Discount department store Daffy’s has inked a deal to lease 28,000 square feet in the former New York Times building in Times Square, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a coup for Africa Israel USA, which had been struggling to find tenants there since it purchased the property at the height of the market. Last year, the company changed course at the 750,000-square-foot building, at 229 West 43rd Street, moving to convert it into retail space, a hotel and condominiums instead of attempting to fill it with office tenants. … [more]

Faith Hope Consolo

“Don’t hold your breath for a Tiffany’s unit or the next Saks Fifth Avenue” at the revamped Fulton Street Mall, Prudential Douglas Elliman retail queen Faith Hope Consolo wrote in a Brooklyn Paper op-ed today.
While the retail corridor is indeed undergoing a major transformation, “cheap chic” (see: H&M, Aeropostale and Filene’s Basement/SYMS) is what’s en vogue for Downtown Brooklyn right now, she said. “More realistically, Fulton Mall has begun to mirror such successful corridors as West 34th Street and East 14th Street/Union Square,” Consolo argued. “You could also say it’s Brooklyn’s answer to Fordham Road.” And perhaps, as new restaurants start to move in to feed hungry shoppers, “the next Smith Street.” [Brooklyn Paper]

From left: SL Green CEO Marc Holliday, 1515 Broadway, the Graybar Building

It has been “a very busy, satisfying seven weeks,” for SL Green Realty, CEO Marc Holliday said in a conference call with investors today to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter earnings results. The company last spoke to investors at its annual conference Dec. 7.

SL Green posted a $5 million loss for the quarter yesterday, down from a $76 million gain for the fourth quarter of 2008, but Holliday was nonetheless optimistic about 2010′s prospects. [more]