It’s taken 22 years since 9/11, but the World Trade Center is finally getting a real, street-level, sit-down restaurant.
Popular Brazilian-style steakhouse Fogo de Chao signed a lease for 5,000 square feet on the ground floor of Three World Trade Center.
Fogo de Chao already operates thriving locations in Midtown and Queens.
It specializes in churrasco-style tableside service of fire-roasted beef, pork and fish.
Downtown Alliance president, who said she’s a fan of Fogo de Chao, called it “great news. That corner has been screaming out for a restaurant. Let them eat steak!”
The 16-acre WTC site, which swarms with office workers and tourists, confoundingly has been without a full-service place to eat (A few cafes at Eataly on the third floor of Four WTC and “grab-and-go” joints in the Oculus don’t count.)
Although Fogo de Chao’s announcement referred to the location as the Oculus, it’s actually in the long-empty retail void of Three WTC at the corner of Church and Cortlandt Streets.
The vacant “podium” has long irked Larry Silverstein, who developed and leased the successful office tower above it.
The retail space is owned by mall operator Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. A predecessor company had supposedly done-deals for two prominent restaurants a few years ago but both collapsed.
