A Solution for Social Distancing in Restaurants
In cities such as New York, restaurants have expanded onto the street and sidewalks.
During COVID-19, outdoor dining has provided a lifeline for restaurants across the country.
The Times Square Alliance recently celebrated numerous pandemic-driven projects in public spaces across New York City. These projects utilized street lanes to carve out space for curbside dining and office space, in response to the pandemic.
For one project, Brooklyn-based design firm, Fantástica created fast casual street furniture by integrating Cincinnati-based Hollaender Manufacturing’s speed-rail aluminum pipe fittings and Yodock safety barriers by Trinity Highway.
Fantastica is working on three pilot projects in Times Square, on Wall Street and near the Empire State Building.
As COVID-19 has forced diners outside, many localities and landlords are making adjustments. In many cities, including Washington DC, restaurants are expanding outdoor dining areas, even into streets.
“Restaurants are among the retailers to see strong restrictions but have also been able to adapt,” said Scott Grossfeld, partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson, in a previous GlobeSt.com interview. “In many jurisdictions, restaurants are still prohibited from serving customers within their premises. Their only option is to serve customers in exterior locations, such as patio areas, sidewalk locations, common areas or other temporary exterior locations within the center or using take-out or pick-up service. The landlords of many open-air centers have been creative and flexible with tenants in allowing them to use many exterior portions of shopping centers not previously used for outside dining, to help these retailers save their businesses.”
In other cases, people have utilized parking lots to watch movies. Mason Asset Management, which buys distressed malls in partnership with Namdar Realty Group, has been exploring turning its parking lots into movie theaters or concert venues, according to Elliot Nassim, president of the company.
“We have an entire specialty leasing team now just focused on the parking lot and the ancillary income,” Nassim told GlobeSt.com in an earlier interview. “If you have good real estate, you have the potential to do so much with it, and we are excited to have new, non-traditional opportunities to continue adding value to our properties.”
Mason Asset Management has also allowed small businesses to use its parking lots. “We have also opened our parking lots to local businesses and food truck vendors to take advantage of traffic coming in for curbside pick-up services that some retailers chose to participate in,” Nassim said.