Exclusive | New fine dining, grab-and-go options coming to Grand Central Terminal as MTA faces budget shortfalls

Grand Central Terminal is transforming every available nook and cranny into bars and restaurants as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority spearheads the largest expansion of hospitality businesses at the railroad hub in decades, The Post has learned.A mix of fine dining and quick eats is coming to the storied Beaux-Arts temple that has been an icon of the city for over a century.Officials took a good hard look at the massive hub to find new space for the offerings.A 95-square-foot elevator shaft with doors that open onto Vanderbilt Plaza will be converted into a grab-and-go counter, while a shuttered Chase Bank ATM on the lower-level dining concourse will be folded into a new bar and cafe, according to the MTA, which is the terminal’s landlord.“We’re trying to diversify food and beverage options to make the terminal even more of a destination for people and events,” David Florio, the MTA’s chief real estate transactions officer, told The Post.The decision to open more bars and eateries in the 113-year-old site is being driven by massive new office buildings that have recently sprouted in Midtown East — increasing foot traffic to the neighborhood — and by the “thriving” restaurant scene already in the terminal, Florio said.But the cash-strapped MTA is also responding to a $300 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2027, which it says will balloon to $500 million in 2028.Squeezing dollars out of non-productive spaces in a terminal that draws an average of 750,000 visitors daily is a no-brainer, experts say.To that end, a brand new, 250-seat restaurant, Osteria Centrale, will open this fall where a Rite Aid drugstore had been for 25 years.

“When we RFPed the space, none of the surviving pharmacies were interested,” Florio said of the 8,000-square-foot floorplan.Osteria Centrale’s operator, Vizz Group, is no stranger to the terminal.It opened Grand Brasserie in Vanderbilt Hall two years ago.

Along with the Osteria, it will run grab-and-go ...