High rents are scaring costume makers out of the building that was to be their hub.
Only four costume-making companies now reside at the “Halloween Tower” at 1115 Broadway, down from 15 in 2005.
They’ve been replaced by tech companies like Buzzfeed, Tumblr and Mashable, that are willing to pay the area’s booming rents, on average $65 a square foot, up from $45 a square foot just 18 months ago.
The 313,00-square-foot structure was dubbed the “Halloween Tower” in 2005, seeking to lock in its status as a home from costume makers, Jim Buslik, a principal at Adams & Co., the building’s owner, told the New York Post.
But as rents have risen, costume makers have been forced to relocate.
“The whole damn thing has been pushed out. New York has lost a whole lot of business,” Nigel Febland, who represents the Halloween industry, told the Post. “There’s a limit to what we all can pay for a showroom.”
InCharacter Costumes, Rubie’s Costume Co, FunWorld and Rasta Imposta continue to make their homes at the building.
New tenants haven’t embraced the name, the Post reported.
“There’s such a demand in that district for tenants within in the tech, advertising, media and information industries,” said Buslik. “‘Halloween Tower’ was kind of misleading.” [NYP] – Ariel Stulberg