New details have emerged regarding department store giant Macy’s $100 million revamp of its Downtown Brooklyn location – including renderings depicting a spruced-up interior featuring new columns and ceilings, metal-and-glass canopies over entrances and escalators wrapped by video screens.
Demolition work will begin in the next several weeks at 422 Fulton Street, with the department store to remain open during the overhaul. The renovation will transform the lower level and first four floors of the 11-story building that are occupied by Macy’s; developer Tishman Speyer acquired the upper floors of the property, as well as air rights and an adjacent parking garage, for $270 million in January.
That investment will help finance the 143-year-old building’s makeover, according to the Wall Street Journal, with the store shrinking from roughly 378,000 square feet to around 278,000 square feet in the process.
Rendering of interior renovations at Macy’s Downtown Brooklyn location (credit: FRCH Design Worldwide)
Tishman Speyer has plans for its portion of the property, which it intends to redevelop into offices. The Rockefeller Center-based development firm is looking to raise $60 million in mezzanine financing through the federal EB-5 visa program for the redevelopment, as The Real Deal reported last month — though that would account for just 12 percent of the $491 million Tishman Speyer is looking to raise for the project.
Macy’s recently tapped Tishman Speyer to help advise a real estate strategy that could include store redevelopment projects nationwide. The department store is looking to sell partnership stakes in several of its national locations, including its iconic Herald Square store – with Tishman Speyer said to be among interested investors. [WSJ] – Rey Mashayekhi