It’s a sad day for gastropub lovers: Plans for Spotted Pig owners April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman to open a four-story eatery atop 70 Pine Street have fallen through.
The restaurateurs and building owner Rose Associates [TRData] “decided to end their collaboration,” the New York Post reported.
“It became clear it wasn’t economically viable, given the direction they wanted to head in,” Rose’s co-president Adam Rose said. The developer still plans to feature a restaurant atop the 66-story Art Deco building in the Financial District.
Bloomfield and Friedman took 11,000 square feet at 70 Pine last year, with plans to open a restaurants on the 62nd through 66th floors of the former AIG tower. They also planned a 1,000-square-foot bar on the building’s ground floor.
Friedman called the split — though amicable — “super sad.” Although he and Bloomfield came up with a casual concepts, Rose wanted an even more casual approach than the restaurateurs were comfortable with, he said.
Rose Associates is converting the former office building into 132 extended-stay hotel rooms and 664 rental apartments. So far, roughly 225 apartments at 70 Pine have been rented. [NYP] — E.B. Solomont