Boqueria, the popular tapas joint with sites in Soho and the Flatiron district, is expanding its empire to the Upper East Side.
The restaurant has signed a lease for 4,300 square feet at 1460 Second Ave. between E. 76th and E. 77th streets, the former home of Justin Timberlake’s Southern Hospitality.
Boqueria, which just celebrated its fifth anniversary, was inspired by Barcelona’s famed Boqueria market. Beyond the Big Apple, it also boasts outposts in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong.
Boqueria’s latest addition will be near other new tenants, including the Meatball Shop and Le Pain Quotidien. The asking rent was $165 a square foot.
Jared Lack, managing director with Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail, said the area has become “a hot little mecca” now that Second Avenue construction has moved on.
“There’s way more demand than product for the market,” said Lack, who represented landlord MGM Management, while BCD’s Alex Turboff repped the tenant.
Now that Il Gattopardo is comfortably ensconced in its elegant new space in the Rockefeller Townhouses at 13-15 W. 54th St., owners Gianfranco and Paula Sorrentino are planning a “make under” for its former space at 33 W. 54th. St.
Mozzarella e Vino, an affordable restaurant and enotecta, will be more informal than its fancier siblings, Il Gattopardo and the Leopard at des Artistes.
The new 12,000 square-foot eatery seats 66 in the main dining area and eight at the bar.
Under the eye of Chef Vito Gnazzo of Il Gattopardo and The Leopard, Chef Antonio Savino will take residence in the kitchen.
The eatery is slated to open the day after Thanksgiving.
Funkiberry, a Brooklyn-based spot whose name invites comparisons to rival yogurt chain Pinkberry, has signed a lease to open at 88 Third Avenue at 12th St. The 1,600 square-foot space will be its third shop and its first foray into Manhattan. Lack repped the building.