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Just a few weeks after revered longtime PDT bartender Jeff Bell announced the opening of Kees, his new subterranean lounge at 1 Cornelia Street, the cocktail guru has revealed yet another project. In partnership with Marx Realty, Bell is opening a new speakeasy-style concept, this one complete with a hidden entrance and a “complex entry process.” Highball Ltd. is officially open for business—if you can only find it inside the office tower at 10 Grand Central.
Before we get to how you can actually get in, a bit about the space, which is carved out of the building’s 11th-floor Meeting Galleries amenity, a new 11,000-square-foot hub. The entire project is essentially an homage to Grand Central Terminal: the design draws inspiration from all things train, specifically honoring the “golden age of luxury train travel,” according to an official description. The idea is that you’ll feel as though you’re sipping a very good cocktail in the bar car of a train.
The name of the destination is also on theme—doubly so. The moniker nods both to the classic whiskey cocktail and the “highball” railroad signal, when a ball raised to the top of a pole indicated that the track ahead was clear and the running train could proceed.
Highball Ltd. is actually just one quarter of the four distinct spaces that will make up the Meeting Galleries complex, which will also include a 200-person town hall venue called the Grand Gallery, a recording studio featuring state-of-the-art technology dubbed the Podcast Gallery, and the Screening Gallery—a “plush theater with stadium seating and a 150-inch screen beneath a constellation-inspired ceiling reminiscent of Grand Central’s celestial dome.”
But back to the secrecy of it all: you’ll want to look for a red light on Third Avenue near 44th Street. That’s the hidden entrance. Step inside, hop into the freight elevator and head up to the 11th floor. Perfect cocktails await... once you find the red light, of course.