American celebrity chef and restaurateur Tom Colicchio is to launch a new restaurant in The Beekman – a luxury hotel set to open within an iconic New York high rise in June 2016.
Swedish interior designer Martin Brudnizki –
who recently completed work on the lavish Sexy Fish restaurant in London – has designed both the 290-bedroom hotel and Colicchio’s restaurant, which will be called Fowler and Wells after a pair of New York phrenologists who claimed the shape of people’s heads influenced their personality.
Colicchio is the founder of the Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants and is famous for his appearances on reality cooking TV shows such as
Top Chef and
Best New Restaurant.
The 10-storey Beekman building is a Lower Manhattan landmark – acclaimed for its nine-storey Victorian atrium and pyramidal skylight – which opened in the 1880s.
The building, which has often been the focus of fashion shoots and glamorous celebrity parties, first served as a theatre – which is said to have debuted Hamlet for an American audience – and then later as a publishing house and home for small businesses. It was abandoned shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and attempts to re-open it were hit by the global recession and court cases between developers.
In August 2014, real estate firms GFI Development and GB Lodging announced they had secured US$350m (€321.3m, £252.6m) in financing to renovate the building as a luxury hotel, operated by Thompson Hotels, with an adjacent condominium tower to be constructed with 68 residences.
The building work is now nearing completion and the first details of the hotel’s dining facilities have been announced. The 90-seat Fowler and Wells will be located to the side of the building’s atrium so that diners can best appreciate the impressive architectural details and natural light.
Brudnizki’s design echoes 19th century stylings with rich, jewel-toned furnishings and a theatrical bar area. A separate lounge for 70 diners will also be located in the atrium, serving a more casual menu of classic American dishes.
"In a project of intense scope and sophistication, there is no room for anything less than the perfect fit,” said Allen Gross, CEO of GFI Development. “We are delighted to bring Tom Colicchio to The Beekman.
“Located within the centre of Lower Manhattan's thriving new downtown, and nestled between both the East and Hudson Rivers, The Beekman is surrounded by some of Manhattan's most cherished attractions. It is a masterpiece rediscovered.”
Fowler and Wells will be joined by another restaurant in The Beekman, which will reportedly be a French bistro called Augustine run by New York restaurateur Keith McNally.
