A slice of New Haven culinary history is for sale: The building that housed Miya’s Sushi at 68 Howe St. is on the market for a cool $2 million.
“It’s bittersweet to announce the sale of this very special place where all the magic happened,” Chef Bun S. Lai wrote on his Facebook page when announcing the sale over the weekend.
Greg Grinberg of Actualfood.com is listed as the real estate contact.
Lai earned international fame as a proponent of sustainable sushi while running Miya’s, a restaurant his mother launched around the corner on Chapel Street in 1982.
The restaurant moved to 68 Howe in the mid-1980s and was last purchased in 1986 for $130,000, according to city records. The property was assessed at a value of $382,300 in 2021.
Lai closed the eatery in 2020 citing burnout, and has since moved on to offer upscale food experiences in the New Haven area.
The shuttered restaurant building totals 4,455 square feet, with 2,112 square feet on the first floor and a basement, plus outdoor space on a 0.06-acre lot.
On a stretch of Howe now home to multiple luxury apartment buildings like the new Elm complex, the building is being marketed for its potential as much as its history.
“The building has air rights and tremendous development potential,” Lai said. “The sky truly is the limit to what can be done here.”
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
