17-Story Luxury Condo Building To Replace Papaya King, Iconic Hot Dog Joint, On E. 86th
ZD Realty filed the permits to build an upscale 17-story building on the iconic hot dog restaurant’s original plot. Papaya King’s plans to move to a new spot across the street came asunder last year.
| 19 Apr 2024 | 04:27
The exterior of the beleaguered Papaya King, an iconic hot dog restaraunt that stood for decades on the corner of E. 86th St. & 3rd Ave. ZD Realty, the developer which now owns the plot, has filed permits to build a 17-story luxury condo building on the site. (
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The owner of the plot that houses the now-gutted Papaya King restaurant, on E. 86th St. & Third Ave., plans to erect a 17-story luxury condominium building there. According to permits filed by ZD Realty, who bought the plot from the developer Extell for $24.5 million last October, the building will contain 25 units spanning 57,060 square feet.
The permits, which were filed with the city’s Department of Buildings, also note that 2,692 square feet encompassing the first floor and basement will be devoted to retail.
Papaya King, a hot dog and papaya juice joint that has roots reaching back to 1932, had a few rather rocky years before its closure in 2023.
Imperial Sterling Ltd., which ending up selling the building to Extell in 2021, originally cancelled Papaya King’s lease in 2020 after it claimed that the restaurant owed $120,000 in unpaid rent. After the hot dog joint acquired new owners despite the lease cancellation, Imperial Sterling sued.
Extell, known for its work on Central Park’s Billionaire’s Row and a range of other Upper East Side buildings, requested to take over the lawsuit after it became Papaya King’s new landlord. It also filed demolition plans in 2021. Papaya King settled the suit and moved out in April 2023, claiming that they’d be promptly reopening the restaurant across the street at 1535 Third Ave.
It never came to pass. Instead, Papaya King got hit with another lawsuit in November 2023. The landlord–which identified itself as 3rd & 87th, L.P. in the suit–alleged that this time the restauranteurs owed $372,093 in unpaid rent, not to mention $4 million in damages. That amount would represent their entire time as a tenant at 1535 Third Ave., stretching from March 2023 to the time of the lawsuit.
On Jan. 10 of this year, the plaintiffs discontinued that suit against Papaya King. A settlement was reportedly reached. It is unclear where Papaya King will may a bid to reopen next, if it makes a bid at all.
As of April 17, the owners have yet to remove signs promising the move across the street, which remain plastered on the building’s original exterior. The inside is still scattered with debris.
News of a high rise condo replacing Papaya King “doesn’t surprise me,” a passenger named Nina told Our Town as she waited for the B86 bus. She made a face that hinted she was upset at the prospect, before noting that the restaurant “had good papayas and good hot dogs.”
Olivier, who was new enough to to the neighborhood to have never eaten at Papaya King, nonetheless said that he found the proposal for its replacement to be “perfectly awful.”
“I have no illusions about the influence of residents,” he added. “I would stop it if I could.”
Lynn, who was headed in the other direction, found the saga of Papaya King “depressing.” She also found ZD Realty’s plans emblematic of a larger transformation of the neighborhood: “It’s turning into Avenue of the Americas! There’s no character anymore.”
ZD Realty did not return a request for comment as of press time.