Hotel developer strikes deal with restaurant tenant

A rendering of 219 East 44th Street and Ben & Jack's Steak House
A rendering of 219 East 44th Street and Ben & Jack's Steak House

Normally when a developer buys and decides to demolish a building, its tenants are out of luck once their leases ends. But one restaurant near Grand Central has worked a deal to return to its original location once the new hotel taking over the site is completed in 2015, Crain’s reported.

Ben & Jack’s Steak House, at 219 East 44th Street , will close at the end of the month, only to return once InterContinental Hotels Group’s new health conscious hotel brand, EVEN,  is opened. The restaurant will even provide guests with room service.

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The steakhouse, run by Ben Sinanaj with his brother Harry and two cousins, Jack and Russ, estimates that reopening will cost nearly $2 million, which they plan to raise with their other two locations.

“I’m happy and sad about the closing,”  Sinanaj said, [Crain’s] —Christopher Cameron