Howard Hughes’ Seaport Project Will Have an E-Commerce Play
The 53,000-square-foot Tin Building marketplace will reopen next year sporting a robust e-commerce platform for its mix of retailers and restaurants.
The Howard Hughes Corp. is completely reconstructing Manhattan’s historic Tin Building as part of its ambitious $1.4 billion proposal to revitalize the city’s Seaport District. The 53,000-square-foot marketplace is expected to reopen next year sporting a robust e-commerce platform for its mix of retailers and restaurants.
The company’s proposal, unveiled in October, will also bring mixed-income development and the area’s first affordable housing units to the market in decades. The project is located on a full-city block surface parking lot at 250 Water Street in the South Street Seaport Historic District area.
To spearhead the Tin Building’s e-commerce initiative, the company has hired Nathaniel Milner—an industry veteran with almost 20 years in the E-commerce and culinary realms—as vice president of E-commerce and Logistics. Another chief player in the marketplace’s revamp is chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who will curate a new culinary experience for visitors.
“With e-commerce and delivery playing an increasingly essential role in today’s world, we want to provide visitors to the Tin Building’s new marketplace with the best cohesive consumer-focused experience—both from a restaurant and a retail point of view, whether people are ordering online or shopping and dining in person at the Seaport,” said Saul Scherl, president of the New York Tri-State Region for The Howard Hughes Corp. in prepared remarks.
Milner has spent the last two decades working in the restaurant delivery space with industry leaders including Whole Foods, Amazon, Grubhub, and Dining In. He points out that customer behavior has radically changed in the pandemic with the rapidly accelerated adoption of online food ordering. “Pairing reliable, high-quality customer service and logistics on top of the culinary expertise of Jean-Georges will provide an unmatched experience which will distinguish the Tin Building from anything else in the marketplace today,” he said in prepared remarks.