645 Madison Avenue (credit: PropertyShark.com)

Milan-based line Dodo has signed a lease for a 817-square-foot store, its first New York City location, at 645 Madison Avenue, in the heart of the “gold coast,” according to a statement from landlord TF Cornerstone.

The jeweler hopes to open this spring, according to the statement. While the forthcoming location, between 59th and 60th streets, is Dodo’s first Manhattan store, the company already plies its wares through high-end retailers such as Bloomingdale’s and Bergdorf Goodman. Their other retail outposts in the states are in Short Hills, N.J. and Los Angeles, a spokesperson for TF Cornerstone said. [more]

The Meatpacking District is seeing the beginnings of an influx of high-end retailers with mass appeal, the Wall Street Journal reported, in the wake of the departure of ultra-exclusive designers like Stella McCartney from the neighborhood. Sephora, Levi's, Intermix and Tory Burch are all entering the district, while brands such as Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have also eyed potential locations in the area, runs roughly from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street and has a total of 200,000 square feet of vacant retail space. [more]

From left: Bradley Mendelson of Cushman & Wakefield, Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman and Laura Pomerantz of PBS Real EstateCompiled by Adam Pincus

This year retail pricing improved broadly, including reaching a record $3,000 per foot asking rent on Upper Fifth Avenue. At the same time, landlords and their agents ramped up leasing at large mall-like sites in Lower Manhattan. Yet weak areas such as stretches of the Upper East Side were a drag on the market. As the year comes to a close, The Real Deal asked some of Manhattan’s leading retail leasing brokers what they expect for 2012. See what they had to say after the jump. [more]

From left: Red Rooster chef Marcus Samuelsson and the Lenox Lounge retail space (building credit: PropertyShark)

Marcus Samuelsson, the celebrity chef behind popular Harlem restaurant Red Rooster, has his eyes on the famed Lenox Lounge for his next project, according to DNAinfo.

The legendary space, located at 288 Lenox Avenue near 125th Street, once provided a stage for the likes of Billie Holiday and Miles Davis, and is now available for lease beginning February. The current tenant is not renewing on its below market-rate lease (the terms of which were not revealed), and the space is listed by Walker Malloy & Company, along with a vacant restaurant next door. The landlord, a firm named 286 Lenox Ave RealtyCP, is asking $29,125 per month for the combined 3,285 square feet. [more]

A pop-up in Tribeca that pairs lingerie designer the Lake & Stars with architecture firm SOFTLab, and a PayPal pop-up shop at 174 Hudson Street

From the December issue: Temporary retail stores, known as “pop-ups,” have been quite literally popping up in New York City for several years now, often hawking seasonal items at Halloween and Christmas. But a new breed of pop-ups is emerging, industry insiders say: Non-retail ventures, from PayPal to the TV show “Celebrity Apprentice,” are opening temporary locations on New York’s heavily trafficked streets.

“We are seeing some unusual ones, in addition to [temporary] fashion shops,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Retail Group.

Unlike most pop-up stores, which primarily aim to sell merchandise, these non-retail pop-ups are more focused on publicity and marketing. [more]

New York Commercial Real Estate Women’s winter holiday gala and 10th anniversary celebration was held last night at the Upper East Side’s Columbus Townhouse — headquarters of the Columbus Citizens’ Foundation, a non-profit that advances Italian-American heritage and achievement.

Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and sales for Prudential Douglas Elliman, a director for NYCREW and star of the soon-to-premiere television show “What’s Cooking in Real Estate?” greeted more than 100 guests with her signature blunt sense of humor. She joked that attendees were only there “so they could stay married,” hinting that the more time they spend away from their spouses, the better, drawing earnest chuckles from the almost uniformly female crowd. [more]

At The Real Deal‘s seventh annual forum last week’s at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, real estate pros gathered to watch debates between real estate attorneys Adam Leitman Bailey of the eponymous firm and Stuart Saft, chair of law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf’s global real estate department; developer Billy Macklowe of William Macklowe Company and John Catsimatidis, CEO of the Red Apple Group; and Frederick Peters, president of Warburg Realty, and Lockhart Steele, founder of Curbed. In attendance were Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing and sales division, Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal firm Miller Samuel and Andrew Barrocas, CEO of brokerage MNS, all of whom stepped outside to talk to The Real Deal about the state of the market (see video above). — Katherine Clarke

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From the November issue: New York is, of course, the shopping (and eating) capital of the country — if not the world. But what do the latest concerns about a double-dip recession mean for the countless stores, restaurants and shops packed into Manhattan?

In this month’s Q & A, The Real Deal talked to Manhattan retail brokers about how the retail market — which tanked in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown — is holding up.

Brokers said they are seeing strong rents and activity in prime areas like Fifth Avenue, Time Square, Soho and the Upper West Side. But, they say, secondary and tertiary submarkets are hurting, with continuing declines in asking rents and increases in vacancy rates. [more]

Clockwise from top left: Faith Hope Consolo, chair of the retail division at Prudential Douglas Elliman, 382 West Broadway (credit: PropertyShark) and Joseph Aquino, vice president at Prudential Douglas Elliman

Eighty-five year-old spa line Erno Laszlo is being relaunched and will open its first new spa in decades at 382 West Broadway in Soho.

The New York Post reported the company, headed by British entrepreneur Charles Denton and his RBS Equity Finance, inked a 128-month netlease for the entire 10,000-square-foot, two-story building between Broome and Spring streets in Soho, for about $1.5 million per year.

The new spa is expected to open next year in the building, which is owned by Kamran Hakim, who is said to own $1 billion worth of city real estate, and Henry Hay, a lead investor in Centaur Properties. [more]

From the November issue: Commercial real estate brokers Faith Hope Consolo, Robert Knakal and Stephen Siegel are well-known personalities in New York City real estate. But thanks to bookstore shelves, Kindles and Amazon.com, they’ll soon be introduced to a much larger audience.

The three Manhattan brokers are featured in a new book, released in September by Domus Publishing, called “Brokers Who Dominate: 8 Traits of Top Producers.” For just $24.99, readers can now learn the secrets and stories of real estate professionals from across North America.

The book’s author is Rod Santomassimo, the founder and president of Massimo Group, a real estate coaching and consulting firm based in North Carolina. In an interview with The Real Deal, Santomassimo said he came up with the idea for the book after being constantly asked for the secret to success in the real estate world. Rather than try to summarize it himself, he asked 23 top commercial brokers to do it for him. [more]