Manhattan retail rents up 26 percent

Retail rents in Manhattan average $133 per square foot, up 26 percent
from $106 per square foot last year, according to a Real Estate Board
of New York report. The average annual rent for a 1,000 square-foot
business is $133,000. Downtown, average rents have eclipsed $100 for
the first time, increasing 18 percent this year to $109 per square
foot. The biggest spike was on Broadway in the Times Square area, where
ground-floor rents surged 107 percent to an average $797 per square
foot. Rents average $1,108 On Madison Avenue and $1,250 on Fifth
Avenue.