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BENNY JAKUPAJ: When I heard about Sandy, really, I wasn't
too stressed out, because I was thinking back a year
prior, we had Hurricane Irene, which they were making a big
deal, and really nothing happened.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: I'd like to give everybody a little more
of an update on the city's preparations for Hurricane
Sandy right now.
BENNY JAKUPAJ: After the storm, I
walked into Wall Street.
There were all the garbage cans.
There were bags, sandbags, everything laid on the street.
Nobody was walking.
So when I opened the front door, not at the back but it
was like someplace dark, no lighting, and full of water.
Then it was unbelievable.
I just took a breath, and I said, you know what?
Let me go upstairs.
And I just started thinking, what should I do to get the
place moving?
Before Sandy, really, we weren't
expecting to do any changes.
Maybe small changes here and there.
Since we were down to the ground with the water and
everything was ripped out, we said, you know what?
Let's take a chance and speed up the process, and just give
the place a new look.
DWAYNE CLARK: Benny and Nick, who are the owners of the
restaurant, they contacted the office.
And two hours after they contacted us, I met with them.
And the main objective was, they got destroyed by Sandy.
They told us that they had two weeks, and we
hit the ground running.
BENNY JAKUPAJ: We are working 12, 13, 14 hours a day.
It's because December is a big, big month for us.
And we try and-- all my clients, all the parties that
we have, all the people that are supposed to come in-- not
to disappoint them.
DWAYNE CLARK: The name of the restaurant, Giardino d'Oro,
means garden, Italian garden.
And we wanted to take the casualness of what they had
prior and really take it up a notch.
BENNY JAKUPAJ: You know, we always say, once it's done,
we've got to look for a solution to get it better.
The first floor didn't look bad because there was not much
water left up there.
DWAYNE CLARK: One of the things that we did on the
first floor dining room is remove the wall-to-wall carpet
and brought in this unbelievable tile to create an
old Venetian, sort of basically rustic barn wood,
elevating the character of what the restaurant had before
to be a casual outside garden, too a
much more formal aesthetic.
We wanted to keep the front first floor of the restaurant
light so that it really flowed with the stone.
They were water damaged throughout.
We had some sprinklers that had went off because of fire
issues, potentially, in the building.
So one of detriments and the most negative aspects of the
conditions here were the flood, but also, the water
came in from the ceiling as well.
Literally, the furniture that was here before--
the dining tables, the dining chairs--
all ruined.
We brought in master crafts woodworkers and artisans
that's going to be basically take this millwork and cocoon
it with the original molding that was here.
One of the things you have to keep in mind with such a large
space that's going house pretty much 125
people are the acoustics.
We have to treat the walls equivalent to be
sound-absorbed, and the lighting has to be just right
for safety issues, but yet still keeping in mind with the
intimate setting.
What are we going to be doing in this space?
We have Maya Romanoff wall coverings that's going to be
on the ceiling.
We have fabric manufacturers, such as Kravet, Duralee--
some of the leading
manufacturers here in the city.
One of the things we're most proud of here in this
downstairs areas is our master-crafted woodworking.
The wainscoting that's taken from the minute you walk in
takes you all the way around the dining room, takes you all
the way to the other end of our wine cellar.
So when someone is sitting at a dining table height, we
wanted them to actually be submerged in this gorgeous
millwork, in return achieving the same thing of increasing
the height of the ceiling.
The flood here took the height of the water approximately 30
inches, which is exactly table height, dining table height.
The chairs were submerged.
Down here it's going to be unbelievably, remarkably cozy.
You're going to have a dining table that's going to seat 25
people, and you're going to have old world Venetian
chandeliers.
So it could be an intimate seating for 10, up to 25
people, and one of the oldest wine collections in the city
of Manhattan.
We're going to bring in stone from the end of this millwork,
all the way down to the end of the wall, that totally will
enclose you and cocoon you into an unbelievable dining
experience.
BENNY JAKUPAJ: Dwayne's plans about the place?
I think he did it well.
I must say, he did it well.
I mean, in the beginning, it was hard to believe him.
But as we moved on, it looks great, and I think we'll look
forward in the future, also, maybe when we open different
restaurants, we will like to use him again and again, as
long as we'll be around.
DWAYNE CLARK: I walked into this space and the first thing
I thought was, damn, I'm glad they found us.
Really thrilled to give them a complete transformation.
Flood, two weeks, put your Thanksgiving, your personal
life, your business life aside and camp out here for two
weeks in the middle of a holiday.
Most challenging hospitality project ever.
ERIKA STORM WASSER: Hey, guys.
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