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Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Des­ig­nates Oper­a­tors Behind Taco Vista to Devel­op New Restau­rant and Events Venue

Aug 5, 2024 10:17 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced today that the team behind long-time Gov­er­nors Island ven­dor Taco Vista – includ­ing David Hitch­n­er and Zach Mack of Alpha­bet City Beer Co. and Miche­lin-Star Exec­u­tive Chef Eduard Frauned­er – will be expand­ing to devel­op a year-round, three-part din­ing and events con­cept with­in the water­front his­toric build­ing adja­cent to their exist­ing sea­son­al restau­rant. The team was award­ed the project fol­low­ing a Request for Pro­pos­als released in July 2022 invit­ing oper­a­tors of event, food and bev­er­age, and hos­pi­tal­i­ty venues to ground lease, rede­vel­op and oper­ate the build­ing. The project announced today builds upon the Trust’s recent mile­stone of open­ing Gov­er­nors Island to the pub­lic year-round and sup­ports the long-term vision to expand vis­i­tor ameni­ties while breath­ing new life into fifty land­marked for­mer mil­i­tary buildings.

“Since open­ing to the pub­lic year-round in 2021, Gov­er­nors Island has grown into a des­ti­na­tion for all sea­sons for near­ly one mil­lion vis­i­tors each year,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are excit­ed to announce this new, expand­ed vision from the Taco Vista team that will increase deli­cious, afford­able year-round food offer­ings for vis­i­tors while restor­ing one of Gov­er­nors Island’s most trea­sured his­toric struc­tures at Sois­sons Landing.” 

“Gov­er­nors Island con­tin­ues to be a unique des­ti­na­tion for inno­va­tion, open space, and art in the mid­dle of New York Habor, attract­ing near­ly a mil­lion vis­i­tors a year,” said Deputy May­or for Hous­ing, Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment and Work­force Maria Tor­res-Springer. ​“Taco Vis­ta’s expan­sion into this his­toric space will be a won­der­ful asset for vis­i­tors year-round. The Adams admin­is­tra­tion is proud to sup­port the growth of this small busi­ness on the island with City cap­i­tal funding.”

“Expand­ing food options while also restor­ing his­toric Build­ing 140 is what Gov­er­nors Island is all about: Find­ing new ways to wel­come vis­i­tors year-round and pre­serv­ing the island’s his­to­ry,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“I’m thrilled for this new project and look for­ward to vis­it­ing when it opens.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is a year-round des­ti­na­tion, so it should have great year-round food options,” said New York State Sen­a­tor Andrew Gounardes. ​“By cre­at­ing this new venue while revi­tal­iz­ing a his­toric build­ing, the Trust con­tin­ues to expand the Island’s cul­tur­al offer­ings while pre­serv­ing and uplift­ing its past. Gov­er­nors Island is such a unique space for New York­ers to learn, explore, study our cli­mate and sim­ply enjoy the out­doors — these new food offer­ings make that already-rich expe­ri­ence even rich­er. I can’t wait to stop by to see the fin­ished project.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is set to become an even more vibrant all-sea­son des­ti­na­tion with the addi­tion of these new din­ing options,” said New York State Assem­bly­man Charles Fall. ​“The restora­tion of his­toric Build­ing 140 along­side these excit­ing food venues enhances the island’s cul­tur­al and recre­ation­al appeal. It’s a fan­tas­tic space for New York­ers to explore, learn, and enjoy out­door activ­i­ties. I look for­ward to expe­ri­enc­ing these new offer­ings and see­ing the revi­tal­ized land­mark come to life.”

Expand­ing beyond their sea­son­al water­front con­cept Taco Vista, which has oper­at­ed on Gov­er­nors Island since 2018, the team will be under­tak­ing a care­ful his­toric restora­tion neigh­bor­ing Build­ing 140, while com­plete­ly ren­o­vat­ing the inte­ri­or to cre­ate a mod­ern, mul­ti-use food and bev­er­age con­cept. The 10,000 SF project will include three dis­tinct venues: Priscil­la’s, a year-round café serv­ing cof­fee, pas­tries, and light lunch fare on a dai­ly basis, with an expand­ed menu on its water­front ter­race pair­ing care­ful­ly craft­ed cock­tails, local beers, and small pro­duc­tion wines with a coastal Mediter­ranean-inspired menu; The River­line, an indoor-out­door full-ser­vice restau­rant that will have the abil­i­ty to host spe­cial events; and a reimag­ined Taco Vista serv­ing fam­i­ly-friend­ly Mex­i­can fare and drinks. 

The build­ing is locat­ed adja­cent to Gov­er­nors Island’s pri­ma­ry fer­ry dock with 7‑minute ser­vice to Low­er Man­hat­tan, and fea­tures unob­struct­ed views of the Low­er Man­hat­tan sky­line, Brook­lyn Bridge, and New York Har­bor. Con­struc­tion is antic­i­pat­ed to begin in Win­ter 2024 and be com­plet­ed in Fall 2025.

The project will care­ful­ly restore his­toric Build­ing 140, orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed in the mid-1800s as a muni­tions ware­house and used over the years as a bank and a post office dur­ing the Island’s his­to­ry as a US Army and Coast Guard Base. The design team, led by SHoP Archi­tects, will pre­serve and restore the his­tor­i­cal detail of the building’s exte­ri­or, while cre­at­ing new ADA acces­si­bil­i­ty and improv­ing the adja­cent water­front land­scapes. The build­ing will be one of the first adap­tive reuse project on Gov­er­nors Island with 100% elec­tric oper­a­tions, includ­ing an elec­tri­fied com­mer­cial kitchen, and will include sev­er­al sus­tain­abil­i­ty and resilien­cy improve­ments with the poten­tial for gen­er­at­ing solar pow­er on the roof.

In July 2022, the Trust released a Request for Pro­pos­als seek­ing food devel­op­ers and oper­a­tors of food and bev­er­age con­cepts and event venues to ground lease, rede­vel­op, and oper­ate Build­ing 140. Pro­pos­als were eval­u­at­ed based on the Respondent’s pro­posed pro­gram and vision, includ­ing serv­ing a broad and diverse audi­ence and align­ing with the Trust’s cli­mate and sus­tain­abil­i­ty goals, team and fea­si­bil­i­ty, pro­posed terms, and qual­i­ty of design. 

Gov­er­nors Island has under­gone a tremen­dous trans­for­ma­tion over the last decade, includ­ing the cre­ation of a resilient 43-acre park, a grow­ing arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram, and remark­able growth in audi­ence. Since the Island’s trans­fer to local con­trol, the Trust has over­seen the ren­o­va­tion and leas­ing of more than 500,000 SF of his­toric build­ings. The Island is home to diverse num­ber of year-round ten­ants, includ­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Beam Cen­ter, the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, and QC NY, as well as But­ter­milk Labs — a new mul­ti-ten­ant hub for coastal cli­mate solu­tions announced in Fall 2021. The New York Cli­mate Exchange, a research and edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tion led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a cross-sec­tor con­sor­tium of uni­ver­si­ties, busi­ness­es, and non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, was announced as the anchor part­ner for the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions by May­or Eric Adams and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island in April 2023. 

Now open to the pub­lic year-round, Gov­er­nors Island is home to a robust cal­en­dar of free pub­lic pro­grams and events, out­door recre­ation activ­i­ties, diverse arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, and more to explore. Vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​t​h​i​n​g​s​-​to-do for more infor­ma­tion and to view all upcom­ing events and programs.