From left: Dean Rosenzweig, vice president of retail services at CB Richard Ellis, and Manhattan locations of Think Coffee, Starbucks and Ninth Street Espresso

Perhaps because of changing tastes, a widespread backlash against Starbucks or lower retail rents, high-end coffee shops are making their mark on New York City real estate and expanding rapidly.

As the New York Times reported, Ninth Street Espresso, Roasting Plant, Jack’s Stir Brew, Gregory’s Cafe, Think Coffee, MUD, Blue Bottle Coffee, Cafe Grumpy, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Intelligentsia Coffee and Joe the Art of Coffee are just some of the new breed of coffee makers, homegrown or imported from elsewhere in the country, that have descended upon the city with multiple locations in the last few years.

Coffee shops depend on volume so many are opening in office neighborhoods, retail brokers say, although the addition of baked items and packaged beans help them stay viable in residential neighborhoods where rents can be lower. [more]

Real estate investment trust American Realty Capital New York Recovery REIT entered into contract on two New York City properties for $36.5 million, the trust announced today.

The first acquisition is a portfolio of four retail condominiums at the base of One Jackson Square, the 30-unit luxury condo at 122 Greenwich Avenue at the intersection of Eighth Avenue. Two of the units are leased to a TD Bank, one to a Starbucks and the final space is vacant. In total they comprise 7,080 square feet of rentable space. The acquisition is expected to close in November. – Adam Fusfeld [more]

From left: Bill Miller, vice president for New York real estate at Au Bon Pain, Au Bon Pain location on Fifth Avenue and Chase Welles and Jacqueline Klinger, vice presidents at Northwest Atlantic

Au Bon Pain plans to expand its presence in Manhattan with smaller
stores in the next two years, according to Bill Miller, the company’s
new vice president for real estate in New York.

The chain is looking for spaces in the range of 1,500 to 2,000 square
feet, primarily in vertical density locations in lobbies of Midtown
office buildings. Au Bon Pain is searching for smaller footprints as it
has made changes to its store design to increase efficiency. The
company currently has about 20 locations in the New York City area,
and plans to open two to four locations in 2012, and about six in
2013. [more]

For the third year in a row, Dunkin’ Donuts has come out on top amongst national retailers in New York City, with 466 store locations across the five boroughs, up from 429 last year and 341 in 2008, according to a new ranking from the Center for an Urban Future, out today. Subway came in second with 389 stores and Starbucks came in a distant third, with 256. (Starbucks still beats Dunkin’ Donuts in Manhattan, though, with 194 to its 115 stores). On the whole, the survey found that national retailers have increased their presence in New York City this year in spite of still-sluggish consumer spending; they have an average of 4.1 percent more stores here now than they did a year ago. For more survey results and rankings of the top national retailers in New York City by borough and zip code, click here. TRD [more]

Jeff Winick

From the May issue: Drugstore chain Duane Reade had a problem: A competitor was sniffing around a large space across the street from one of its best Midtown locations on Sixth Avenue near West 57th Street. Officials at the store enlisted its broker, Winick Realty Group, to take care of the situation.

Several months later, not only had the competitor disappeared, but Duane Reade had taken that site at 100 West 57th Street for itself.

That’s partly thanks to Winick Realty’s founder and CEO, Jeff Winick, who used back channels to help secure the site for the drugstore. Winick’s aggressive, take-no-prisoners style seems to win him accolades from clients but has created fierce enmity among his competition.

That style has been on full display for the last few weeks in a federal courtroom in Lower Manhattan, where two former Duane Reade executives are on trial for fraudulently pumping up earnings reports, partly through allegedly bogus real estate transactions involving Winick. [more]

Renting shared office space by the day or month is fast becoming a popular option for the city’s freelancers and entrepreneurs. The Downtown Alliance’s the Hive at 55, a shared workspace on 55 Broad Street’s 13th floor, is home to a number of start-ups who’ve outgrown Starbucks and freelancers who’ve tired of the isolation that comes with working from home. Membership ranges from $25 per day to $500 per month with access around the clock to the 4,000-square-foot space, which has desks, private offices, a kitchen, a lounge, a conference room, and a “quiet room.” With financial support from the city’s Economic Development Corp. and landlord Bill Rudin, the space, which the alliance has leased for three years, underwent a $100,000 renovation and is still able to keep its membership prices low. Shared office spaces like these are popping up all over Manhattan. In September, Green Spaces, an incubator for environmentally-friendly businesses, moved to Tribeca from Brooklyn, and an incubator for young fashion designers is being planned for West 38th Street, in the Garment District. [Downtown Express]

More than four dozen national chain retailers have taken advantage of low rents to expand in New York City over the past year, according to Bloomberg’s Patricia Wu. Some of the stores with the most significant expansion plans include Dunkin’ Donuts, Subway, McDonald’s and Starbucks. Jonathan Bowles of the Center for an Urban Future said those stores have had deep enough pockets to survive the recession so far and see it as an opportunity to expand. But Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said he is not seeing this kind of retail expansion outside of New York. [more]

Condominiums in Brooklyn, including BellTel Lofts, One Hanson Place and Oro, still have empty retail spaces. Two of the buildings have lost out on national retailers — BellTel was in discussions with Starbucks, and One Hanson Place lost Borders as a tenant — and now retail brokers are focusing on attracting local tenants. According to Lawrence Lee, vice president with Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Bracha Group, which represents BellTel, said they are looking for a locally owned lounge, restaurant or small grocer. Paul Rich of TerraCRG, who is marketing Oro’s space, said people have approached the company to open a diner or restaurant in the space. And at One Hanson Place, the 15,000-square-foot ground-floor space is being rented for weddings and special events. According to Caroline Pardo, director of leasing at Two Trees Management, “There are definitely more mom-and-pops looking right now than big national tenants.” [Post] and [Post]