US EDITION Thursday August 15 2013 As of 856 PM EDT

Comments MORE IN NEWYORKshyREAL ESTATE raquo

Available to WSJcom Subscribers

NY REAL ESTATE RESIDENTIAL August 15 2013 856 pm ET

Activity Gives Orchard Street New BloomSmall Businesses Larger Developments Take Places of Garment Stores

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TOP STORIES IN NEW YORK

By KAYA LATERMAN

Restaurant owner Wilson Tang and his partner and chef Jonathan Wu were lookingfor a place to open their new modern Chinese eatery called Fung Tu a few monthsago when a chance came up to lease 22 Orchard St

It was a no brainer for me to jump on it right away said Mr Tang the owner ofChinatowns Nom Wah Tea Parlor who grew up a block away from Orchard on AllenStreet Ive literally dreamed about owning a business on this block It really has a lotof character

Once home to dozens of garmentstores the threeshyblock stretch ofOrchard Street between Grand andDivision streets is seeing a flurry ofdeals spanning from small entrepreneursrenting storefronts to largeshyscaleproperty sales and development

The activity in the area which sits on theborder of Chinatown and the Lower EastSide includes a boutique hotel underconstruction two large properties beingturned into residential and retail spaces

and the opening of two more art galleries and Alexander Olch a mens tie shop Inaddition owners are looking for tenants for five groundshyfloor retail spaces on the rentalmarket and three large mixedshyuse buildings up for sale

Its like everyone keyed into the fact that this stretch was underutilized at the sametime said Massey Knakal broker Michael DeCheser

Many of the streetshylevel stores arearound 25 feet wide by 100 feet deepaccording to Mr DeCheser Not allbusiness owners can envision workingin a very narrow space but narrowwasnt an issue for Monya Rowe who iscurrently relocating her gallery from

Mark Abramson for The Wall Street Journal

Properties at 57shy63 Orchard St were bought inJuly with plans to convert them into highshyendcondominiums and boutiques

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Chelsea After losing her lease on asecondshyfloor space on West 22ndStreet Ms Rowe said she wantedmore visibility and looked for groundshyfloor space

My new place has high ceilings and Ifell in love with the old goldshyandshyblackwindow display said Ms Rowe whoplans to open her new gallery on Sept 8with a group showing of gallery artists Ifound a space on one of the best blocks

down here as far as galleries go Theres a great sense of community andcamaraderie here she added

Tanja Grunert who with her partner Klemens Gasser is also moving their galleryfrom Chelsea for a Sept 20 opening agrees Its so energetic down here and muchmore artistshyoriented she said

The Lower East Side BusinessImprovement District counts more than100 galleries in its territory with 15 juston Orchard between Grand andDivision

Things change so quickly weve had toupdate our gallery map quarterly insteadof yearly noted Katie Archer thedistricts business services managerwho helps coordinate theneighborhoods popular retail and gallery

block parties

More eating spots are in the area Din Yates remembers when there was nowhereelse to eat on the block when he opened Cheeky Sandwiches in late 2009 Nowrestaurant Fat Radish and oyster bar LeadBelly are on Orchard Street in addition tothe planned opening in late September or early October of Fung Tu by Messrs Tangand Wu

Orchard Street had and has that vibe that fits me Mr Yates said via email Its stilla neighborhood even with the growth

Larger developers are also feeling theenergy Waterbridge Capital and theJangana family together bought threecontiguous properties at 57shy63 OrchardSt for $27 million in July and plan toconvert them into highshyendcondominiums and boutiques

The largest construction undertaking atthe moment is the renovation of the oldJarmulowsky Bank a 12shystory buildingon the corner of Orchard and Canal thatis a city landmark DLJ Real EstateCapital Partners is combining the

building and an adjacent property to create a 100shyplusshyroom boutique hotel slated toopen in midshy2014

We always look at neighborhoods that is in transition and emerging said AndrewRifkin managing partner at DLJ Its a trendy neighborhood but more for theadventurer and explorer and we like that aspect of it

Mark Abramson for The Wall Street Journal

More restaurants are joining CheekySandwiches on Orchard Street

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Mark Abramson for The Wall Street Journal

34 Orchard St is slated to become the MonyaRowe Gallery

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A few blocks away from the hotel isSeward Park a sixshyacre cityshyowned sitethat is slated for development with a mixof residential retail and office buildings

Other projects also could be coming Large properties currently for sale in the areainclude 314 Grand St a fourshystory commercial building for $32 million The upperfloors which boast 15shy20shyfoot ceilings could be turned into residential units and apenthouse could be added on the roof At 32 Orchard St a threeshystory mixedshyuseproperty is up for sale for $55 million while a fiveshystory mixedshyuse building at 55shy57Canal St is on the market for $47 million

All the different activity leads some to think that Orchard Street could do with atrendier moniker like SoHo or Dumbo This area is ripe for a rename said MasseyKnakals Mr DeCheser

A version of this article appeared August 16 2013 on page A18 in the US edition of The Wall StreetJournal with the headline Activity Gives Orchard Street New Bloom

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