By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
BATTERY PARK CITY — Downtown residents soon won’t have to go all the way up to 23rd Street for their ShackBurger fix.
Danny Meyer announced Wednesday night that he is opening his signature Shake Shack — along with the second branch of the BBQ joint Blue Smoke and an as-yet-unnamed sit-down restaurant — in the Embassy Suites building in Battery Park City.
Meyer has already signed a lease for all three spaces with Goldman Sachs, owner of the 102 N. End Ave. building, and he expects to open the restaurants around the end of 2011.
“I’ve been in love with this neighborhood for many years,” Meyer said as he described his plans at a Community Board 1 meeting Wednesday night.
Meyer spent the past year canvassing the 92-acre neighborhood so he could learn about the residents and how best to serve them, he said. He was inspired by the neighborhood’s beauty but said he was surprised by the lack of dining options — a fact residents have been complaining about for years.
“I want to provide the opportunity for people to stay here,” Meyer said. “Every day over the past year I’ve grown more excited about the possibilities.”
Meyer has not decided on a genre for his new high-end restaurant, which will front on North End Avenue. He said the pricing would be similar to his Union Square Cafe, and he hopes to reserve space for neighborhood walk-ins.
The Blue Smoke will be similar to the original one on East 27th Street, which Meyer said draws the most diverse crowd of any of his establishments. One new feature will be a bakeshop, selling cupcakes, pies and other desserts.
As for the new Shake Shack, no explanation was necessary — upon Meyer’s announcement, one board member shouted “Yes!” and several applauded.
Meyer’s new restaurants are part of an overhaul Goldman is planning for the North End Avenue building, which sits adjacent to the bank’s new headquarters at 200 West Street.
With Goldman’s encouragement, Hilton is upgrading the building’s existing Embassy Suites hotel to the first New York branch of the luxury Conrad chain.
Goldman is also renovating the building’s entrances and retail spaces and plans to earn a LEED Gold rating by planting a green roof.
Residents are upset about some of the changes, including New York Sports Club’s departure earlier this summer and the recent news that the 30,000-square-foot DSW outlet on the fourth floor is closing within the next month.
Timur Galen, managing director with Goldman Sachs, said both the gym and the shoe store left of their own volition, because they were not making money. Goldman is transferring both spaces to Hilton for a new ballroom and conference center.
“There’s no conference center or ballroom like this anywhere downtown,” Galen said Wednesday night. “That business typically goes to Midtown.”
Tom Goodkind, a longtime resident of Battery Park City, said the community needs affordable retail, not private event space. He and others suggested a grocery store, a hardware store or an office supply store.
Galen said those uses would not work, but he is in discussions with a florist, a wine store, a dessert shop and an optician for smaller retail spaces on the ground floor of the hotel building and Goldman’s headquarters.
Other new restaurants planned for 102 N. End Ave. include an organic sandwich and salad shop, an Asian fusion restaurant and a mid-priced Italian spot, Galen said.
The Regal Battery Park movie theater will stay open throughout the surrounding construction, Galen said.
