Folks may remember when Howl at the Moon was a mainstay at Church Street Market, until that complex was demolished to make way for the much-anticipated (and now mostly empty) 55 West condominium tower. Howl at the Moon was a dueling piano bar where two pianists would get the crowd rolling and singing along. Now comes word that a dueling piano bar called Baby Grands has signed a lease for space at 55 West.
Aaron Gray, associate at Grubb & Ellis|Commercial Florida, who negotiated the transaction for the landlord, FFWO LLC of Amsterdam, said in a statement, “Howl at the Moon was very successful in this center prior to the 55 West tower being built, and we feel that this type of performance based entertainment venue is right in line with the spirit of Church Street moving forward.”
When finished — and no details were given regarding that — Baby Grands will occupy 6600 square feet and accommodate 300 patrons.
It had previously been announced that a restaurant called Blend had also signed a lease. That report gave the impression that the owner of Pranna, a New York restaurant, would be one of the operators of Blend. In fact, the owner of Pranna is not involved — some former associates will be the owners — and was rather surprised to read that he would be opening a new restaurant in Orlando. He will not.
Blend is the restaurant that plans to use high-tech tables, which reportedly will cost in the neighborhood of $10K each, that will allow guests to order food and drink interactively through a computerized interface. We used to call them waiters.