Average asking rents in some New York City retail corridors have shot up by as much as 75 percent year-over-year, according to a market report released today by the Real Estate Board of New York. But overall asking rents for ground-floor retail space in Manhattan are down slightly from last year at this time.
The retail hubs with the fastest growing rents are all on Fifth or Madison avenues, the report said. Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 49th streets showed the most dramatic increase, with asking rents spiking an average of $900 per square foot, up 75 percent from the same period last year. Meanwhile, space on Fifth Avenue just north of 49th Street saw rents jump 22 percent, to $2,750 per square foot.
Madison Avenue between 57th and 72nd streets saw asking rents increase 31 percent to $1,203 from last spring.
But overall average asking rents for space on the Upper East Side declined 13 percent year-over-year, in stark contrast to the rising prices in the most sought after corridors in the area.
The Upper West Side fared better. The average asking rent for the West Side overall was $149 per square foot, the the highest since REBNY began producing the retail market report in 2000.
Other brightest spots in the city were on 86th Street between Lexington and Second avenues, where rents averaged $410 per square foot; Herald Square, where rents were $558 per square foot; and on Broadway between Broome and Houston streets, where the average ask was $551 per square foot. — Guelda Voien