Howard Hughes, which operates the Seaport Complex on South Street, provided funding. I'm here. – A whopping $55 million — where that mouth is.
Hughes acquired his 25% stake in Jean-Georges Restaurants (JGR), his 40-eatery empire of New York great chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I bought it. His local locations include flagship Jean-Georges, Nougatine, Fulton at the Seaport, ABC Kitchen, Jojo and The Mark.
In addition to paying his $45 million for minority shares, Hughes also received the option to purchase Vongerichten's company by an additional 20% of his own, raising $10 million. did. This could be the largest stake owned by one of the restaurant group's real estate companies.
The Seaport tin building, which opens partially this month, is Vongerichten's biggest venture to date. That success, to the surprise of some analysts, was also pivotal to Hughes' future fate at Seaport when he sold $2 billion in "non-core" assets two years ago. did.
The Tin Building is his 53,000-seat, three-story collection of gourmet food halls and restaurants, housed in a historic landmark building, on the former East His River. Hughes paid a fortune to rebuild on his site 30 feet east of him.
Hughes was quick to point out that Vongerichten's management team "will continue to have control over all of the day-to-day decision-making."
However, these companies are clearly partners that cannot be described as passive investments. Hughes said he intends to fund growth capital for Vongerichten's "expanding global empire."
His 10-Q SEC filing for publicly traded Hughes in the second quarter also revealed that Hughes outright owned the tin building and leased it to Von Gelichten. rice field.
Hughes paid for all necessary development and construction costs of the tin building and donated cash to cover pre-opening, opening and operating costs.
