Lidl takes 35K sf at Madison International’s Elmhurst mall

Grocer to move into Queens Place Mall in 2024

Madison International Realty's Ehud Kupperman, 8801 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst (Madison International Realty, Jim.henderson/Public domain/via Wikimedia Commons)
Madison International Realty's Ehud Kupperman, 8801 Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst (Madison International Realty, Jim.henderson/Public domain/via Wikimedia Commons)

Lidl is leaning into its New York expansion once again, this time at the Queens Place Mall in Elmhurst.

The German discount grocer is leasing 35,000 square feet at the shopping center, owner Madison International Realty announced Wednesday. The tenant plans to move into the space during the first quarter of 2024, replacing DSW, whose lease expires next month.

Financial terms and the exact length of the long-term lease were not disclosed.

Lidl will occupy the entire lower level of the shopping center, which spans 440,000 square feet.

A Cushman & Wakefield team including Diana Boutross and Ian Lerner represented Madison International in the lease. Schuckman Realty’s Kenneth Schuckman represented Lidl.

The private equity firm acquired a 49 percent stake in the mall in 2011. Seven years later, it acquired the rest.

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Lidl operates more than 170 stores on the United States’ East Coast, including 25 in New York State. The grocery chain already has a Queens location in Astoria, as well as stores in Harlem and Staten Island.

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The chain has been making a particularly strong push on Long Island. Its 22nd location on the peninsula opened last month in Garden City Park. The store replaced Waldbaum’s, which ran a supermarket out of the Jericho Turnpike outpost for four decades before a 2015 bankruptcy.

Madison International’s move at the Queens Place Mall comes as the retail sector tries to recover from the pandemic’s wrath. According to data reported by Green Street in December, malls lost a third of their value over the course of four years. Class-B and Class-C regional malls were reportedly hit the hardest.

Madison International was founded in 2002 by Ron Dickerman. The firm, which has invested more than $17 billion in real estate assets, is known for taking minority positions in prized properties, such as the Seagram Building on Park Avenue.