"A chef-led omakase experience from Michelin-starred Chef BK Park, focused on precision, restraint, and the quiet luxury of getting everything exactly right."
That line sits on the Mako page of Shaver Hall's website. As of October 4, the same page still labels the 12-seat counter "Coming Soon." Eater's preview in June expected a September opening. September has passed and the counter hasn't opened.
That small delay fits the larger pattern on the blocks between West 38th and 43rd Streets, Fifth to Sixth. The places that opened here since June moved into space built for something else. One took over a department store floor, one a newsstand, and one shares another restaurant's dining room during the day. The two oldest fixtures in the area went the other way. One is in court to keep its lease. The other lost its lease.
The Biggest Tenant Is Still the Oldest One
Bryant Park Grill has stood behind the New York Public Library since 1995. It has 1,000 seats, two outdoor cafes and a large seasonal rooftop, and Eater reports about $26 million in sales a year. That makes it the flagship of Ark Restaurants, the publicly traded group that owns it.
Here is how it got to this point. Bryant Park Corp., the nonprofit that runs the park, put the Grill's space out to bid in 2024 before the lease ran out. It chose Jean-Georges Restaurants over 10 other candidates, the current tenant among them. The Grill's individual owner sued in state Supreme Court, arguing the selection process was flawed. According to the New York Post, as cited by Eater, the Jean-Georges deal died this summer, though Bryant Park Corp. has kept talking with Vongerichten.
On Tuesday, September 22, an appellate court stayed any eviction while Ark's appeal goes forward. The court gave no reason, and the next hearing is set for February. Crain's reports the landlord has already spent more than $2.6 million in disclosed legal fees on the eviction. That means the Grill will be serving all through the fall and holiday season, while the rink fills up next door. Its future after February depends on the court.
A Department Store Floor, Put Back to Work
Two blocks south, the former Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Avenue, between West 38th and 39th Streets, has a new use at street level. On June 26 it opened as Shaver Hall, a 35,000-square-foot food hall with room for 1,400 people. It sits under a new 13-story Amazon office building. Dallas-based FB Society developed it and named it after Dorothy Shaver, a former Lord & Taylor president.
Its hours matter for people who live nearby. The hall runs from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and each stand sets its own hours within that window. For blocks that have mostly fed office lunch crowds, that is a long day. Newsday's mid-July visit found the hall busy at lunch.
What's operating now:
- Pick & Cheese, the London mini-chain's first U.S. location, runs a 200-foot conveyor belt of color-coded plates of Northeastern cheese and charcuterie, with counter seats and a few tables
- Tallow Steakhouse, FB Society's modern steakhouse, serves a $49 prix fixe of USDA prime steaks and tallow fries
- F&F Pizzeria, from Carroll Gardens, is on its second location and first in Manhattan
- Tompkins Square Bagels has its fifth shop here, its first in Midtown
- Butter Chicken Social is chef Sujan Sarkar's stand built around one dish, and Tonchinette is a Tokyo-style ramen spinoff of Tonchin
- The Layaway is the main cocktail bar, joined by a self-serve wall of 20 taps for beer, wine and cocktails and a bodega selling to-go breakfast, coffee and groceries
The other stands are Chick Chick, Pastasole, Taqueria Al Pastor, Zazu, Biddrina Gelato, Norihana and Tallow Butcher Shop. The hall's current eateries page lists the same 11 stands announced at opening, so the lineup hasn't changed in more than three months. The Mako page doesn't list a reliable price yet.
The hall has also begun hosting events. October's calendar has Mariachi Night on October 9, an NBA kickoff event on October 20 and Halloween programming on October 31.
A Newsstand, a Shared Room, a Sixth Avenue Storefront
The smaller openings show the same reuse at a much smaller scale.
Little Biggs opened Saturday, August 8, in a converted Bryant Park newsstand at 2 West 42nd Street, at Sixth Avenue. Little Food Co., the group behind Dos Pasos and City Chik, had run Little Biggs only as stalls inside food halls in Chelsea and the Financial District. The menu is the familiar one, with eggy burritos, a crispy chicken Caesar wrap and vodka chicken Parm.
Fönn started in late September as a daytime residency inside TALEA at 22 West 40th Street, facing the park. It's open 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. Founder Lauren Huff built the skyr-based menu with chef Baldur Smári Sævarsson. It covers bowls, smoothies and toasted sandwiches with skyr-based sauces, plus Devoción coffee and Japanese matcha. The launch release priced bowls and sandwiches at $15.50 and smoothies at $15. No source gives an exact first day, and no full review had appeared as of early October.
Piadi by La Piadineria opened its second New York location on Wednesday, September 23, at 1040 Sixth Avenue at West 39th Street. It serves piadina sandwiches and other Italian fast-casual food.
None of the three needed a new building or a long build-out. Each fit into space that already existed and was suited to quick daytime service.
The Lease That Didn't Hold
Moving the other way, the Bryant Station post office at 23 West 43rd Street closed at the end of business on August 8. The U.S. Postal Service cited the loss of its lease and sent customers to other nearby post offices. For people who lived or worked nearby, it was a basic errand stop, and it's gone.
Taken together with the Grill, that's the counterweight to the openings. The newcomers moved into borrowed, temporary or repurposed space. The two longest-standing tenants on these blocks are the ones whose leases are in question.
Twenty-Four Days Until the Rink
Bryant Park itself is in its usual fall gap. The October calendar opened with a Plant and Seed Swap on October 3 and a Tri-State Chess Tournament on October 4. Birding events filled early October and Art Cart workshops run through October 13, while park tours and juggling carry on later in the month.
Then the season changes. Time Out reports that the Bank of America Winter Village opens its 25th season on October 28 and runs through February 28. Dates to know:
- October 28 at noon. The Holiday Shops open with more than 180 vendors and stay through January 3.
- October 28 through February 28. The 17,000-square-foot rink is free to enter. The park's page posts skate rentals at $18.72 to $64.48 including administrative fees, before tax. The same page still mentions the 2025-2026 season, so check prices closer to opening.
- November 28-29 and December 5-6. Club Santa.
- December 14-18. Santa's Corner, with no ticket needed.
The Lodge comes back as a heated rinkside food hall with two full-service bars. Its FAQ still shows last season's dates, so this year's vendors and hours aren't confirmed. The Holiday Shops page also still links to a directory labeled "2025 Holiday Shops," and no 2026 vendor list has been published.
This year the rink, the Grill and Shaver Hall will all be open around the park at the same time for the first time. The Grill has the court stay through at least February, Shaver Hall stays open until 1 a.m. on weekends, and Little Biggs serves from the newsstand on the 42nd Street corner. Mako may open before the rink closes on February 28. Its page will be the first place to show it.
Eater's food coverage tracks openings like these. Following how those openings move what people will pay to live nearby takes a separate kind of attention. If you own near Bryant Park and want to know whether an anchor like Shaver Hall, or an open question like the Grill's lease, changes how buyers view your building, David Menendez can walk you through what recent Midtown sales actually show. Let's Connect.
