Grand Central Terminal is transforming every available nook and cranny into bars and restaurants as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority spearheads the largest expansion of hospitality businesses at the railroad hub in decades, The Post has learned.
A mix of fine dining and quick eats is coming to the storied Beaux-Arts temple that has been an icon of the city for over a century.
Officials took a good hard look at the massive hub to find new space for the offerings.
A 95-square-foot elevator shaft with doors that open onto Vanderbilt Plaza will be converted into a grab-and-go counter, while a shuttered Chase Bank ATM on the lower-level dining concourse will be folded into a new bar and cafe, according to the MTA, which is the terminal’s landlord.
“We’re trying to diversify food and beverage options to make the terminal even more of a destination for people and events,” David Florio, the MTA’s chief real estate transactions officer, told The Post.
The decision to open more bars and eateries in the 113-year-old site is being driven by massive new office buildings that have recently sprouted in Midtown East — increasing foot traffic to the neighborhood — and by the “thriving” restaurant scene already in the terminal, Florio said.
But the cash-strapped MTA is also responding to a $300 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2027, which it says will balloon to $500 million in 2028. Squeezing dollars out of non-productive spaces in a terminal that draws an average of 750,000 visitors daily is a no-brainer, experts say.
To that end, a brand new, 250-seat restaurant, Osteria Centrale, will open this fall where a Rite Aid drugstore had been for 25 years.
“When we RFPed the space, none of the surviving pharmacies were interested,” Florio said of the 8,000-square-foot floorplan.
Osteria Centrale’s operator, Vizz Group, is no stranger to the terminal. It opened Grand Brasserie in Vanderbilt Hall two years ago. Along with the Osteria, it will run grab-and-go market Mercato Centrale.
Osteria Centrale will become the fifth high-end venue in the terminal and follows Palladino’s Steak & Seafood restaurant. It opened in September on the north and west balconies of the great hall, where Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse shuttered seven years ago.
Palladino’s also took over the Taxi Stand space on Vanderbilt Avenue, building an enclosed bar there to allow for year-round use.
Now the MTA wants to do the same thing next door with the seasonal bar run by the storied Campbell Apartment cocktail lounge, according to a request for proposals with a Tuesday deadline.
The landmarked space was originally built as an opulent office leased by financier and railroad executive John W. Campbell in the 1920s.
The lease for the the Campbell Apartment is up for renewal in 18 months, its current operator and nightlife impresario Scott Gerber told The Post.
He will be among the bidders submitting a proposal to operate the swanky lounge, which costs more than $1 million annually in rent.
Building an enclosed bar in the Taxi Stand will allow the MTA to command a higher rent in the Campbell Apartment’s outdoor space, Gerber said.
The rent hike comes as alcohol consumption and sales are down globally – forcing Gerber to expand the bar’s food menu and add live music to draw customers. He’s hosting more corporate events, too.
Similarly, Dolce Cipriani – located on the west balcony across from Palladino’s – has a smaller bar after a six-month renovation that ended in July.
Cipriani signed a new lease for the space, where bartenders have been been slinging negronis and bellinis for 24 years, and it replaced a chunk of the bar with a pastry vitrine. The menu also includes a greater selection of salads and pastas, a spokesperson told The Post.
Cipriani added plush carpeting, sofas and white tablecloths while expanding its all-day menu.
Meanwhile, in the lower level dining concourse, the MTA wants to develop a large bar and cafe in the Sidecar Dining Area, which was a seating area with tabletops that has been empty for the past year.
An RFP for Sidecar will be issued in September, with the plan calling for converting the adjacent, shuttered Chase ATM into a food preparation space, according to Florio.