A tantalizing taste of the Meatpacking District is coming to Staten Island, the city’s most under-served borough for cutting-edge cuisine.
BFC Partners, developers of the Empire Outlets near the St. George ferry terminal, have tapped the Gansevoort Market creative team to help launch an “innovative artisanal food market” opening in late 2017.
The new, second-floor food court comprises 15,000 square feet including outdoor space — a showcase component of the 340,000 square-foot Empire Outlets complex now under construction, which will have 100 designer outlet retailers and a 190-room hotel.
Gansevoort Market, one of Manhattan’s buzziest high-end food courts, boasts 25 stations including Sushi Dojo, Ed’s Lobster Bar, Donostia and Bangkok Bar.
Gansevoort director of operations Jamie Hinojos and former Gansevoort creative director Manny Del Castillo will select and “curate” a similar array of local and international purveyors at Empire Outlets. The food court will be called MRKTPL, a new brand Hinojos and Del Castillo are launching.
Joseph Ferrara, a partner in BFC with Don Capoccia and Brandon Baron, said, “We are thrilled to bring such lifestyle expertise from the Gansevoort Market team to our center with the addition of MRKTPL.”
Douglas Elliman Commercial’s Michael Brais and Louis Puopolo represented BFC in the transaction.
The Outlets are already more than 50 percent leased to stores including Nordstrom Rack, H&M, Ghirardelli Chocolate and Banana Republic Factory Store.
The Empire complex is to open in 2017. It stands close to the 630-foot-tall New York Wheel, which is under construction by a different development team.
