Pieology ordered a custom slice of New York City real estate.
The California-based fast-bake pizza chain is opening its first two restaurants in the city, in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The company signed a lease late last week at 285 Broadway in Williamsburg and earlier this year at 168 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village.
Pieology took 2,000 square feet at the base of the Williams, a 13-story, 82-unit rental building that opened at 282 South 5th Street last year, a Pieology spokesperson confirmed. The Midwood Investment and Development-developed building’s retail component along Broadway will also house Downtown Natural Market and Dime Community Bank.
The first official location will be a 2,400-square-foot space at the 12-story condominium building the Atrium at 156-168 Bleecker Street. JMC Holdings, led by Matt Cassin and David Taylor, own the 30,000-square-foot retail condo, which is home to a CVS and Chase bank.
Both locations are slated to open this spring, a Pieology spokesperson said.
Retail asking rent for the Williamsburg space was about $80 per square foot, sources said. It’s unclear what Pieology is paying in the Village, though retail rents along Bleecker Street average $500 per square foot.
In the Williamsburg deal, Mitch Weiss of the Retail Zone represented Pieology and Nick Masson of Schuckman Realty represented Midwood. In the Greenwich Village deal, SRS Real Estate Partners’ Mark Kapnick, Brian Von Schmid and John Pell represented JMC Holdings. The brokers could not be reached for comment.
The chain, founded by Carl Chang in 2011, has 135 stores in the U.S. and is planning to open 70 more locations this year. It competes with Blaze Pizza and Pie Five, two chains also lacking in a New York City presence, as a “Chipotle for pizza.”