The tenant mix on Upper Madison Avenue is becoming more diverse, with the arrival of Australian boot maker Ugg and designer Michael Kors, according to a new report from PBS Real Estate, which highlights new trends in retail real estate in New York City, Crain’s reported. The report also shows that a growing number of foreign retailers are seeking to expand in Manhattan, including British retailer Topshop, Spanish brand Desigual and the British brand All Saints. “2011 will see big changes on the streets of Manhattan,” said Laura Pomerantz, principal of PBS. She also noted that West 34th Street, which currently has few vacancies between Fifth and Sixth avenues, is also attracting new tenants. [more]

Clothier Michael Kors has inked a 10-year lease for a 4,500-square-foot storefront at Rockefeller Center, according to the New York Post. The location, at 610 Fifth Avenue on the corner of 49th Street, once housed a Kenneth Cole location and includes 3,000 square feet of underground storage and office space. Although it was not immediately clear what Michael Kors will pay for the space, a recent retail report from the Real Estate Board of New York show asking rents in the area range from $2,100 to $2,500 per square foot. [more]

The West Village’s Bleecker Street is now home to the third-most
expensive storefronts in the city, according to the Daily News. Three properties were sold this week
for $34 million, or $6,700 a square foot, as The Real Deal reported. Private real estate investment firm Beck Street Capital sold 367-369, 382-384 and 387 Bleecker Street, with tenants such Michael Kors and Burberry signing long-term leases (note: correction appended). Since 2003, Fifth and Madison avenues have been the only retail areas to fetch higher prices that the West Village. Comments

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Kevin Comer, founder of Beck Street Capital, and 367-369 Bleecker Street

Real estate investment firm Beck Street Capital sold six retail condominiums in Greenwich Village for $34 million today, or $6,700 per square foot, the company said in a statement. The sale price per foot for the properties at 367-369, 382-384 and 387 Bleecker Street between West 11th and Charles streets, was the third highest on record in the United States, according to data from real estate tracking firm REIS, Beck Street said. The buyer was not identified. The spaces are occupied by retail tenants such as Burberry, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs and A.P.C. Robert Knakal and James Nelson of Massey Knakal represented Beck Street in the transaction. TRD [more]

Jon Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’ and wife Tracey paid $3.8 million for a 4,999-square-foot waterfront house in Red Bank, NJ, about an hour from Lower Manhattan, according to Real Estalker. According to property records, Stewart closed on the 1.26-acre estate this past December. The gated estate has a large circular drive, a swimming pool, a two-car garage and adjacent pool house, and a wide lawn that slopes steeply down the 166 feet of river frontage where there is a boat house, small deck and private dock. In November 2005, the Stewarts sold their Greenwich Village apartment to fashion designer Michael Kors for $3.995 million, and moved to a $5.8-million duplex penthouse in Tribeca, where they now live. Records show that Stewart, through his real estate trust, also owns a water front home in the Bay Point area of Sag Harbor, NY. [Real Estalker]

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After months of controversy surrounding Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, embattled group Tishman Speyer Properties is finally getting some good news. Over 1.05 million square feet of Tishman-owned space was leased in December, the Post’s Lois Weiss noted today, and on the heels of yesterday’s news that CB Richard Ellis had renewed its 125,000-square-foot lease at the firm’s MetLife Building, more lease signings are making news. Simon & Schuster has reportedly signed a deal to extend its lease for five more years at Tishman’s 1230 Sixth Avenue, while Michael Kors has extended his lease for 15 more years at 11 West 42nd Street. Although Robert Speyer, president of Tishman, wouldn’t comment on the tenants for Weiss’ report, he did say that he believes “rents are back to 2005 [levels].”

For proof that the recession has pummeled retailers in upscale areas, consider the fate of East Hampton. By January, brokers say, an unprecedented half-dozen stores were
shuttered along Main Street and Newtown Lane in the town, which is the
heart of the Hamptons, the tony summer getaway on Long Island’s Eastern
End. Worsening their situation, landlords on those streets, which brokers say can command
up to $200 a square foot, for months have seemed reluctant to lower prices to fill
empty berths. But now, with summer just weeks away, property owners are relenting;
they’re offering dramatically shortened leases to lure penny-pinching
tenants. These leases, which historically lasted 10 years, can now be
had for as short as five months. [more]