From left: Amira Yunis and Matthew Krell of CBRE and 414 West 14th Street (credit: PropertyShark)

In another sign that the Meatpacking District is shifting towards the mainstream — and away from its haute couture reputation — the outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia signed a lease last month for ground-floor and lower-level space in a commercial building owned by Sitt Asset Management and the Carlyle Group. [more]

H&M nears deal for 4 Times Square

Another clothing retailer is in talks to lease the 4 Times Square store Express recently ditched for space four blocks to the north. The New York Post reported that H&M is negotiating to take the entire 45,000-square-foot three-level store at 42nd Street and Broadway.

“We are in discussions with H&M, but in this business it ain’t over till it’s over,” Jordan Barowitz of the Durst Organization, which owns the property, told the Post. [more]

From left: Mary Ann Tighe, Gary Trock and Amira Yunis

CBRE Group landed assignments at one of the city’s most visible retail spaces and with one of its best-known office tenants. The New York Post reported that the brokerage’s retail team of Gary Trock and Amira Yunis was brought in to help the Durst Organization find a tenant for the 42,550-square-foot retail space at 4 Times Square. The landlord’s in-house leasing team nearly leased the space to Express, but the clothing retailer backed out of the deal to take what it considered a “more visible” location at SL Green and Jeff Sutton’s 1552 Broadway. [more]

From left: Scott Galin, principal at Handler Real Estate, and Amira Yunis, executive vice president at CBRE

Retail brokers, once less respected than office brokers, are increasingly important in the Manhattan real estate game, the New York Times reported.

Instead of deciding on spaces based on instinct and impression, the increasingly competitive retail market is now a game of numbers — demographics, sales numbers at nearby stores and comparables. And as competition among brokers has increased, it has become harder to find deals, especially in New York City, the Times said. [more]

One of Newmark Knight Frank’s top retail brokers, Amira Yunis, has left the brokerage to join CBRE, CBRE announced today. Yunis will join the company’s Midtown Manhattan office as an executive vice president in retail services, effective next Monday.

Yunis, who has been with Newmark since 2000, served most recently as executive vice president and principal of the company, where she brokered several high-profile deals such as a Trader Joe’s lease at Union Square (the retailer’s first lease in the city) and an 8,500-square-foot space at the Fred French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue to the clothing retailer Tommy Bahama.

“Amira has steadily and intelligently built a notable retail real estate business in New York, including prime international and national brands,” said Matt Van Buren, president of the New York tri-state region at CBRE. -- Katherine Clarke… [more]

1. Amato Opera on the Bowery listed for $6.95M
[Curbed]
2. Greenpoint condos struggle on the market
[Brownstoner]
3. Famed Soho Korean eatery to shutter
[DNAinfo]
4. German Paramount Group is marketing a partial stake in 1633 Broadway
[NYO]
5. Morningside Heights’ basements flood thanks to burst sprinkler system
[DNAinfo]
6. Blue-striped Williamsburg building at 110 Broadway now renting
[Brownstoner]
7. Amira Yunis is Newmark’s model broker?
[NYO]
8. Greenpoint’s Transmitter Park is under construction
[Curbed]
9. German Mohn family wishes to live above its American publishing company headquarters, Random House
[Curbed]

Newmark’s Amira Yunis and 551 Fifth AvenueSeattle-based Tommy Bahama, an 89-store island-themed purveyor of lifestyle goods is coming to Fifth Avenue and 45th Street. The chain recently signed a 12-year, 8,500-square-foot lease for retail space, formerly occupied by New York Look, in the art deco Fred F. French Building at 551 Fifth Avenue, the Wall Street Journal reported. Broker Amira Yunis of Newmark Knight Frank arranged the deal. “It enables them to be on Fifth Avenue in a high-traffic area but pay a third to a fourth of the rent,” of stores to the north, Yunis said of Tommy’s deal…. [more]