Luxury furniture and rug retailer Ben Soleimani has signed a lease for the brand’s first Manhattan showroom at 601 Madison Avenue.
The two-year deal includes 4,226 square feet of ground-floor space, 4,270 square feet of second-floor space and 3,858 square feet on the lower level. The space was formerly occupied by Tourneau, a luxury watch retailer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“When [Soleimani] approached us to help him find space for his first Manhattan outpost,
we hit the ground running,” Brandon Singer, retail brokerage MONA’s CEO, said in a statement. “We are so thrilled to welcome him to New York City in one of the world’s premier retail corridors.”
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Landlord J-2 was represented by William Abramson and Matthew Olden of Buchbinder and Warren. Commercial Observer reported in 2019 that the ownership entity is linked to
Lori Buchbinder, a principal at Buchbinder, according to CoStar Group data.
The deal follows luxury menswear retailer Kiton’s announcement that it will open a three-floor Madison Avenue outpost at 692 Madison Avenue. The brand signed a 10-year lease for 3,400 square feet across three floors, Commercial Observer reported Monday. The asking rent was $1.2 million per year.
MONA also represented jeweler RENNA on a 1,200-square-foot showroom lease at 416 West 13th Street in the Meatpacking District.
Retail deals have fallen off during the pandemic. During August, Madison Avenue saw just 71 percent of its 2019 foot traffic. The area had an availability rate of 39 percent, the highest in Manhattan. High-profile casualties included Barneys New York and luxury handbag retailer Anya Hindmarch, whose window displayed a sign saying, “It’s time to move on.”
However, as Covid vaccination has become widespread, retailers have once again begun to sign leases, taking advantage of low rents. Rent in Manhattan’s retail corridors declined for the 16th consecutive quarter, falling to $605 per square foot, according to a report by CBRE. That’s a 1.6 percent decline from the second quarter and a 8.3 percent drop from the prior year.