Neighborhood Update: the Setai, Sunrise Mart
Update: Sunrise Mart is officially open, and I have to say… watch out. This is a large grocery store plus restaurant that going straight into both Yagura’s and Cafe Zaiya’s territory! On the other hand, given how crowded Zaiya is at times there might be more than enough demand to go around.
I’ve watched the 40~ or so story Setai hotel being built for many months now. Now, as the New York Times reports:
THE SETAI FIFTH AVENUE, between 36th and 37th Streets, is the latest in a string of large luxury hotels built during the recession to open in recent months. Its sprawling penthouses rent for a very nonrecessionary $15,000 a night (rates for the rest of the 157 rooms and 57 suites start at $545).
“I hope you can appreciate the understated excellence,” [managing director Guenter Richter] said as he walked through the snazzy Bar on Fifth and then up a circular staircase to the restaurant, Ai Fiori…
Well then! Hotels can be a first step towards “residentialization” of a neighborhood, as their occupants need residence-y things like convenience stores and restaurants that stay open later.
The left side of this building is the former Book-Off space.
Meanwhile, on 41st Street between Fifth and Madison, a Sunrise Mart — a small local Japanese grocery store chain — is primed to move in. Though I go to the Sunrise Mart in the East Village, I have to wonder whether this will mean trouble for Yagura, the scrappy Japanese grocery store already on the block. In any case, this brings the number of Japanese businesses on this particular block back up to four (Book-Off was on this block before moving elsewhere in Midtown earlier this year).
It’s nice to see this feature being continued. I didn’t realize that Sunrise Mart was stealthily colonizing Manhattan, and in fact I didn’t realize that they existed beyond their East Village location. It’s my observation, though, that Asian food businesses can generally withstand competition (the number of ramenya, izakaya, and/or Asian markets in close proximity to each other in the East Village is staggering), so maybe Yagura will be okay. It seems to have many positive reviews on Yelp, the chief prognosticator of our time.
rkreiter
November 28, 2010 at 4:29 pm