RXR Signs 17,000-Square-Foot Lease Bringing The Smith and Parla to Times Square

RXR has signed a 17,000-square-foot retail lease at 582 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, bringing restaurant concepts The Smith and Parla to the ground floor of the former 5 Times Square office tower. The deal, announced August 30, marks a significant step in RXR's broader effort to reposition the 38-story Midtown building as a mixed-use destination anchored by food and beverage tenants.

Corner Table Restaurants signed the multi-level lease to house a fifth New York City location of The Smith, an American brasserie, alongside a slice-shop outpost of pizza concept Parla — the first time the two brands will share a single location. The combined venue is expected to offer approximately 300 seats, along with bar space and multiple private dining and event areas. Both concepts are targeted to open in early 2028.

A Conversion at Scale: Office Tower Becomes Mixed-Use Property

The 582 Seventh Avenue property, situated at the corner of West 41st Street and formerly known as 5 Times Square, was originally developed as the headquarters for Ernst & Young and completed in 2002. The approximately 1.1-million-square-foot tower had reached roughly 77% vacancy before RXR and its partners elected to pursue a residential conversion rather than re-lease the vacant office floors.

RXR, Apollo Global Management, and SL Green Realty co-own the leasehold through a long-term ground lease with the City of New York. Together, they are converting approximately 917,000 square feet of vacant office space into about 1,250 rental apartments, with 313 units designated as permanently affordable at a weighted average of 80% of area median income. The conversion was approved by Empire State Development in 2025 and is expected to generate approximately 1,400 construction jobs and 830 permanent positions. The project carries an average projected monthly rent of around $2,174, with studios comprising a significant share of the unit mix.

To finance the residential conversion, RXR, Apollo, and SL Green secured a $575.3 million construction loan. The conversion is being executed in phases, in part to accommodate an existing office lease held by Roku, which occupies approximately 240,000 square feet through 2033.

Retail Strategy: F&B as an Anchor for Residential Lease-Up

The mixed-use plan at 5 Times Square calls for more than 37,000 square feet of retail at the base of the tower. The 17,000-square-foot lease to Corner Table Restaurants represents the most significant retail commitment announced to date and positions The Smith and Parla as flagship tenants for the building's ground-floor commercial program.

RXR noted that food and beverage storefronts within 42BELOW — its branding for the sub-grade and lower-level retail zone in the Times Square corridor — have grown 15.3% over the past two years. The firm has framed the new lease as part of a curated F&B strategy designed to serve both the future residential population at 582 Seventh Avenue and the broader daytime and visitor traffic concentrated around Times Square and Bryant Park.

Market Context: Times Square Retail and Office-to-Residential Momentum

The 5 Times Square conversion is among the most high-profile office-to-residential projects in New York since the pandemic, reflecting a wider trend of repositioning underutilized Midtown office stock amid elevated vacancy rates and sustained remote-work pressures. State and city officials have pointed to the project as a model for deploying economic development tools — including affordable housing mandates and construction financing support — to unlock large-scale conversions that would otherwise face significant capital hurdles.

The timing of the retail lease, with an opening target aligned to the building's initial residential occupancy, reflects a deliberate sequencing strategy: ground-floor food and beverage tenants are increasingly used in office-to-residential conversions to establish a lifestyle identity for the property ahead of apartment lease-up. The Smith and Parla's combined footprint at 582 Seventh Avenue is structured to serve both a neighborhood dining function for future residents and a higher-volume visitor draw given the property's Times Square corner location.

About the Tenants

The Smith operates as an American brasserie with existing New York City locations; the 582 Seventh Avenue outpost will be its fifth in the city. Parla is a pizza concept that will operate a slice-shop format within the shared space. Both brands are operated under the Corner Table Restaurants umbrella. The two concepts have not previously shared a single location.

Sources

• RXR — RXR Opening The Smith and Parla at Reimagined 5 Times Square