[NYguy]

^ The largest ever to dock in Manhattan.


http://www.observer.com/2010/real-es...tery-park-city

Goldman Sachs' Battery Park City Plans

By Sam Levin
July 30, 2010

Goldman Sachs has unveiled its plans to bring a Shake Shack, a Blue Smoke barbecue joint, and a "fancier restaurant" to its complex in Battery Park City, City Room reports.

On Wednesday, Community Board 1 received an update on the latest details of the plan: an upgrade to the Embassy Suites hotel near its headquarters, and the addition of restauranteur Danny Meyer and his Union Square Hospitality Group, which is currently expanding its franchises around the city.

Those new restaurants will be filling the void created by the departure of restaurants in the neighborhood, including Applebee's and Chevys.

"If we as a residential neighborhood can benefit from it, that's wonderful," said Linde Belfer, chairwoman of the board's Battery Park City committee. She added, though, "If all they're going to do did increase the cost of everything, then it's not so wonderful."

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...park-city/?dbk

Mr. Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group has been expanding its Shake Shack and Blue Smoke franchises around the city and beyond. One of each opened for business at the Saratoga Race Course upstate last weekend and a customers have been lining up for burgers and shakes at a Shake Shack that opened this month on Eighth Avenue at 44th Street.

By the end of next year, those restaurants will replace some that have closed or are slated to close, including an Applebee’s and a Chevys, said Linde Belfer, chairwoman of the community board’s Battery Park City committee.

She added that Goldman Sachs also planned to renovate the Embassy Suites hotel in the complex and turn it into a luxury hotel that will carry the Conrad brand. She said that Goldman Sachs had assured community leaders that it would keep the movie theaters that had served as an anchor of the complex.