Urbanite

The Market Diner's former parking lot, shown below, will accommodate about 100 patrons. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

The space-age Market Diner in Hell’s Kitchen, once a hangout for Frank Sinatra, is on track to reopen during the first week of June, its new proprietors confirmed Monday.

“It’s not going to be a regular old school diner,” said Nick Tsinias, son of one of the diner’s new operators. “It’s going to be a 1950s diner outside and a more modern diner inside.”

The 1962 diner’s exterior, with its zig-zag roof in the Googie architectural style, will be surrounded by outdoor seating for up to a 100 people. Before it closed in 2006, the diner was known as one of the few businesses in Manhattan to have its own customer parking lot.

The indoor changes will create a more natural and modern look, Tsinias said Monday. The decor will feature a rock sculpture and wooden furnishings.

The eatery, at West 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, will also feature a bar that will sell frozen drinks. The Market will also add a couple of non-diner items to its classic American fare, such as spring rolls.

The Tsinias family, which leases the diner from Moinian Group, has been in the diner business for almost 35 years and owns the Cosmic Diner, which moved to West 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue after many years in Columbus Circle.

-- Marlene Naanes