Arbitrator will choose between Barneys, Ashkenazy in 660 Madison rent dispute

The future of the flagship Barneys store on Madison Avenue is up to an arbitrator.

The upscale retailer has been unsuccessfully negotiating with its landlord Ashkenazy Acquisition to get a lease extension for Its 660 Madison Avenue location, and since the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement, the issue has gone before an arbitrator, according to the New York Post.

Barneys’ lease expires in 2019, and it says rent for any extension must be at fair market value, which Ashkenazy thinks is much higher than Barneys does. The arbitrator will likely choose either Ashkenazy’s number of Barneys’ number sometime in the next few months.

The clothing retailer currently pays roughly $20 million in annual rent at Its Madison Avenue location between East 60th and 61st streets, and one source told the Post that the nine-story, 275,000-square-foot building accounts for at least a third of Barney’s total revenues. The Post reported last year that rents were slated to triple to $60 million a year.

Retail has been going through many well-publicized struggles as of late, and a summer analysis from The Real Deal found that the Upper East Side is plagued with vacancies, counting 82 empty storefronts between 57th and 96th streets along Madison, Lexington, Third and Second avenues on a late July afternoon.  [NYP] – Eddie Small