With planning for corporate and office holiday parties underway, these new and recently renovated New York venues provide suitable options for company festivities. The venues, which include bars, lounges, nightclubs, restaurants, private rooms, and hotel event spaces in New York, can accommodate small and large groups for Christmas, Hanukkah, or holiday parties of any type.
Westfield World Trade Center, a 365,000-square-foot venue for shopping and dining located within Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's World Trade Center Transportation Hub, opened in August in lower Manhattan. The upscale shopping mall has numerous spaces available for events, including the trade center's soaring atrium that was used for its own grand opening. On the third floor, Eataly Downtown (from chefs Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich) is the second Manhattan outpost for this Italian food emporium. The 48,000-square-foot Eataly Downtown houses four casual eateries, one upscale restaurant, six take-away counters, one coffee bar, and one wine bar. Eataly Downtown's upscale restaurant is Osteria Della Pace, a Southern Italian eatery that can seat 60 people (including 12 in a private dining room) or accommodate 70 for receptions.
Union Square Cafe, restaurateur Danny Meyer's first restaurant, enjoyed a critically acclaimed run at its original location from 1985 to 2015, when it closed due to issues over increasing rent. The eatery is set to reopen in October in the space formerly occupied by City Crab & Seafood Company, just a few streets northeast from the original Union Square location. Much of the senior staff, including executive chef Carmen Quagliata, are moving to the new location, which will continue to serve a menu of new American cuisine. Designed by David Rockwell, the new site is larger than the original (10,000 square feet compared to 6,300 square feet), and has a staircase as a centerpiece. The main dining area seats 90 or holds receptions for 150. There are also two bars—one upstairs and one downstairs—as well as a private dining area that seats 45 or holds 50 for receptions.
Arlo Hudson Square, from developer/investment firm Quadrum Global, is a 325-room lower Manhattan hotel that opened in September. Its event spaces include a 1,270-square-foot courtyard that holds 135 for receptions; a living room, which can seat 24 or hold 125 for receptions; an event studio that seats 30 or accommodates 75 for receptions; a lobby bar that seats 26 or holds 40 for cocktails; a cozy library that seats 16 or holds 50 for receptions. The hotel’s restaurant, Harold's Meat & Three from chef Harold Moore, is an American eatery that seats 100 or holds 175 for cocktails. There is also a rooftop called Good Story with indoor and outdoor event spaces. Indoors, the space is 921 square feet, with accommodations for 34 people seated in booths or 90 standing. The outdoor area is 1,733 square feet with seating capacity for 88 or standing capacity for 175.
The Vnyl—Vintage New York Lifestyle is an unusual hybrid of a bar, coffee shop, music store, restaurant, and lounge. The 7,000-square-foot venue, which opened in September in the East Village, has four levels with mixed seating that can accommodate as many as 250 people. Owned by James Morrissey—who also owns the East Village bar the Late Late—the venue has 1970s-styled design and decor from Sarah Abdallah of Functional Creative Design inspired by the edgy glam of the era's rock scene. Entourage star Adrian Grenier is the music director and personally selected the vinyl records for sale on the venue's street level, which also houses the coffee shop. Grenier's Wreckroom Records label will host monthly live music performances at the venue. The bar on the main floor seats 38 or has standing capacity for 110. The drinks menu overseen by beverage director Gareth Howells has reinvented versions of classic '70s cocktails. Chef Jordan Andino's California cuisine-inspired eclectic mix of American (burgers, traditional meatloaf), Asian (sushi, spring rolls), and Mexican (tacos, huevos rancheros). A lounge on the mezzanine level—which can accommodate 28 seated or 45 standing—overlooks the main bar area and offers bottle service with table-side mixology. The top level on the third floor has two rooms: Champagne Garden (which can accommodate 20 seated or 60 standing) and the Black Rose Room, which seats about 50 guests or holds 120 for cocktails. On the lower level, the Lion's Den lounge can seat 16 or hold 40 people for receptions.
Landmark on the Park underwent extensive renovations and upgrades that were expected to be completed by late September. The 8,500-square-foot event venue located along Central Park West can seat 400 banquet-style, 500 theater-style, or nearly 600 for receptions. Event spaces include a 3,500-square-foot gymnasium with an attached catering kitchen. There are also six conference rooms—ranging from 299 square feet to 418 square feet—that can accommodate as many as 20 people per room.
In August, New York Museum of Contemporary Art opened a 20,000-square-foot event space in Midtown Manhattan’s Garment District. The new space, which is affiliated with Shop Studios, has flexible seating and reception space for as many as 300 people, including a 6,000-square-foot private Green Room for as many as 150 people.
Lotte New York Palace's ornate restaurant, formerly called Villard Michel Richard, reopened in August as Villard. With the new name comes a new food concept: a "power breakfast" menu with new American cuisine of farmhouse-style breakfast fare. The Midtown eatery is in the landmarked space that was commissioned more than a century ago as a neo-Italian Renaissance residence known as the Villard Mansion. The restaurant encompasses two dining rooms: the 1,127-square-foot Gold Room and Bar (which is available for private dining for 39 seated guests or 75 for receptions) and the 1,113-square-foot Gallery Room, which seats 52 but is not available for private dining or receptions.
Cafe Medi, which had a soft opening in June, is part of Hotel on Rivington’s revitalization. The 3,500-square-foot venue on the Lower East Side—designed by LRV, Lazaro Rosa-Violan Studio—has decor that includes colorful murals of Peruvian gods watching over the airy space. The main dining area can accommodate 90 people in multiple seating arrangements, while the Terrace Cafe seats 22, and the Crudo Bar seats eight. In addition, there is a 1,000-square-foot private dining area called Jia Lounge, which has seating for 100 people.
City Vineyard, operated by the team behind City Winery, opened in August at Pier 26 in TriBeCa. The 1,150-square-foot restaurant, which serves American cuisine, seats 60 inside and can hold receptions of 200 on the roof deck. There is also an outdoor dining are that can seat 20 and a downstairs wine garden with seating for 50.
Sauvage is a 1,400-square-foot American restaurant near McCarren Park in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood. Open since May, the eatery is from the same team behind Maison Premiere. The menu is overseen by chef and co-owner Lisa Giffen, while Maison Premiere's Will Elliott is in charge of the bar offerings. The restaurant has seating for about 100 guests, including 28 outdoors, and can accommodate receptions of about 120 guests. There is no private dining area, but the restaurant is available for buyouts.
