Lindy's extends lease: riese planning to do major renovations

Real Estate Weekly, June 4, 2003 by Sabina Mollotov

The Riese Organization, the restaurateurs behind such eateries as Tad Steak's, TGI Fridays and Martini's, among many others, have just extended the lease on their 53rd Street and 7th Avenue restaurant Lindy's by 12 years.

"We extended the lease because the property has been successful for us and it's in a prime location with high pedestrian traffic near hotels, subways and theaters," said Dennis Riese, chairman and CEO of Riese Restaurants.

The Lindy's property which totals 3,000 SF on the ground and lower levels is located in the theater district, surrounded by Carnegie Hall, the Hilton and Sheraton hotels and the Winter Garden theater.

Besides the location, which attracts mainly tourists and out-of-town businesspeople, Riese attributes a lot of Lindy's success to its best-selling product.

"I can't tell you how many people call us throughout the year who've been to Lindy's and loved the cheesecake," said Riese. "It's world renowned and people come looking for it."

Recently, Riese Restaurants has opened the upscale restaurant, the Times Square Grill and resurrected the classic hot-dog stand Nedick's on the 8th Avenue side of Penn Station. Both are doing well, although Nedick's in particular has doing "great. Just fabulous," said Riese.

"Lindy's, Tad's Steaks and Nedick's are three names out of New York's past history and all three have been brought back very successfully."

Riese Restaurants is also planning to open several food courts throughout the city featuring those restaurants. "Our goal is to be the destination of choice for diners looking for that quintessential taste of New York," said Riese. "With the trio of Lindy's, Nedick's and Tad's steaks, we are well on the way to achieving that goal."

Lindy's, which has been open for 15 years will be closed for the two months of August and September while "major" renovations by Morris Nathanson design and construction firm, take place.

The 53rd Street building is owned by Vornado Realty Trust, a fact Riese said he is happy about.

"We're very proud that Vornado is interested in extending our lease. This validates a lot of the improvements that I've made in the past few years in this company to improve its image, quality and standards."