Robin Abrams, executive vice president of Lansco, and East River Plaza
The 50,000-square-foot space in East River Plaza that Best Buy is vacating would be perfect for first time entrants into Manhattan’s retail sector, according to brokers who spoke with Real Estate Weekly. Best Buy announced this week the Harlem store would be one of 50 nationwide closings, and the only one in New York City. [more]
Rendering of Sky View Parc
[Update: 11:42 a.m.] Two big-box retailers are set to open their doors this week at Flushing’s new Sky View Parc complex. A new 180,000-square-foot Target will open to the public tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., a spokesperson for the retailer confirmed to [more]
Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, a 1-million-square-foot, $500 million project, has been awarded LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the second largest project to achieve core and shell LEED certification in the Northeast, according to its developer. Related Companies built the market as the first national retail complex in the Bronx. Gateway Center is 95 percent leased, 91 percent occupied and includes a mix of retailers and restaurants, including BJ’s, Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Marshall’s, Raymour & Flanigan, Staples, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Applebee’s. The Gateway Center is expected to generate more than $20 million in annual tax and revenue for the city, and the project will create an estimated 2,100 permanent retail jobs and 2,900 union construction jobs in the South Bronx, Related says. TRD
Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, a 1-million-square-foot, $500 million project, has been awarded LEED Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council, making it the second largest project to achieve core and shell LEED certification in the Northeast, according to its developer. Related Companies built the market as the first national retail complex in the Bronx. Gateway Center is 95 percent leased, 91 percent occupied and includes a mix of retailers and restaurants, including BJ’s, Home Depot, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Marshall’s, Raymour & Flanigan, Staples, Best Buy, Toys “R” Us and Applebee’s. The Gateway Center is expected to generate more than $20 million in annual tax and revenue for the city, and the project will create an estimated 2,100 permanent retail jobs and 2,900 union construction jobs in the South Bronx, Related says. TRD
Three non-profit organizations have signed full-floor leases at 147 West 24th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, according to landlord the Moinian Group. Meanwhile, the city began a $266 million remediation project on a Staten Island landfill today, and a Riverdale, N.J. shopping center welcomed Best Buy as a new tenant. Click here for more. TRD [more]
From the December issue: West 72nd Street and Broadway epitomizes old New York. Brick-and-terra-cotta icons like the famed Dorilton mix with the bright lights of Gray’s Papaya. But there’s a newcomer that looks more like South Beach, splashing glass amid the stately stone.
Named 200 West for its 72nd Street address, the 19-story rental tower broke ground in 2007, near the height of the boom, and is scheduled to start leasing in February. In addition to the 196 apartments, the building, which wraps an obtuse-angled corner, also has a total of 50,000 square feet of big-box-style, multilevel space for three retailers. That’s in a neighborhood where stores typically measure a fraction of the size. “We will certainly liven up that corner a lot,” said David Picket, president of the Gotham Organization, the developer of the $220 million project and one of its three investors. The others are Philips International Holding and Rhodes NY. [more]
Against the odds, Union Square retail businesses have been thriving in the recession, even as some of New York City’s most venerated shopping areas struggle. Fifth Avenue, Times Square and Soho, all long-time shopping havens, have all seen retail vacancies hit 10 percent or higher this year. But even as Circuit City and the Virgin Megastore vacated the Union Square neighborhood after the chain went bankrupt earlier this year, two new chains, Nordstrom Rack and Best Buy, announced they’d be moving in. Rachel Meltzer, a researcher with the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, said that foot traffic in the area has risen 59 percent in the last five years, a key component to the neighborhood’s success. “I don’t think it’s considered a transportation corridor anymore so much as a destination,” Meltzer said.
City Point, the multi-use complex that is slated to be built in
Downtown Brooklyn, will now be constructed in two phases. The
developers, a consortium of Acadia Realty Trust, MacFarlane Partners,
Rose Associates, P/A Associates and Washington Square Partners, will
start building the first phase at the east end of Fulton Mall, on the
site of the old Albee Square Mall. It will include affordable housing
and several big-box retailers such as Best Buy. The second phase will
include market-rate housing, office space and additional retail space.
The original plans for City Point, which have been changed due to the
credit crunch, called for a 1.5 million-square-foot development to be
completed by 2010. [more]
Nordstrom Rack, a discount unit of retailer Nordstrom, will open at One Union Square South, occupying 32,136 square feet on the lower level of the former Virgin Megastore space, according to a press release from Nordstrom. The store, the first Nordstrom Rack in Manhattan, is slated to open in spring 2010. The terms of Nordstrom’s lease were not disclosed, but The Real Deal reported in March that retail space facing Union Square Park usually commands $400 per square foot and the Virgin Megastore space could rent for even more. Best Buy is also coming to One Union Square South and is expected to open a 46,000-square-foot store in the former Circuit City space during the fourth quarter of this year. TRD [more]
From the June issue: Robert A.M. Stern is dean of the Yale School of Architecture in New Haven, Conn., and founder of Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The firm designed 15 Central Park West, the limestone condominium where total sales topped $2 billion, making it the most successful apartment building in the world. Stern spoke to The Real Deal about his feelings about the term “starchitect,” not being confused with Brad Pitt and traveling to Vienna this summer. [more]
