At the end of July you could still pick up a smoothie at 415 Greenwich, a cookie at 325, and a juice at 295. By early October all three counters had closed. Over the same few months, a corner at North Moore that had sat empty for years got two new restaurants with a full-length bar, a covered sidewalk café and a private room behind sliding doors.
Most of the places that closed on Greenwich Street were counters you walked out of with a cup or a bag. Most of the places that opened are rooms built around tables. If you walk this stretch every day, it has become a street you sit down on.
The counters that closed
Here are the closures, from south to north.
- Joe & The Juice, 295 Greenwich, between Chambers and Warren, served its last day on Friday, July 31, with the chain saying it would relocate nearby. The new location is 100 Church at Park Place, in the former Pret A Manger. No opening date has been given.
- Koh's Kids, 311 Greenwich, the children's clothing shop, was reported permanently closed on September 24.
- Chip City, 325 Greenwich, closed when the cookie chain shut every one of its locations, reported October 5.
- Juice Press, 415 Greenwich at Laight, was reported permanently closed on August 4.
Three of the four were quick-service food. One of those spaces is set to become a bank. In August, Tribeca Citizen reported that a Chase branch was taking the former Joe & The Juice space and might also take the adjacent former Gee Whiz space. One counter did arrive. Matchaful, a matcha café, soft-opened on August 25 at Greenwich and Harrison in Independence Plaza. It is the exception on this stretch.
The Caliza corner becomes two rooms
The clearest example of the shift is 378 Greenwich at North Moore. According to Tribeca Citizen's first look at Suram, the space lay dormant for years before it was fitted out for the Mexican restaurant Caliza. The Phillips family, who opened their first Friedmans in Chelsea Market in 2009, have now split the corner in two.
Suram Sushi + Ramen opened in late August in the smaller half. That half was Caliza's ice cream and to-go side, and it is now a small, cozy dining room. The first Suram opened in 2023 at 60th Street and West End Avenue. Tribeca Citizen's visit priced seaweed salad at $10 and salmon crispy rice with togarashi at $18. Ramen, udon and the signature maki run around $20 each. It serves lunch, opening at 11:30 a.m. every day.
Friedmans Tribeca took the larger room next door and was open by mid-September. The layout is where the changes show. Tribeca Citizen's sneak peek describes an elevated sidewalk café that is partly covered and a private room in back with sliding doors. The architects took out the raised section of the dining room, and the bar still runs the full length of the south side, as it did at Caliza. Taking out a raised platform puts the whole room on one level, so tables and the bar can be arranged as one continuous space.
The menu is built around all-day breakfast, with lemon ricotta pancakes, pastrami hash and B.E.L.T.s. At dinner there is schnitzel, brick chicken, meatloaf and burgers. On Saturdays and Sundays it opens at 9 a.m. The listed weekday opening is 11 a.m., though Tribeca Citizen thought the doors actually open at 10.
Familiar addresses, new menus
The same thing is happening farther up and down the street, where existing rooms are getting new concepts.
At 458 Greenwich and Desbrosses, North Bar closed for the summer after its last night in late July, with plans to come back under a new name. It reopened as True North, reported open on September 28 as Katie Leonard's refresh of the space. North Bar was known as a cocktail bar. True North's menu leans much more toward food: zucchini fritters, aguachile, tacos, tempura shrimp, chicken tinga nachos, wings, a smash burger and churros.
Upon the Palace opened on Greenwich in late 2023 and introduced a new menu on October 9. It was developed with Jiang Wentao, a fourth-generation chef and culinary heritage practitioner who specializes in Chu cuisine, where freshwater fish, lotus root, rice and seasonal produce play a central role. The restaurant also planned a reopening celebration for October 20, with all food complimentary and drinks for purchase. Bookings go through its reservations page. The name plays on Epang Palace, the palace complex built under Qin Shi Huang, China's first emperor. Few places on this street put a regional Chinese cooking tradition at the center of the menu, so Chu cuisine with a named heritage chef behind it is a real addition.
The biggest room is still coming
The largest change on Greenwich Street hasn't opened yet. The owners of Beefbar are building Ludico Tribeca in the former Sarabeth's space at 339 Greenwich and Jay, inside the old Bazzini building. David Rockwell, who has lived in Tribeca for years, designed it with 150 seats in the front rooms on Greenwich. The plan removes the front bar Sarabeth's had and builds a longer one in the back room, which exits onto Jay. The building's vaulted ceilings stay. The passage between the two spaces becomes a wine room, and an interior private dining room sits under an old-school skylight. Art from Tribeca galleries Alexander Gray Associates and Nino Mier will hang throughout.
In Tribeca Citizen's July preview, Mahween Rahman described the food as Italian "through the lens of a New York family," adding, "It won't be a typical red sauce joint." The family plans to stock 3,000 bottles of wine. In July the opening was about three months away, possibly shortly after Labor Day, with lunch, outdoor dining and private parties in the back room all planned. No firm date has been announced since, so keep an eye on the Jay Street corner.
The street, address by address
| Address | Before | This fall |
|---|---|---|
| 295 Greenwich | Joe & The Juice | Chase branch reported in August |
| 311 Greenwich | Koh's Kids | Closed, reported September 24 |
| 325 Greenwich | Chip City | Closed, reported October 5 |
| 339 Greenwich at Jay | Sarabeth's | Ludico Tribeca, opening date to come |
| 378 Greenwich at North Moore | Caliza | Friedmans Tribeca and Suram Sushi + Ramen |
| 415 Greenwich at Laight | Juice Press | Closed, reported August 4 |
| 458 Greenwich at Desbrosses | North Bar | True North |
Halloween comes down Greenwich Street
This weekend and next, Greenwich Street is also where Tribeca's Halloween happens, and the parade route runs right past these new rooms.
- Saturday, October 24. The Friends of Washington Market Park hold the 12th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest from 3 to 6 p.m. Bring carved pumpkins to the park between 3 and 5, and judges announce the awards at 5:30. Details are on the contest page.
- Sunday, October 25. The Washington Market Park Halloween Parade lines up at Greenwich and Beach at 12:45 p.m. and steps off at 1 p.m., heading down Greenwich Street to the park. The Queer Big Apple Corps leads it and plays on the park lawn from 1:15 to 2 p.m. After that, the School of Rock House Band plays from the park's gazebo.
- At 21 Jay Street. Residents of 21 Jay put up an elaborate Halloween installation on the corner at Greenwich. For the past few years the building has also closed the street for a block party with an inflated corn maze and a DJ. This year it is an official site in the city's Trick-or-Streets program.
- Saturday, October 31. Neighborhood storefronts hand out candy, and the Friends of Bogardus Plaza host the Halloween Spooktacular at the plaza from 3 to 7 p.m., with lights, sounds and surprises best suited to ages 5 to 12.
The parade has walked this route for years, but this year it passes a different set of storefronts. It now goes by Friedmans' covered sidewalk café and Suram's small dining room in what was Caliza's ice cream and to-go side. It also passes three empty storefronts that sold juice and cookies in the summer.
I trained as an architect, so the details I notice first are a removed platform, a bar moved to the back room, or a to-go counter turned into a dining room. Those choices decide how a ground floor works for the people who live upstairs and down the block. If you own on Greenwich Street, or are thinking about what these changes mean for a building you know, I'm happy to walk the street with you. Victoria Rong Kennedy works in English and Mandarin. Let's Connect.
