Herald Center to see $50M upgrade

Herald Center, between Manhattan Mall and Macy’s in Herald Square, is about to get a $50 million face lift, the New York Post reported.

Owner JEMB Realty plans to replace the building’s black-tinted windows with transparent ones and put LED lighting panels on the top floors. The development company bought the structure out of bankruptcy in the late 1980s.

“This black, ugly building is going to be beautiful,” JEMB principal Morris Bailey said, adding that the property, has been “a source of frustration to us for a long time.”

The building’s anchor had been discount clothing retailer Daffy’s, now bankrupt, which Bailey described as “a long-term lease that encumbered the asset.” Daffy’s occupied 100,000 square feet of Herald Center’s 250,000 feet;JEMB bought out Daffy’s leasehold interests at several locations last summer for $43 million.

ASA College occupies floors two and three, but has agreed to move into the former Daffy’s space on floors four through seven. The school will have its own entrance on West 33rd Street.

The ASA College move along with ground-floor space — Daffy’s lobby as well as month-to-month leasers — opens up  80,000 square feet for JEMB.

The owner has hired a CBRE team led by Susan Kurland to lock down new tenants. [NYP] —Christopher Cameron