Corner Table Restaurants has signed a long-term lease for roughly 17,000 square feet at 582 Seventh Avenue, bringing two of its most popular concepts, The Smith and Parla, together under one roof for the first time. The combined destination, set to seat approximately 300 people, will anchor the retail base of 1440 Broadway, the 25-story Midtown office tower between West 40th and West 41st Streets near Bryant Park and Times Square.
The lease, first reported by citybiz, will bring a multi-story location of The Smith alongside the first-ever slice shop edition of Parla, according to the outlet. The new venue is expected to include a bar area along with multiple private dining and event spaces, and it will open in the first quarter of 2028. Corner Table co-founder and CEO Jeffrey Lefcourt said The Smith and Parla were founded and inspired by New York City's vibrancy, and that the two brands share a focus on warm hospitality, per the outlet.
The building itself has had a rough few years. As The Real Deal reported, 1440 Broadway's $399 million mortgage entered special servicing in 2024 after anchor tenant WeWork restructured its lease and Macy's, which had occupied roughly 25% of the building's net rentable area, declined to renew. The property later received a loan maturity modification pushing its deadline to October 2025. Landing a 17,000-square-foot food-and-beverage anchor gives ownership a much-needed jolt of ground-floor activity as the tower works to stabilize.
A Neighborhood Remaking Itself Around Food
The lease lands squarely in the middle of 42BELOW's transformation from a commuter-heavy office district into something closer to a round-the-clock neighborhood. Per citybiz, the food, drink, and restaurant category in 42BELOW grew 15.3% over the past two years, more than twice the pace of Manhattan's overall 6.8% growth in the same category. Corner Table saw a major opportunity in the corridor, according to Patrick A. Smith, who told the outlet that top restaurants and innovative food-and-beverage concepts have already established footholds in 42BELOW and called the lease signing the culmination of an ongoing shift in the area.
Separate market data backs up that read. According to CRE Daily, storefront vacancy across the 42BELOW submarket — which runs from West 42nd to West 30th Streets between Sixth and Eighth Avenues — fell 19% between 2024 and 2026, outperforming Manhattan's broader retail vacancy recovery by 41%, citing Live XYZ data. Live XYZ tracks more than 160,000 storefronts and public-facing spaces across the city. The National Law Review has reported that health, fitness, and wellness storefronts in the submarket surged 33.3% over the same span, growing from 24 to 32 locations, with nearby flagships including a 37,000-square-foot CityPickle venue and a planned 52,000-square-foot Life Time club.
The borough's broader nighttime economy has been shifting toward food-centric social venues, too. Manhattan's total dining establishments grew 6.2% from late 2023 to 2026, climbing from 6,078 to 6,456 locations, according to a report from ACCESS Newswire, which noted that city planners now point to 42BELOW as an emerging 24-hour live-work-play district.
Two Concepts, One Roof
The Smith, known for American brasserie fare, creative cocktails, energetic brunches, and warm hospitality, currently operates four locations in New York City as part of a six-restaurant national footprint that also includes outposts in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Its original East Village location opened in 2007, and Hoodline previously covered the brand's expansion with the opening of its River North outpost in Chicago.
Parla is newer to the Corner Table roster, having opened in 2023 on the Upper West Side as an all-day neighborhood spot for pizza and cocktails. Its menu spans square and round pizzas, pastas, vegetables, and shareable plates, with a bar program built around espresso, wine, cocktails, amari, and vermouth. At 582 Seventh Avenue, the two brands will serve residents, office workers, tourists, and commuters alike, per citybiz.
Landlord Sees an Anchor Tenant
JLL and RXR represented ownership in the leasing transaction, according to the outlet's reporting. Whitney Arcaro stated that Corner Table is an ideal anchor for the building's retail offering, a vote of confidence for a tower still working to fill space left by Macy's departure. For now, the biggest open question is how construction will proceed on the multi-story build-out ahead of the targeted first-quarter 2028 opening, and how the combined 300-seat space will ultimately divide The Smith's brasserie service from Parla's stand-alone slice shop.
