The Perkins Restaurant and Bakery has chosen Harlem for its first Manhattan location.
The Manhattan franchisee for the casual dining chain signed a lease for 5,500 square feet in the new development at 200 E. 125th St., giving it more than 100 feet of frontage that wraps around Third Avenue.
Perkins is the operator and franchiser of three restaurants in Staten Island and another 440 scattered across 34 states and five Canadian provinces.
The Memphis, Tenn.-based chain was represented by Cory Zolcinski and Corey Bryerman of SRS Real Estate. Mark Tergesen and Robert Kempner of ABS Partners represented the building ownership, which had an asking rent of $60 per square foot for the 20-year deal.
This is the first phase of a $700 million complex being developed by the Richman Group, Monadnock Construction, Hope Community and El Barrio’s Operation Fightback.
The developers were chosen by the city to create the East Harlem Media/Entertainment/Cultural Center on three parcels that will include 30,000 square feet of community/cultural space, more than 600 affordable housing units, a public plaza, new office and retail space and a hotel.
Nearby on Third Avenue and East 120th Street,Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work is also luring hungry students to the area.