The North Face is the latest company to fill the void left by struggling fellow clothing retailer Joe Fresh.
The popular California-based outdoor clothing chain, known for its fleeces and backpacks, plans to open a new flagship store in New York City – and its largest store in the city to date. The company signed an eight-year sublease from Joe Fresh for roughly 20,000 square feet at Vornado Realty Trust’s 510 Fifth Avenue at West 43rd Street in Midtown, sources told The Real Deal.
The store would occupy the full retail component at the landmarked, five-story Manufacturers Trust Company Building[TRData]. The retail space includes 5,000 square feet on the ground floor, 9,500 square feet on the second floor, and nearly 5,000 on the lower level.
Asking rent on the ground floor of the 65,000-square-foot building is about $800 per square foot.
An Elie Tahari pop-up store temporarily occupied the space after Joe Fresh moved out last year. In summer 2015, Toronto-based Loblaw Companies, the parent company of Joe Fresh, announced it would shutter 52 stores and pull its clothing from 200 JCPenney stores. Joe Fresh still leases the space at 510 Fifth Avenue and its other locations in the city, but has shut down operations at all outposts except for 462 Broadway in Soho.
CBRE’s Richard Hodos and Dan Alessandro are representing Joe Fresh at 510 Fifth Avenue. The company is also looking to sublease its space at 110 Fifth Avenue, owned by Samson Management and Rabina Properties. Hodos and Alessandro are also marketing that space.
The brokers are still seeking a company to sublease the space at 110 Fifth, sources said. Hodos and Alessandro declined to comment, as did Cushman & Wakefield’s James Downey, who is representing the North Face.
In terms of size, the North Face’s two other stores in the city both pale in comparison. The company occupies 8,000 square feet at The Ansonia 2101 Broadway on the Upper West Side and 4,200 square feet at 139 Wooster Street in Soho.
To further its expansion, the North Face is looking at additional space in Soho. It recently checked out a nearly 15,000-square-foot space at C&K Properties’ 519 Broadway that was formerly occupied by outerwear chain Quiksilver, sources told TRD. No lease has been signed at that address.
Elsewhere in Soho, Nautica – which shares the same parent company as the North Face, VF Corporation – recently signed for a 2,000-square-foot pop-up store at a co-op building at 101 Prince Street, sources said. The co-op board owns the retail co-op, formerly occupied by Michael Kors, and has been looking to sell it for the past two years. Nautica’s short-term lease runs through the end of the year. The asking rent for the pop-up store was not immediately clear.
Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of the North Face, died in a kayaking accident in December.