Korean Chef Jiho Kim to Open Flagship Restaurant at 21 West 17th Street

Korean chef Jiho Kim has leased 3,120 square feet at 21 West 17th Street in Manhattan’s Flatiron District for his namesake flagship restaurant, Jiho. 

The New American eatery with a Korean-inspired menu will take up 1,868 square feet on the ground floor and 1,252 square feet of basement space at the Flatiron location between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, Commercial Observer has learned. Asking rent was $120 per square foot.

Carson Shahrabani and Noam Aziz of Meridian Capital Group negotiated on behalf of Kim in the transaction.

“Jiho has been searching for his flagship location restaurant, and it was a pleasure to finally find the perfect site for him after showing him spaces for years,” Shahrabani told CO.

Kim is the founder of the West Village restaurant Joomak and Olly Olly Market food hall restaurant Ddobar in West Chelsea. Joomak is temporarily closed, according to Yelp, and DDOBAR officially closed its doors in March of this year. 

The midblock address at 21 West 17th Street is within Louie, a two-building condominium complex developed by Vinbaytel Property Development. The building, completed in July 2024, includes 21 full-floor condo units. Its second retail space, located on the north side of the block at 16 West 18th Street, was leased to chef Andrew Sargent for his first New York City restaurant earlier this month.

Ripco Real Estate’s Ben Davis and Alex Svetlakou represented the landlord. A spokesperson for the team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.