Landlords offer lower rents to gentrify NoMad retail

Landlords in The Area Around Broadway north of the Flatiron building have begun offering rent concessions to independent retailers, the Wall Street Journal reported, and the neighborhood is beginning to shed its wholesale and bootleg retail reputation.

For example, Ace Hotel developers the Sydell Group landed Stumptown Coffee Roasters and clothing store Opening Ceremony by offering “relatively low, fixed rents,” according to CEO Andrew Zobler, who takes a percentage of profits in exchange. “We basically take a long-term interest in the neighborhood as a whole,” he said, noting that wholesalers and bootleggers were willing to pay higher rents for the area than anyone else.

The Museum of Mathematics, which is joining the Musuem of Sex in the neighborhood, chose a showroom at 11 East 26th Street as a location, after a landlord it worked with in the Meatpacking District “doubled the rent” by the end of the week, the museum co-founders said.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Meanwhile, the Journal names a handful of restaurants and bars in the area, Jay-Z’s renovation of the 40/40 Club and Eataly, as further proof of the region’s emergence.

The next independent retailer to the area could also come courtesy of Zobler, who’s in talks with Russ & Daughters to open a store within his forthcoming NoMad Hotel. [WSJ]