Japanese omakase restaurant to open near Grand Central

We have nothing against banks, but we prefer restaurants to retail branches. An ambitious Japanese dining concept, SORA, just signed a lease for 14,430 square feet at Empire State Realty Trust’s One Grand Central Place between Park and Madison avenues.

It will replace a former First Republic Bank location on the tower’s East 42nd Street side.

SORA, backed by Japan’s publicly-traded Round 1 Corporation, will have six individual rooms, five of them curated by a highly regarded Japanese chef and one with what’s described as a “direct-from-Tokyo cocktail experience.”

SORA signed a lease for 14,430 square feet at Empire State Realty Trust’s One Grand Central Place. Katz

One Grand Central Place stands opposite SL Green’s game-changing One Vanderbilt, home to Daniel Boulud’s Le Pavillon. Fre