Turnstile underground retail project moving ahead

Susan Fine, Howard Glatzer secured Goldman financing for Columbus Circle concourse

Rendering of Turnstile retail corridor in Columbus Circle subway station (inset: Susan Fine)
Rendering of Turnstile retail corridor in Columbus Circle subway station (inset: Susan Fine)

Construction on the Turnstile underground retail concourse in Columbus Circle is set to start in the next month, with the project having secured Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group as a joint-venture partner.

The $14.5 million project, developed by Susan Fine of Oases RE and investor Howard Glatzer, calls for two blocks of underground retail space in the corridor leading to the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority selected Fine and Glatzer’s proposal for the project in 2012, with the developers winning a 20-year master lease to take over the 15,000-square-foot retail corridor. The deal represented the first time the agency tapped a private firm to manage and operate its space.

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The corridor is already 75 percent leased and scheduled to open by the end of the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. About 34 shops will cater to an estimated 88,000 people who pass through the subway station each weekday. Rents average about $300 per square foot – roughly half of what space goes for above ground.

Goldman’s investment in the development consists of a $3.5 million equity investment and about $9 million in construction costs. [WSJ]Rey Mashayekhi