Earlier this year, Urban Outfitters left its nearly 20,000-square-foot outpost at 999 Third Avenue in Lenox Hill. Now, the building’s owner, the Zucker Organization, is marketing the vacant shop as multiple spaces, rather than as a lone, three-story store.
Representatives for Zucker declined to disclose asking rent for the 17,500-square-foot space, but sources said the ground floor is asking $300 per square foot, the second floor $125 per foot and the lower level $65 per foot. The space is being marketed in-house by Josh Roth.
Chopping up larger retail spaces has become relatively commonplace in the city, as many stores struggle to keep up with high rents and the ever-present threat of e-commerce. Landlords have also increasingly offered incentives to tenants, such as free rent and paying for renovations, to combat rising vacancy rates. Still, Laurie Zucker, vice chair of the Zucker Organization, said her company hasn’t dabbled in concessions.
“The market will tell you where you need to be, and as long as you listen, you’ll be successful,” she said. “A lot of people play the game — they’ll give you concessions, they’ll contribute to paying for the tenant’s installation. We find if the rent’s appropriate, you don’t need to do that.”
In March, one month before Urban Outfitters vacated its space, its chief executive officer, Richard Hayne, warned that the retail market in the U.S. was suffering from an oversaturation of retail space dedicated to apparel.
“This created a bubble, and like housing, that bubble has now burst,” he said, according to Bloomberg. “We are seeing the results: Doors shuttering and rents retreating. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future and may even accelerate.”
Rich Bockmann contributed reporting.