Amid slow sales, Macy’s hopes to lure shoppers to its Herald Square flagship with an unexpected amenity: a rooftop park.
The retailer is weighing plans to add restaurants and green space to the roof of its 19-story Department Store On West 34th Street, the New York Post reported.
“That store is getting more valuable by the day as the center of gravity in Manhattan shifts southwest to Hudson Yards,” Doug Sessler, Macy’s vice president of real estate, said Tuesday at investor day.
Sessler said the struggling retailer hopes shoppers will wander through the store on the way up or down from the park. Macy’s completed a renovation of its 2.2 million-square-foot store in 2015 at a cost of $400 million.
Last year, Macy’s teamed up with Brookfield Asset Management to evaluate options for redevelopment at some 50 store locations. It also tapped Eastdil Secured to market stakes in several properties, including its Herald Square location. In 2015, Macy’s sold its Downtown Brooklyn store at 422 Fulton Street to Tishman Speyer for $170 million.
On Tuesday, Macy’s said it has identified 50 out of 841 stores where it hopes to unlock revenue by redeveloping parking lots and unused space. Target, Lowe’s, Home Depot and JCPenney are weighing similar moves amid a sector-wide decline in retail. [NYP] — E.B. Solomont