Manhattan West adds American favorite PJ Clarke’s to thriving roster

Brookfield’s thriving Manhattan West complex already had Italian, Middle Eastern, Spanish and Japanese restaurants. Soon, it will add home-town American favorite P.J. Clarke’s to the mix.

The eatery, officially known as P.J. Clarke’s Oyster Bar & Grille, signed a lease for 7,500 square feet at 424 W. 34th St., aka 4 Manhattan West —  a boutique office building between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.

It’s the only century-old property at the eight-acre Manhattan West site which Brookfield developed to the tune of $5 billion.

The new P.J. is owner Phil Scotti’s fourth in Manhattan, joining the 1884 original at Third Avenue and East 55th Street and locations in Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side and at Brookfield Place downtown.

Going far beyond hamburgers, it will also sell dishes using local fish and shellfish.

Manhattan West is by some measures the most successful of Manhattan’s three great new commercial complexes. The planned western half of Hudson Yards remains undeveloped. The World Trade Center is still one tower short of its planned quartet and plagued by unfilled retail spaces.

But Manhattan West was largely a cakewalk for Brookfield and its partner Qatar Investment Authority despite the pandemic and office-market crash.

Its new office towers, the Pendry Hotel, the Eugene rental apartment tower and several public plazas were completed on schedule on a platform above busy railroad tracks.

One Manhattan West tower is 99% leased; recently completed Two Manhattan West is 84% leased; and Five Manhattan West is 100% leased. Tenants include Skadden, Amazon, R/GA, Accenture, Ernst & Young, JPMorgan Chase, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the NHL, and Spanish financial firm BBVA which claimed 74,000 square feet in November.

Stores include Whole Foods, Peloton and the NHL. Major restaurants include Ci Siamo, ZouZou and Casa Dani.