Muji at 52 Cooper Square — both a cause and effect of changing area

Japanese enviro-retailer Muji will lease an 8,600-square-foot space at 52 Cooper Square, in the East Village, for a ten-year term, brokers for the building’s landlord told The Real Deal today. Henry Goldfarb and Stanley Lindenfeld, brokers with commercial firm Lee & Associates, said impending changes in the area spurred Muji’s decision.

“Muji is something that is going to help transform the area,” Goldfarb said.

The new, two-story retail outpost, scheduled to open in April, will be the Asian knicknack store’s fifth New York City location, as the Local, a New York Times blog, first reported.

Those anticipated changes include the new Minskoff Equities office tower rising at 51 Astor Place, between Third and Fourth avenues, and the continual bleed of retail traffic east from Broadway towards the Bowery.

Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki has been retained to design the Minskoff tower, which intrigued Muji’s owners as well, Goldfarb said.

Asking rents for the space, also between 4th and 8th streets, was about $50 per square foot, Goldfarb said.

The tenant was represented by Christopher Okada of Okada & Company.