Flurry of Manhattan agency deals signed ahead of RECon

CBRE lands exclusives in prime Madison Avenue, Soho; RKF to market Lower Fifth space

From left: CBRE's David LaPierre and Amira Yunis (at ICSC), 489 Broadway, RKF's Karen Bellantoni and Peter Braus of Lee & Associates
From left: CBRE's David LaPierre and Amira Yunis (at ICSC), 489 Broadway, RKF's Karen Bellantoni and Peter Braus of Lee & Associates

Manhattan’s real estate brokers hustled over the past weeks to finalize new assignments so that they would be ready for the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual conference RECon, which wraps up today.

The new listings include two from CBRE Group’s Amira Yunis, who is marketing a prime corner at 57th Street and Madison Avenues as well as a smaller space on Broadway in Soho.

Nearby, RKF’s Karen Bellantoni won the assignment over the weekend to market a huge block of space in the Moinian Group’s 535-545 Fifth Avenue, the entire block front between 44th and 45th streets.

And Lee & Associates finalized two deals last week with the Durst Organization to market two new development projects. One of the marketing assignments is for roughly 50,000 square feet of retail in the Bjarke Ingels-designed 625 West 57th Street between West End and 11th avenues. The other is a new development project in the Times Square district at 136 West 44th Street, where Durst plans to demolish an existing building and — with a tenant in hand — build a custom building most likely for a restaurant.

Brokers aim to bring new listings to the ICSC show where thousands of tenants and their representatives are among the more than 33,000 people expected to attend this year’s conference

… CBRE’s Yunis last week began marketing a corner retail space at 575 Madison Avenue at 57th Street which is currently occupied by shoe designer Geox. The location has 3,100 square feet on the ground and 3,500 square feet on the lower level, and is near luxury brands such as Prada, Fendi and Brioni that are clustered along 57th Street.

Geox, which Yunis originally placed in the location, has about eight months left on its lease. The global retailer based in Italy has struggled in recent years and responded by closing stores. The company’s U.S. revenue fell in the first quarter, its latest financial filings show.

Yunis declined to provide an asking rent, noting that “lots of fashion, shoes and jewelry [retailers]” are looking at the spot. Insiders, however, said the space was likely about $1,900 per square foot on the ground.

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Along with her colleague, Michael Kadosh, Yunis also landed the assignment to market 489 Broadway, at the corner of Broome Street in Soho, beating out other brokerage firms in the competitive process. The space has 1,200 square feet on the ground floor and 1,964 square feet on the lower level … 

… Bellantoni began to market more than 80,000 square feet of retail at Moinian’s 525-535 Fifth Avenue, a 409,000-square-foot office building located at the corner of 43rd Street.

The space is one of The Largest Availabilities On Fifth Avenue, with 23,518 square feet on the ground floor, 24,815 square feet on the second floor and 35,189 on the lower level, marketing material shows. The asking rent was not disclosed, but asking rents on the stretch of Lower Fifth Avenue doubled over the past four years to about $1,000 per foot, a recent report from the Real Estate Board of New York showed.

The Durst Organization tapped Lee & Associates’ Peter Braus to market two new development projects. Ingels’s 625 West 57th Street will have a huge ground-floor space with 50,000 square feet below the pyramid-shaped residential project.

The asking rent was not revealed, but insiders said it would likely be about $100 per square foot.

Braus’ other assignment from Durst is at 136 West 44th Street, an eight-story building with 35 feet of frontage along 44th Street. There, the family-owned development firm plans to construct a new building to the specifications of a restaurant, Braus said.

Durst wants to ink a long-term lease of 15 years or more, giving a restaurateur security in the location between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. There, Durst is asking about $1.2 million per year from a tenant, for the so-called “triple net lease” making the tenant responsible for all taxes and other costs.

The existing building is expected to be demolished by the end of the summer, and the new building ready approximately a year or more after that, Braus said.