Landlord May Hit Blue Water Grill With Same Astronomic Rent Hike Faced by Union Square Cafe

Union Square Cafe is not the only major restaurant in that area to be faced with an astronomic rent increase. The nearby Blue Water Grill, BR Guest's generally popular upscale seafood restaurant, shares a landlord (David Ellis Real Estate) with Danny Meyer's original New York restaurant, and according to industry sources, he plans to hike the rent by close to a million dollars when the lease is up next fall. In the meantime, the BR Guest crew has begun searching the area for a new home in case they can't reach an agreement. Though they won't confirm the amount their rent may spike, they do admit they are shopping around. "We are committed to staying in Union Square and we have a good relationship with the landlord, so we hope very much to be able to negotiate a new lease, but we are looking for back-up in case that doesn't happen,'' a spokesman for the restaurant group tells Eater. Blue Water Grill, 31 Union Square West