New club Moss brings five stories of luxury amenities to Midtown Manhattan — if you can afford it

A new private club in a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper offers a range of luxury amenities, if you can pay the price.

Moss recently opened in five stories at 520 Fifth Ave., a 1,002-foot-high supertall at 43rd St. – with monthly dues of $280 to $745 on top of initiation fees of $1,500 to $3,950.

Founded by sisters Colleen and Hailey Brooks, the club features five fancy restaurant and lounge spaces led by Chef Angela Zeng, a Frenchette and Lilia alum.

The siblings call Moss a mix of “intelligent leisure” – 20,000 square feet of dining and social space – and “physical culture,” 20,000 square feet dedicated to health and wellness.

The skyscraper is technically a mixed-use building, which “adds to the fabric of the club and the community,” said Colleen Brooks, who previously worked for JPMorgan Chase and Fortress.

Moss’ signature restaurant, Babette, is inspired by the movie “Babette’s Feast” and will focus on New American cuisine with French and East Asian accents. Bar Babette, overlooking Fifth Avenue, will feature oysters, martinis and more. 

There’s also Lil’s, a jazz piano lounge, which will offer live music over small bites and cocktails, plus a more intimate sitting room space; and Inklings, a library bar with experimental cocktails. 

A two-story gym that opened Monday comes with a longevity clinic, thermal pools, a Turkish-style steam room, pilates, and a pickleball-and-half-basketball court – plus a spa, treatment rooms, yoga and personal trainers. 

Members will also have access to a game room with mahjong, backgammon and poker; a podcast studio that can also function as a DJ booth; and a vinyl listening room that can be booked for karaoke, too.

There’s also a special space for “fireside chats” and speaker programming. A top floor features four private rooms that can host “everything from private meetings to intimate dinners and celebrations,” said Hailey Brooks, who previously worked on trend forecasts.

The interior design is by Vicky Charles, who spent 20 years at Soho House before launching Charles & Co., where clients include David and Victoria Beckham, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. 

The sisters first planned to open a private club before the COVID pandemic hit, then the lockdown thwarted their plans. But they persisted in the belief that “New Yorkers want to spend their time with a better quality of life in the city. COVID just highlighted this need even more,” said Hailey Brooks.

The ideal member, said her sister, is “anyone who understands what we bring to the table, the need to combine wellness and socializing, expanding your day to day [options and] finding a new community in a place that is easy to get to.” 

Colleen Brooks takes a wide view of the business.

“The club industry has been around for more than a hundred years but it has only recently picked up in New York,” she said. “There’s space here for different types of clubs. People will self-select and find their own community.”

---

We hear… that New York hotel bars are upping their game for locals and tourists alike.

In Midtown, celebrated London bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana — known as Mr. Lyan — has opened Seed Library in Nomad’s Hotel Park Avenue, formerly the Mondrian Hotel. The bar, at 444 Park Ave. South, is adjacent to the hotel’s new restaurant, Park Rose. 

It’s Lyan’s first permanent spot in New York, which he launched in collaboration with Lore Group and Renwick Hospitality. There is currently a Seed Library in London’s Shoreditch area, along with two other bar concepts in Amsterdam and Washington, DC. 

“We are excited to bring our concept to New York,” Chetiyawardana tells Side Dish, adding that the Big Apple’s Seed Library will be seen through a “New York lens of timelessness and glamour.” 

The mixologist, known for nuking Manhattans for a more “mellow” flavor, is still using a microwave for “rapid infusions and the occasional bowl of popcorn.” He’s also bringing New Yorkers his “OG” British cocktail, a coriander seed gimlet that’s made with white grapes instead of lime, as well as a dessert-style koji hardshake cocktail mix of whiskey, miso, koji, and cream topped by a toasted marshmallow.  

The Seed Library is led by head bartender Nicole Giampino, formerly of Clemente Bar. New cocktails include an Old Fashioned reimagined with Redbreast 12, kombu cucumber, honey and sherry, while mocktails feature a Thai basil soda. 

Basic bar bites include a whipped feta cheese dip with salsa verde and nan bread along with a Lyan burger with English cheddar, bacon and gherkins.

We hear… The new Faena New York hotel has a secret cocktail. 

The hotel is home to the restaurant La Boca, by Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, and three bars: the Living Room; El Secreto, located behind an unmarked door; and La Cava, a wine cellar for private dinners.

The hotel is in the East Tower of the luxury residence building One High Line. The sculptural, twisted set of towers were designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG.

Now architect Bjarke Ingels has created his own cocktail, inspired by the buildings’ unique design: the “Oxymoron.”

“The ‘Oxymoron’ is exactly what it sounds like — a union of contrasting ingredients that harmonize to make one very balanced cocktail,” Ingels tells Side Dish. 

“It’s smoky yet bright, Nordic yet Latin. Aside from its deliciousness, may the ‘Oxymoron’ serve as a reminder that differences — of taste, opinion, and culture — are not detrimental to each other, but instead are vital for experimentation, exploration, and discovery.”