Crimson Lobster is scrambling to remain open in Instances Sq. — however the bankrupt seafood chain has just some weeks to hammer out a deal as its landlords search to double the lease, The Publish has realized.
The restaurant’s lease on the crossroads of the world expires on June 30 and it has been negotiating new phrases with landlords SL Inexperienced and RXR – regardless of itemizing the situation among the many 200 shops it plans to shut, in keeping with a chapter submitting.
The house owners of 5 Instances Sq., the place Crimson Lobster has been a fixture for 22 years, are asking for an annual lease of $2.2 million for the three-level, 16,482 square-foot area, as The Publish beforehand reported.
At the moment, Crimson Lobster is probably going paying just below $1 million a yr for the nook area at West forty first St. and Broadway, an actual property dealer who didn’t need to be recognized advised The Publish.
The seafood chain has been closing scores of restaurants throughout the nation because the week earlier than its Could 19 chapter submitting.
However workers of the Instances Sq. location have been advised that their retailer just isn’t on the chopping block, a number of staff advised The Publish.
“This can be a excessive performing retailer and it’s not closing,” a supervisor mentioned on Thursday throughout lunch hour when there have been only a handful of diners scattered all through the three-story eatery.
The Orlando, Fla.-based firm didn’t reply to a question for remark in regards to the Instances Sq. spot.
The truth that Crimson Lobster included the Instances Sq. location on a listing of leases that it’s rejecting “could possibly be a approach to exert stress on the owner,” chapter lawyer, Patrick Collins of Farrell Fritz advised The Publish.
“It’s a method for the corporate to sign to the owner that until one thing adjustments it’s ready to shut that retailer,” Collins added.
Nonetheless, anecdotal proof means that enterprise isn’t persistently booming. Earlier this month, The Post reported that the Instances Sq. outlet was largely devoid of diners throughout two separate visits at lunchtime in early Could.
Crimson Lobster was pushed to the brink, partially, by a $20 all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion final yr that ended up being extra well-liked than the corporate anticipated. The chain raised the worth to $25, however that did little to dampen client appetites for the deal.
Its largest shareholder and seafood vendor, Thai Union, mentioned the promotion compelled it to put in writing off $530 million within the fourth quarter.
Crimson Lobster’s chief government Jonathan Tibus – its fifth CEO since 2021 – blamed Thai Union for the corporate’s current issues, saying in a courtroom submitting that Crimson Lobster is investigating Thai Union’s position in pushing for the shrimp promotion as a approach to steer extra enterprise its method.
The Instances Sq. location is its final remaining outpost in Manhattan, in keeping with the corporate’s web site. This month it closed a Harlem eatery on West one hundred and twenty fifth St.
