Ian Schrager Is the First to Take Retail Space at 51 Astor

Ian Schrager is the latest to move into the East Village’s “Death Star” building, Bedford + Bowery has learned.

The vacant retail space on the Third Avenue side of 51 Astor has been papered over in recent weeks. Edward Minskoff, the building’s developer, explains that Schrager (a friend of his) will temporarily use the space as a showroom “for the Chrystie building,” meaning the 28-story hotel-condo Schrager is building at 215 Chrystie.

Schrager declined to comment on the matter, but a construction permit application issued this week confirms the ground floor is being renovated to accommodate a sales office for 215 Chrystie.

Schrager, the onetime Studio 54 impresario who co-founded Morgans Hotel Group and redid the Gramercy Park Hotel, today owns the luxury residences at 40 Bond and is developing two new concepts. The project at 215 Chrystie will be the first New York City location of his Public hotel chain, he told the Post. It will also contain residential units, according to a permit application approved last month.

Minskoff estimates that the ground floor of 51 Astor will be completely leased in the next three to four months, and that up to six different tenants will be located there. “We’re barreling along,” he said. “The interest is significant. Six million people go by that corner. It’s a twenty-four-seven location.”

But he wouldn’t reveal who the prospective tenants are, or what industry they represent. “It wouldn’t be appropriate at this point,” he said.

51 Astor Place is almost fully leased: The Daily Mail is moving its US bureau to the ninth floor, and Claren Road Asset Management (a credit-focused private equity lender), IBM Watson, St. John’s University, and vintage goods auctioneer 1stdibs are also moving into the building.