The Opening of Brookfield Place Introduces Luxury Boutiques and Dining to Downtown Manhattan

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Brookfield Property Partners Celebrates The Opening Of Brookfield Place

Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images

On March 26 Brookfield Place, a new luxury shopping center on 230 Versey St, officially opened to the public along with a preview of French-inspired market/restaurant, Le District. Heather Nicol’s art installation, “Soft Spin” was also on display. The swanky new shopping center is located just below Tribeca with amazing views of the Hudson River waterfront. It features fashion brands ranging from Hermes and Diane von Furstenberg to Michael Kors and Theory as well as a plethora of dining options. National Director of Retail Leasing at Brookfield Place, Edward Hogan spoke at the event and announced how excited he was to see the shopping center, as well as the entire downtown area, grow and thrive following the opening. So urbanites who are tired of putting in the legwork to visit all of their favorite stores can now get all of their shopping options under one super-chic roof.

Downtown magazine CEO, Grace A. Capobianco was in attendance for the event and was wowed by the splendor of the center as well as the variety of luxury shopping options. She also had the pleasure of speaking with Dadarocks.com creator, Adam Cohen about the opening and what it means for downtown culture:

Adam and his daughter: Courtesy of Justine Lecanu

Grace- How do you feel about the Brookfield place opening?

Adam- Well, this is a huge culmination of years of projecting. And I think that it talks about how Downtown has become a total revitalization spot. The brands in this location are super high-end brands, you can’t get anything higher than these brands in this location. So I think for us it really talks about how Norman Hadden has resurged from the dark days of 9/11 and we are, you know, we’re back. You know, it’s no longer the-the rocky start, we’ve gotta kinda come up and come out swinging. We’re back and we are the point, you know, of what Manhattan is.

Grace- What do you think this is going to make people uptown say about downtown?

Adam- Well, I think like, with all the stores opening, absolutely. I think all the shopping is going to become-we’re going to become where people go to shop. You know, instead of being like oh I’m going up to 5^th Avenue it’s going to be like maybe I’m going down by FiDi, I’m going down to Tribeca, I’m going to Battery Park City. So I think that’s going to be the change in terminology that you hear a lot more, it’s that we’re going to be where you shop. I think from a family perspective, with all the great schools that we’ve always had in Tribeca, in Battery Park City, and and now with all the two or three schools coming to FiDi in the next 2, 3 years, I think we’re really going to see that the family resurgence downtown is going to be huge.

Grace- What do you think about downtown New York as an area for families?

Adam- I think, as the economy kind of tightens, people are going to walk away from suburbia and come more to the urban environment where you can give up the two cars, you can give up the gasoline payment, you can come and have the same size apartment that you would as a house in this area. So I think the new buildings that have multiple bathrooms involved in them, washers and dryers are built in downtown where they’re not always built in uptown. So I think you’re going to see more and more families transitioning to this area, so I think for me this is the win-win of everything. I think now that you see FiDi we’re building up a movie theater, there a new mall coming up in the Seaport, that’s going to be really high-end. There’s the Fulton Center that’s coming online in the next 6 months, I think more and more of these businesses are going to be family-centric. Look at yesterday was the opening of the GAP that has a GAP kids and a GAP Baby. So, for downtown that’s going to be huge, like you know we haven’t had a GAP since the Seaport.

Grace- What do think Downtown Magazine has done for the downtown area?

Adam- I love it. To me it is the quintessential highlight of the general what lower Manhattan is. It talks about all the great things to do, it talks about all the great fashion, all the luxury that is New York City in a nice downtown package.

Grace also spoke with Patrick Gioannini, the managing director of the upcoming French restaurant, L-atelier de Joel Robuchon.

Grace with Patrick Gioannini: Courtesy of Justine Lecanu

Grace- Why did you decide to bring L-atelier de Joel Robuchon to the Downtown Area?

Patrick- Well, this is such an exciting, new venture for us and the location is spectacular and we just see downtown Manhattan, [as] the rebirth of it and we want to be part of it and we think for [us] this is the perfect location to be in New York.

Grace- Tell me what the cuisine will consist of? Is it all French?

Patrick- For L-atelier de Joel Robuchon, it is French but is very much influenced by his Asian traveling and more and more into the healthy approach, vegetables are going to be very important in his cuisine as we get more into his cuisine and it’s a very international l cuisine at the moment, of course the technique is French technique.

Grace- When is the opening?

Patrick- We don’t have a very precise date it’s going to be in the fall. We want to be there before the holidays and be ready for the launch in the fall.

Grace- What other plans do you have for the restaurant?

Patrick- So we’re going to have a restaurant, the classic [style] which is a counter-seating area about 40 seats. Then we’ll have some tables also by the window so you have the option to sit down at a table facing the marina and the statue. We’ll have a private room that can host up to 8 people for special events, and then next we’ll have a bar and lounge, about 35 seats facing [the] marina and we’ll be open there all day long so if you want just a sandwich, a salad, or a soup you can have it there, drinks, and then something that is really new to us, is a bakery. We’ll have a bakery at the corner here so you’ll see there’s a staircase going down in the restaurant and it’ll be at the corner of the building here and we’ll have the bakery opening about 6 or 7 in the morning, serving coffee, uh croissant, *some other French food*, sandwiches, salads, and uh then a terrace outside about 60 seats, you’ll be able to sit down and enjoy your drink even late into the night, a glass of wine, champagne, right there, uh, by the boats, facing the Stature of Liberty.

Grace- Is there anything else that you want Downtown Magazine to know?

Patrick- The location for sure is going to be something spectacular and we believe it’s going to begin the greatest generation of [Joel’s] restaurant. Now we are totally all over the world and I think this one, as [Joel] said, it’s going to be the nicest one in the world.