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Real Estate Weekly - Restaurant plan for Rock house

Developer, Orin Wilf, is set to embark on his first restaurant venture with celebrity chef, Gray Kunz.

The pair plans to open an ultra-exclusive spot in a spectacular eight-story glass atrium that links Wilf's West 53rd Street office to a West 54th Street office tower he also owns. "This will be my first restaurant venture," said Wilf, whose family-owned Garden Homes Development is one of the biggest builders of residential and commercial property in the country. "I'm doing it because I believe in Gray Kunz."

Kunz, who brought Cafe Gray to the Time Warner Center, said the Wilf family's reputation made the venture a no-brainer.

"Orin is not just a landlord, but an investor, too," said Kunz, who shot to fame as the chef at the St Regis' Lespinasse restaurant. "I know the Wiff family and they do things right."

Wilf paid $41 million for the infamous Rockefeller Townhouse on West 53rd in 2004 to use as a base for his Skyline Developments, which is currently building the luxury 170 East End Avenue condo tower on the site of the former Beth Israel Hospital Singer Division.

It has long been rumored that former US vice president Nelson Rockefeller died in the arms of his mistress in the second-floor bedroom of the spectacular 19th century building, which Wilf was told by family members also contained an underground tunnel to the Rockefeller Center.

While he's yet to discover the secret tunnel, he was so inspired by the atrium that he approached Kunz several months ago with the restaurant idea.

The atrium, which is the former home of Restaurant Aquavit, will form the centerpiece of an as yet unnamed new dining venue which Kunz promises will be breathtaking.

"There was something about building a 'normal' restaurant at this location that just didn't work for me," said Kunz, who brainstormed with his Cafe Gray general manager, Richard Hollocou, and controller, Edward B. Rodriguez, Sr, to come up with a concept for the space.

"We thought it be great to do a high end, classic midtown bar, something that really speaks to the era of the Rockefeller family, and because of the space downstairs, do a private, high-end function space." Kunz said the design and decor will have respect for the building. " It is a Rockefeller townhouse. The bar lounge will reflect the era of the Rockefellers: first class, elegant and inviting. The decor will be fairly simple, and somehow, we will have a fireplace, at least in the bar lounge. Whatever we do here, it will be respectful of the original building.

"The building has the bones to do something really spectacular."

With plans to open in the fall, work has already begun on transforming the space into an exclusive restaurant catering to well-heeled Upper East Siders long since deprived of a culinary star.

"Gray is a phenomenal chef and the neighborhood could use a celebrity chef," said Wilf, who already lives in the neighborhood and plans to move his family into 170 East End Avenue once it's complete in 2007.

While they are still working out decor details, Wilf said that one thing has been settled: he wants the elaborate waterfall installed by Aquavit gone. "If anyone wants it, they can have it for free, so long as they take it out themselves."

Kunz, meanwhile, said that, following a very successful year at the Time Warner Center, he was confident Cafe Gray would continue to do well.

"When Orin first approached me, I said that it wouldn't be fair for me to be away from Cafe Gray and he respected that. During the next few months, I brought some incredibly talented people into Cafe Gray and knew I had created a team that would allow me do another project, and be a part of that, as well.

"For Orin, going into this deal as a first restaurant venture is probably the least risky one he could choose. Bar business and private events are the way that restaurants survive. Doing a bar lounge with high end finger food open to the public, and then private events in the dining area below street level. It made so much sense because there is such a lack of great bar/ lounges and private dining facilities in this part of town."