The Palm’s tenure at Its Original Second Avenue location is, well, done.
The owners of the restaurant, which closed for renovations in the spring, have decided to Sell The Second Avenue building that has been home to the popular cartoon-adorned steakhouse since 1926.
Palm co-owners Wally Ganzi and Bruce Bozzi, both third-generation members of the families that run a restaurant empire that includes 25 eateries in North America, are in contract to sell the restaurant’s home at 837 Second Avenue for $5.9 million.
The buyers, Great Neck-based Klosed Properties and Namdar Realty, have hired Robert Perl of Tower Brokerage to market the retail space, which covers 3,600 square feet on the first and second floors.
“We’re working with some high-end tenants looking to do some major work to the property,” Klosed principal Steven Kachanian told The Real Deal.
Dan Kaplan of CBRE represented both parties in the deal.
The Palm’s owners could not be immediately reached for comment. The restaurant, famous for its caricature-covered walls depicting celebrities and loyal customers, was a hot spot for media and advertising types in its heyday of the 1970s and 1980s.
The place was so popular that in 1973 the restaurant’s owners opened another location across the street at 840 Second Avenue, the Palm Too, to handle spillover. But the building’s age showed its wear, and earlier this year the Palm’s owners shut the place down for renovations.
Asking rents for the retail space are about $265 per square foot.
Kachanian said that in addition to overhauling the restaurant space, he plans to convert the upper floors that have sat vacant as storage for decades into apartments.
The other Palm restaurants in New York City will remain open.
Correction: A previous version of this post misstated the asking rent for the space at 837 Second Avenue.