In 2023, five years after founding his buzzy West Village-based American Bar, restaurateur Kyle Hotchkiss Carone had a revelation. “Our guests are part of our family, but people move,” he said. “So, we decided, let’s move with them.”
American Bar set its sights uptown — and now, Carone is opening a new Upper East Side outpost, which is helping morph the long-established, though sometimes stodgy, area into one with an edgier downtown vibe.
Opening in 2025 at 1022 Lexington Ave., the uptown American Bar will seat almost 100 diners and offer a similar menu to its downtown location, with bites ranging from hamachi crudo and a wedge salad to miso black cod and filet mignon.
Traditionally, the Upper East Side felt more like a suburb of Manhattan, quiet and quite separated from the pulse of downtown, which was long a perk for families calling the area home. Not anymore.
Today, its streets are vibrating, feeling ever younger. Dotted with new luxury residential developments boasting enviable amenities, exclusive club-like restaurants, trendy art galleries and more, residents no longer have to schlep downtown to get their cool fix. It’s all at their doorstep.
“The Upper East Side used to be one thing: a … very traditional neighborhood with one type of architecture,” said David Gromet, vice president of marketing at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group and an area expert, who added recent years saw one big perk arrive in the neighborhood. “The restaurant scene exploded … and then cooler institutions began to move to the Upper East Side.”
That energy brought with it a renewed demand for living in the area, which development statistics continue to show.
According to Robin Schneiderman, managing director of Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing, the nabe had a robust 2024.
“The Upper East Side new development market … [eclipsed] $1 billion in sales volume with 175 signed contracts across 15 buildings,” he said, adding that there’s more to come in the next one to three years or so. “Looking to the future, the Upper East Side has one of the deeper condo pipelines in Manhattan with approximately 300 units planned across 10 projects.”
Numbers aside, residents are simply excited to live there as it continues to develop.
Lured in by the neighborhood’s growing number of “modern, sleek, sexy buildings with decked-out rooftops,” lawyer Kimberly Cozza closed last month on a three-bedroom home at the Matteo, the standout slate gray-clad tower designed by Woods Bagot at 323 E. 79th St. Completed in 2023, the building has a lush rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen, a lounge and dining areas, plus sweeping city vistas.
Cozza is slowly moving into her 1,910-square-foot residence from Holliston, Massachusetts, where she raised her two children. However, as a native New Yorker who spent the last 20 summers living on the Upper East Side, Cozza knew suburban life was not for her. And in the city, she wanted to be at the center of it all.
“No one wants to spend 50 minutes in an Uber to get downtown. Now, we don’t need to, it’s all here,” she said of her new area. The neighborhood’s blend of history and modernity “echoed the downtown vibe but with community” she was looking for.
Elyse Leff, vice president of marketing and sales for Elad Group — developer of the Pelli Clarke & Partners-designed The 74, at 201 E. 74th St. — saw a gap in the local market that needed to be filled with something more on point with the downtown feel.
“Today’s Upper East Side is vibrant and exciting while retaining all its hallmark glamour and elegance — it’s a cultural epicenter,” she said. “We saw that shift happening in the restaurants, lounges, galleries and retail, but residential real estate wasn’t quite keeping pace. The neighborhood needed a more contemporary offering.”
Still, in certain aspects, what’s old is new again. London-based billionaire real estate developers the Reuben Brothers’ renovation of the 98-year-old Surrey hotel adds 100 luxe guest rooms and suites with 14 private homes to the neighborhood. Of particular note, it’s home to a recently debuted $50 million penthouse.
Pradeep Raman, Managing Director of the Surrey, has seen the neighborhood’s growing vibrancy. “We’ve pulled great inspiration from our building’s history and the area’s enduring legacy, while also staying focused on the future and bringing a new energy to our address.”
Located at 20 E. 76th St., Surrey residents have full access to all hotel services — including the spa and the fitness center — as well as an exclusive membership to the coveted Casa Tua club.
Casa Tua — hailing from South Beach — has a public restaurant, replacing Café Boulud, and a soon-to-open private club, accessible from inside the lobby. Casa Tua’s interior has a luxe library feel, with its dim lighting, curated bookshelves, cozy banquets and moody mirrors.
Dining-wise, there’s even more in the area, thanks to restaurateurs and brothers, David and Joshua Foulquier, who were raised on the Upper East Side.
The brothers, who own the two-Michelin star Sushi Noz, this week opened the 2,000-square-foot Chez Fifi, a restaurant named in memory of their mother. The result, beyond a stylish two-floor space: a French menu with Basque accents.
“There are a tremendous amount of high-net-worth individuals who know a thing or two about a thing or two who live on the Upper East Side,” said David Foulquier. “They want to eat well and drink well where they live.”
Even Robin Birley, the London club king whose 5 Hertford St. set the stage for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first date, has had his eyes on the Upper East Side. In 2022, chatter swirled that we would open a 12,000-square-foot dining club on Madison Avenue, The Post reported.
If home is where the heart is, then it’s also where the art is. The neighborhood has long been the stage for the Met, the Guggenheim, the Frick and the Neue Gallery alongside the world’s blue-chip galleries, like Gagosian. Recently, smaller, trendier gallerists have moved north. Last year, Lincoln Glenn Gallery did just that.
“The Upper East Side is a collector’s neighborhood,” said gallery co-founder Doug Gold. “Many of our clients live close to the gallery and have been here for years. At the same time we’re starting to see a younger audience coming in, they’re moving to the neighborhood and they’re starting to buy art.”
A presence on the Upper East Side since 2016, Marcelo Zimmler, founder of Upsilon Gallery, which specializes in American post-war and contemporary works, now has two Upper East Side locations — in addition to Miami and London.
“When I decided to move from Midtown, I didn’t consider just the Upper East side, but also Soho and Chelsea,” Zimmler said. “Chelsea felt very deserted and Soho didn’t feel like the right fit … The Upper East side is a destination and an area where you can experience several things at the same time, from fine dining, to culture and entertainment.”