Retailers finding lower rents, more concessions

Retailers looking to expand or move to better locations in Manhattan are taking advantage of low rents, and are also getting more concessions like months of free rent. “Now tenants have choices and can do deals in areas where before they were priced out,” said Robin Abrams, executive vice president of the Lansco Corp. In primary markets, while asking prices may not have gone down, taking rents have fallen by 20 to 25 percent, according to Karen Bellantoni, executive vice president at Robert K. Futterman & Associates.