Sky View Center, in Flushing, Queens, recently opened local favorite Fay Da Bakery in a 1,650-square-foot space, according to a statement from the mall’s developer, Onex Real Estate Partners.

The new, 800,000-square-foot multi-level mall in downtown Flushing is at the intersection of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue — a crossroads with access to some 750,000 residents in the three-mile radius around the shopping center.

Although details of the long-term lease were not disclosed, asking rents at the mall range from $50 to $120 per square foot, sources said. — Guelda Voien [more]

From left: Michael Dana, president of Onex, the Sky View Center and a Coco location

Taiwanese tea brand Coco Fresh Tea & Juice opened a new 600-square-foot tea shop at Sky View Center, Flushing’s new 800,000-square-foot shopping mall that opened its doors last year, Onex Real Estate Partners, the developer of the mall, announced today. The shop is the company’s fourth location in New York City and its second in Flushing; it has a sister location on Flushing’s Main Street.

Ricky Wong, an agent at Super Connection, represented Coco in the deal. Onex declined to comment on the asking rents.

Coco Fresh Tea & Juice opened last Thursday near the entrance of Sky View Center at the intersection of College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue. – Katherine Clarke and Lauren Elkies [more]

Wal-Mart is scouting out New York City locations as part of a push to open small locations in urban markets, the Associated Press reported. The superstore has been “on an aggressive roll” and has been talking to landlords and brokers about locations in Queens and Lower Manhattan, said Prudential Douglas Elliman retail chairman Faith Hope Consolo. The ideal size for the company is 20,000 square feet — larger than a drugstore but smaller than a supermarket, real estate executives said. A detailed explanation of Wal-Mart’s urban expansion strategy is expect next month at a meeting with analysts at the company’s headquarters. Competitor Target, meanwhile, is also making moves on the urban landscape, but is mostly looking for stores in the 60,000- to 100,000-square-foot range. Target opened its first Manhattan store in East Harlem this summer and is slated to open its doors in Queens’ new Sky View Center in 2011. [AP via Crain's]

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Bob’s Discount Furniture is the newest retailer to come to the Sky View Center

Sky View Center, the 800,000-square foot shopping center at Sky View Parc, located at College Point Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens, has welcomed its newest retailer, Bob’s Discount Furniture. The new store marks the chain’s 38th location. Named the 2008 Furniture Retailer of the Year, Bob’s joins other retailers at Sky View Center, including
already opened BJ’s Wholesale Club and Best Buy, as well as soon-to-open Target, Marshall’s, Applebee’s, Old Navy, Chuck E. Cheese, Sky View Foods Supermarket, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Sky View Center is more than 70 percent leased and will open in phases with the entire Center expected to be open in early 2011. TRD

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A number of regional, national and international retailers are set to open first outposts in New York City. Last week, Costco, the largest membership warehouse club in the world, opened its first location in Manhattan in the 500,000-square-foot East River Plaza. Target will open its first Manhattan store in the same plaza next year. Best Buy, Marshalls and New York City’s first Bob’s Discount Furniture will join them. Bob’s has 35 stores throughout New York, New Jersey and New England. In the fall it opened its newest location in Carle Place, LI. [more]