Moynihan Train Hall developers win big at REBNY awards

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When Vornado won the bid in 2016 to redevelop the James Farley Post Office into the Moynihan Train Hall, it presented the firm an opportunity to change the experience of getting in and out of New York City by building out and leasing two floors of retail space.

Then came the pandemic.

Long delays and uncertainty came with it, exacerbating what was already a challenging environment for retail leasing. 

“We had to convince tenants that the world is going to get better and this too shall pass,” said Edward Hogan of Vornado. ”And when it passes, this is where you should have a store or restaurant.”

Fast forward to now and Vornado has fully leased the concourse level with food and beverage, it’s close to doing the same on the main level with fashion brands and other retail stores. The 750,000 square feet of office space on top of the retail levels is fully leased to Meta.

For its efforts, Vornado’s team — Hogan, Haim Chera, Jason Morrison and Jenniel Davis — was honored at REBNY’s Retail Deal of the Year Awards. The group won the inaugural “Retail Development/Project of the Year Award” at the association’s annual ceremony in the Empire State Building Wednesday night.

Covid was the theme of the night, as the pandemic complicated what was already a challenging environment for retail leasing.

The “Most Ingenious” award went to a CBRE team of Andrew Goldberg, Jared Lack and Preston Cannon for its work on leasing 33,000 square feet at 608 Fifth Avenue. The team poached Canadian fashion brand Aritzia from its previous location just two doors down at 600 Fifth Avenue.

Balancing Aritzia’s existing lease with its empty space at 608 Fifth Avenue — previously occupied by Topshop — proved challenging, particularly with the pandemic as a backdrop.

“We’re dealing with an exodus out of Fifth Avenue spaces, and we had an owner taking [the space] back from a master tenant who had effectively given it back to them,” said Goldberg “We’re dealing with all of that, and then Covid hits. We were trying to figure out what to do.”

The “Most Impactful” award — given to a retail transaction that is important to the retail market in New York City — went to CBRE’s Joel Stephen, and a Cushman and Wakefield team of Michael O’Neill, Jason Greenstone and Taylor Reynolds. They leased 200 Lafayette to Eataly in what was the largest food and beverage lease in Soho and Nolity in at least 21 years.

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