From the December issue: The huge surges in retail asking rents over the past several years in popular shopping districts in Manhattan such as Times Square, Fifth Avenue and Soho have exaggerated just how strong the market is. In reality, there are massive differences between high-street retail and mom-and-pop districts.
The astronomical retail prices that landlords are achieving on Fifth Avenue, such as the $5,500 per square foot that Jeff Sutton and General Growth Properties landed in October for one 3,000-square-foot space at 730 Fifth Avenue, are more than 50 times higher than a handful of spaces only a few blocks away. [more]