Modell’s takes 18K sf at Thor’s 135 East 125th Street

Modell’s Sporting Goods has inked a deal to take 17,500 square feet of retail space at Thor Equities’ 135 East 125th Street in Harlem.

The office-and-retail building spans 44,000 square feet, and sits on the corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. The store — which sells sporting equipment and attire — will take around 4,250 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 13,250 square feet on the second floor, according to Commercial Observer.

The space was previously occupied by furniture retailer Raymour & Flanigan, whose lease will expire at the end of the year. Duane Reade has the rest of the 26,000 square feet of retail space in the building. Its lease is due to expire at the end of the year, but the store’s future at the building remains undecided.

Modell’s lease is for 10 years, and the new store is set to open next spring. The asking rent is $150 a square foot on the ground floor, according to the CO. Michael Worthman of Thor represented the landlord in-house, while Modell’s was self-represented.

Thor, headed by Joseph Sitt, paid $75.5 million for the office space at 135 East 125th Street, along with the adjacent 126 East 126th Street in June.

The deal is an expansion for the sporting goods store. It signed a deal to take 40,000 square feet at Wharton Properties’ 100 West 125th Street last year. The company operates 45 stores in across New York City.

In June, Thor sold 693 Fifth Avenue to French billionaire Marc Landreit for $525 million and also agreed to sell 155 Mercer Street for about $90 million. Last month, Sitt’s firm scooped up the James New York Hotel in Soho for $70 million and also bought a 280,000-square-foot Bronx rental for $43 million. [CO] — Miriam Hall