Hudson Yards Developer Is Adding Another Restaurant and Bar to Roosevelt Island

By the time developers finish adding more than 2,000 residential units to sleepy Roosevelt Island, new neighbors will have another place to eat and drink in their midst: Granny Annie’s Bar + Kitchen, a pub from the proprietor of popular Woodside, Queens bar the Beerkeeper.

Dympa Rogers has signed a lease on the 3,500-square-foot restaurant space, which will occupy the ground floor of the 216-unit Riverwalk Landing building at 426 Main Street. Her business, with partner James Paul McDaid and support from husband and Beerkeeper partner Stephen James Rogers, could open as soon as spring 2020, according to a representative for the developer.

The forthcoming pub is one small part in the large, nine-building Riverwalk neighborhood, the latest development from the mega firm behind Hudson Yards, Related Companies, and residential developer Hudson Companies. Like their Hudson Yards Development, construction of Riverwalk on Roosevelt Island is decades in the making: Related/Hudson began work on the housing, which has 40 percent affordable housing and was designed by Handel Architects in 1997. Most recently, they topped out on construction on the eighth of the nine buildings in the complex.

Hudson/Related is busy signing more leases in Riverwalk: Last month, they announced plans to install a speakeasy, bistro, and events space inside the vacant Dayspring Church, and sounds more like it’s trying to get tourists from Manhattan scampering onto the Roosevelt Island tram. Granny Annie’s, though, will cater to Roosevelt Island locals.

“A good bar and restaurant is really needed, where people can go relax and chill out,” Stephen Rogers tells Eater NY. “That’s whats missing, from what we see.”

A menu is still in development. Stephen and Dympa are Irish and will serve some Irish dishes, but that’s not the extent of their business. The new bar is named for Dympa’s mother, Annie — grandmother to twenty.

• Developer opening speakeasy in former Roosevelt Island church [NY Post]
• Related, Hudson top out Riverwalk building on Roosevelt Island [Real Estate Weekly]