TRD Pro: New York City’s biggest retail leases of July

The following is a preview of one of the hundreds of data sets that will be available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal that provides all the data and market information you need.

After years of stalled growth in New York City retail real estate, the trend is finally moving in a better direction.

Especially retail leasing, where the top 10 deals in July accounted for more than 175,000 square feet. According to a recent CBRE report. Manhattan retail alone saw a 23 percent increase year-over-year in leasing during the first quarter of the year.

In July, fashion brands and global food chains cashed in on the opportunity to occupy not just Manhattan’s retail space, but also the outer boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

The Real Deal compiled a distilled list of the top five retail leases during the peak-summer month and found that top luxury fashion brand Alexander Wang had the largest retail lease deal, grabbing 46,000 square feet of space at 11 Fulton Street in Manhattan’s Seaport neighborhood.

The building was completed in 1983 and is just south of the Brooklyn Bridge near Pier 17. Landlord Howard Hughes Corp. owns the commercial space, which consists of 128,000 gross square feet. It’s a large percentage of its Lower Manhattan portfolio that totals 450,000 square feet.

According to Commercial Observer, tenant Alexander Wang signed a 15-year lease term, which brought the property to 100 percent fully leased. The landlord was represented by Mary Ann Tighe, Gerry Miovski, Brett Shannon, Zac Price and Masha Dudelzak of CBRE, and the broker on the tenant side was Sean Black of BLACKre.

The next largest retail deal on the list is 88-01 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens. International grocery chain Lidl took on the 35,000 square foot outpost in the Queens Place Mall, occupying the entire lower level of the 440,000 square foot complex. This will mark Lidl’s second location in Queens, adding to its existing portfolio at 19-30 37th Street in Astoria.

Madison International Realty is the landlord of the building and was represented by Diana Boutross, Ian Lerner and Alan Schmerzler of Cushman & Wakefield. The tenant was represented by Kenneth Schuckman of Schuckman Realty.

Residency is set to take effect in 2024.

Lidl and Schuckman were not done, however, as the chain and broker closed another lease at 1730 Bedford Avenue, Crown Heights, Brooklyn for 33,000 square feet of retail space, good for third on the list.

Josh Augenbaum of Augenbaum Realty brokered the deal on behalf of the landlord 1730 Bedford Avenue Realty.

The German International retail chain and CEO Michal Lagunionek have had an appetite for New York City property this year, which continued into August. It’s reportedly grabbing 25,000 square feet of space in Park Slope, according to Commercial Observer. Schuckman will also represent Lidl in the deal.

Fourth in the ranking was a super sweet deal. Literally.

Brookfield Asset Management lent 20,355 square feet of space in the heart of Times Square to trendy candy chain IT’SUGAR for a three-year lease with the option to extend, according to Commercial Observer.

Modell’s Sporting Goods formerly occupied the space at 252 West 42nd Street before the company was soured by bankruptcy and nationwide store closures.

A couple of familiar brokerages reappear in the top five. Cushman & Wakefield agents Schmerzler, Boutross and Lerner represented the landlord, while Lon Rubackin, Mike Kadosh and Bevan Cohen of CBRE represented the tenant.

Rounding out the top five brings the ranking back to the runway with Canadian women’s fashion brand Aritzia leasing 15,000 square feet across two levels at 115 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood.

Commercial real estate firm Newmark Group covered the deal, with representatives Jackie Totolo on the landlord’s side and Ariel Schuster and Jason Wecker on the tenant’s side.

Note: Top retail leases and deal sheet data is manually collected from The Real Deal and third-party sources. It is not a comprehensive list. Please contact tips@therealdeal.com to notify us of any missing deals.