A new, strategic curation at Rockefeller Center underscores the importance of smartly assembling tenants to create magnetic destinations, said Joseph Simone of Simone Development Companies.
“Medical-office developments are increasingly seeing restaurants, health clubs and medi-spas in the tenant mix because tenants demand amenities and the public needs destinations,” said Joe Simone, President of Simone Development Companies. “The retail overhaul of one of America’s top tourist sites demonstrates how landlords must keep up with the latest dining trends to continue drawing crowds.”
More than a dozen new restaurants are expected to open at Rockefeller Center by early fall as part of an effort to refresh retail at the 80-year-old campus. The idea behind Rockefeller Center’s retail overhaul is that an office complex can become an enviable neighborhood that serves tenants while also drawing in the outside world.
Simone Development Companies embraced this mixed-use ethos as it built the 42-acre Hutchinson Metro Center in the northeast Bronx. The campus is anchored by the Montefiore Medical Center, which occupies the entirety of Tower Two and parts of Tower One, but the complex also includes a Residence Inn and an LA Fitness health club.
“We are working towards a retail mix that will enhance the environment for our tenants’ employees. We also recognize that our Hutchinson Metro Center must serve as a community hub where residents from surrounding neighborhoods will eventually enjoy meals, shop, and relax,” said Joanna Simone, Principal & Vice President of Leasing and Property Management Operations of Simone Development Companies.
Another curation effort is the installation of baseball fields at the Hutchinson Metro Center that will increase the campus’ community appeal. The fields will be used by local little leagues as part of an effort to bring industry and community together on an academic and life science campus that promotes both healthy lifestyles and green building technologies.
Simone Development Companies is in the process of expanding its Hutchinson Metro Center campus to include life-science-focused laboratories for medical research. The campus will sit next to a new Metro-North train station that will soon provide commuters direct access in 25 minutes to Penn Station and New York City’s other innovation corridors.
Simone Development Companies is a fully integrated private real estate investment and development company that acquires and develops healthcare, mixed-use, office, industrial, retail and residential properties. Headquartered at the Hutchinson Metro Center, it boasts a portfolio of over 7 million square feet throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Long Island, Westchester, Orange and Fairfield Counties and New Jersey. With services spanning acquisition, development, construction, finance, asset management, accounting, leasing and property management, Simone Development Companies is set apart by its creatively oriented management team, long-term asset ownership and its pursuit of visionary development.
Joe Simone, President and CEO of Simone Development