Brookfields $250M development rocks downtown

The new eating scene coming to Brookfield Place, the reconfigured retail and restaurant portion of what used to be called the World Financial Center, is almost too much to swallow.

Its scale is hard to grasp even after a stroll through the construction site. Brookfield Properties $250 million reinvention of the office complexs public spaces doesnt simply replace the stores and restaurants that previously occupied the corridors and courtyards adjoining the Winter Garden.

In fact, the new layout including two vast floors of eating options and alfresco dining terraces facing the North Cove yacht marina will be largely unrecognizable to anyone who remembers the awkward former setup.

HPH restaurant group partners Peter Poulakakos and Paul Lamas will soon launch Le District, a French-themed marketplace and eating zone adjoining the Winter Gardens south side at the foot of 225 Liberty St. (the previous 2 WFC), with a mind-boggling 1,000 seats indoors and outdoors. Comprising more than 37,000 square feet, its been called a French Eataly by some.

And the ground floor of Le District sits directly beneath a second mammoth venue, Hudson Eats a 35,000- square-foot noshing zone that landlord Brookfield is racing to complete. Its 14 high-end fast-casual counters of such foodie faves as Blue Ribbon Sushi and Dos Toros Taqueria will serve 600 diners.

In addition, there will be five freestanding restaurants along Brookfield Places northern Vesey Street boundary.

So many choices promise a culinary sea change for FiDi and Battery Park City, whose combined population has doubled to 60,000 in 15 years. The World Trade Center will welcome Cond Nast and other tenants next year. The new food complex is so ambitiously conceived that its likely to draw customers from farther afield as well.

Brookfield national retail leasing director Ed Hogan said, We conservatively project all the food operations, including nearly 2,000 seats, will generate over $120 million in sales in the first year but more likely in the $160 million range. The higher figure would be more than four times what the old Tavern on the Greens 800 seats grossed in its best years.

Asked whether Hogans estimate sounded right, Poulakakos laughed and said, Wow! I havent been to those meetings. I hope theyre correct. But a lot of people need to eat down here.

HPH is spending north of $15 million on Le Districts buildout, Poulakakos said. Neither he nor Hogan would discuss terms of HPHs 20-year triple-net lease except to say that it was a combination of base rent and a percentage over break-even.

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Brookfields $250M development rocks downtown