Rainbow Room Office Conversion Rumors Persist

Rockefeller Center: Throughout the very public and acrimonious battle between the Ciprianis, the current operators of the famed Rainbow Room atop 30 Rockefeller Center, and Tishman Speyer, their landlord, the Cipriani family has claimed that Tishman plans on converting the historic space into offices. For their part, the developer's reps contend they want to keep the space as a restaurant but want better and more capable operators who will actually pay their rent. Fair enough, but the Cips aren't the only ones spreading this office conversion rumor. An interesting piece of intel from the tipline:

"Apparently some Rainbow Room employees have witnessed reps from architecture firm Gensler coming in several times over past couple weeks (since Tishman and Cipriani settled lawsuit re: Cipriani's exit by Aug 1), scoping out plans for conversion to office space for occupancy by Lazard, which currently controls floors below Rainbow Room and Grill."

We have yet to confirm the info, but restaurateurs planning on bidding on the space may want to keep in mind that the future of the Rainbow Room is not a certain one. We'll be looking into this further, but any and all tips are welcome.
· Ciprianis Agree to Leave Rainbow Room August 1 [~E~]
· Tishman Speyer Kicks the Ciprianis out of the Rainbow Room [~E~]