When popular Italian restaurant Fresco by Scotto launches Saturday brunch with a live DJ for the first time in October, it might be a celebration of something precious in Midtown — a 10-year lease renewal with a simpatico landlord.
Fresco co-owner Rosanna Scotto, also known for her Channel 5 gig on “Good Day New York,” said 485 Madison Avenue owners Jack Resnick & Sons “really worked with us” on the deal. (Resnick was represented in-house in the renewal by Brett Greenberg and Adam Rappaport. Savills’ Ken Ruderman and Jeff Lagowitz represented Fresco.)
Scotto, who declined to discuss terms, said, “The Resnicks are part of our family.” Her actual family — including mother Marion and Rosanna’s son and daughter LJ and Jenna Ruggiero — opened Fresco in 1993. Since then, its pretty dining rooms and top-flight Italian cuisine have demonstrated rare staying power in the turbulent East Midtown restaurant scene.
But both Fresco and 485 Madison itself are in a precarious location. The building is adjacent to the planned development of a new 350 Park Ave. — a mega-project by Vornado Realty Trust, Rudin and Ken Griffin, whose two separate Citadel companies will be the anchor tenants.
The skyscraper will rise to 1,600 feet — taller than JPMorgan Chase’s new headquarters tower — and requires demolition of three buildings, one of which stands smack against 485 Madison.
“We’ve talked to the developers,” Scotto said. “They’re going to very cognizant of and sensitive to our needs. And the Resnicks really didn’t want to lose us.”
Jonathan Resnick said, “As a family-run firm that’s been around for nearly 100 years, we understand what an achievement it is to maintain a successful business across three generations. We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Rosanna, LJ and Jenna well into the next decade.”
Scotto said she knows her facade will be under a scaffold when demolition starts next year. “But I hope it will be a beautiful scaffold,” she said with her typical good cheer.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
