&T Group, Rockefeller Group and AECOM Capital is developing the massive Flushing Commons project, which will span 1.8 million square feet of office, residential and retail space. 38-18 Union Street is one of two recently completed buildings in the first phase of the project. [NYP] – Eddie Small