A Hamptons-based Indian restaurant that until four years ago had a spot in the city is making its grand return to Manhattan after inking a long-term lease in NoHo, the building’s landlords and the eatery’s owners announced this week.
Hampton Chutney, which has been a staple on the East End of Long Island since 1997 — serving South Indian-inspired dosas and chutneys — has signed a 15-year lease to occupy 2,786 square feet at 740 Broadway. Midtown-based firm GFP Real Estate is the landlord of the 12-story building, between Waverly and Astor places.
The eatery is owned by married couple Isabel and Gary MacGurn, who met at an ashram in South India while doing service work in a kitchen. They started making their own dosas, which are filled with various savory ingredients, including the traditional potato masala, in 1995 and then opened their first restaurant in Amagansett two years later. They relocated to East Hampton in 2021.
Their original flagship was so successful that they soon expanded to the city, settling into digs at 68 Prince St. in SoHo, where they stayed for 15 years until the landlord didn’t renew the lease, said Isabel MacGurn. They moved three blocks away to Grand Street, but Covid caused that location to shutter.
The couple plans to open the NoHo spot this fall after completing renovations and building out the space with proper ventilation, said Isabel MacGurn, who added that their son Ravi will help manage the restaurant with plans to expand the brand elsewhere in the city.
The new location comprises 1,256 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 1,530 square feet of storage space in the basement. Other ground-floor retail tenants in the building include Potbelly and The Donut Pub, while office tenants include blockchain company Skip Protocol, coworking space The Writers Room and financial consultant Exbo Group.
It’s unclear how much the MacGurns are paying, but the asking rent for office space in the building ranges between $51 and $63 per square foot, according to information from CoStar. Isabel MacGurn declined to comment on the cost of their lease.
GFP Real Estate’s Neith Stone, along with Newmark’s Ross Kaplan and William Chaplin represented the landlord in the transaction. CBRE’s Spencer Levy represented the tenant.
