Times Square local? The fact is the most high profile parts of those districts are represented by national companies. The people who go to these areas aren't there to take in some local cuisine or whatever.FreeNachos wrote: Times Square has a lot of local stuff, though overshadowed by 20 story movie posters, gap ads and Virgin Megastore neon. Tons. Restaurants, shops and Broadway shows. Hollywood and Highland has the Chinese Theatre, a some local restaurants and again, tons of local shops...sure they all sell plastic Oscar statues but it's still LOCAL.
RE: 30% local tenats. My guess is around 40 tenants-- give or take-- can fill the entire district. So when you take 30% of that you're going to be sitting at about 13 local names. Gates might as well be a mom-and-pop compared to AMC and Houlihan's. It isn't surprising to see the names that turned down Cordish. All of them have never been bold enough to be attached to a local high profile developer or development. This was my point...restaurant groups that don't typically attach themselves to high profile developments like Oak Park Mall, Zona Rosa, Legends aren't going to start with the P+L District and it's ridiculous to think that one developer will suddenly change their entire strategy.
With all that said, some of my guesses for other experienced locals with enough cash that may be negotiating:
Bo Lings
Anderson Restaurant Group
Latte'Land Espresso
PB&J Restaurants
Haddad Restaurants
KC Hopps
But back on the national front I'm wondering if the people behind the short-lived Red Star Tavern up north are still interested. They have some interesting concepts like Bar Louie and Virgin Lounge which would translate much better in an urban area than in the middle of suburbia. Flying Saucer would also be a logical choice for a chain bar.
I'm also surprised that it's taken Maggiano's so long to get to KC. They would be a great tenant for Cordish as they would surely draw heavily from the suburbs.
