The block between Lexington and Third on East 39th has done something it has not done in a long time. It has become a reason to walk over from somewhere else. The old Kajitsu space, dark for months, is lit again. A block west, the twenty-seat storefront that housed Kjun for years is quiet, its tenants having moved around the corner to a two-story room with a full bar. And a few minutes south on Madison, the Morgan has hung a summer program that gives the neighborhood something it can offer visitors without apology.
For residents who have watched Murray Hill get characterized as Curry Hill plus sports bars for two decades, this summer marks a real shift. The additions are not a rebrand. They are the accumulation of a specific kind of tenant deciding these blocks are worth the rent.
The through-line of Murray Hill's summer is chefs and institutions treating the neighborhood as a destination rather than a service area for the office towers to the north.
The Kajitsu Space, Reimagined
The most consequential opening of the season is Oyatte, at 125 East 39th Street. It is the first fine-dining project from chef Hasung Lee, formerly of Atomix, and it opened in May 2026 in the bi-level room that most recently held the vegetarian tasting counter Kajitsu.
