Looking for your favorite luxury store on Madison Avenue? Walk farther north.
According to the Real Estate Board of New York, Asking Rents On Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd Streets increased 24 percent this spring, to $1,643 from 1,325 one year earlier. Rents were up 19 percent since the fall of 2013, when they averaged $1,380 per square foot along that same stretch. Newer projects are asking $2,000 per square foot. And retailers are now moving north to between 79th to 86th streets, where rents are between $300 and $400 per square foot. One source said rents are running even higher in some spots — around $500 per square foot.
Further uptown at 96th Street, rents are nearing $300 per square foot.
“Building owners in the low 80s are clearing out tenants and pushing the market rents up 20 to 25 percent,” Patrick Breslin, executive vice president of Studley Retail, told the New York Post.
New tenants above 79th Street include men’s clothier Joseph, luxury brand Elaine Turner, shoe store Mephisto, James Perse and Halston Heritage. Luxury furniture store Jonathan Adler is located on Madison Avenue and 83rd Street.
The area now also has a restaurant — Ristorante Morini — and J.Crew’s Madewell just signed a lease to move into 1144 Madison Avenue.
“We’ve seen that market tighten,” Andrew Goldberg, vice chairman of CBRE, told the Post. [NYP] – Claire Moses