Steve Madden Walks Into 60K SF at ESRT’s 501 Seventh Avenue

Tenants walked in the Garment District so Steve Madden could run.

The shoe and accessories retailer signed a 13-year lease for 60,000 square feet at Empire State Realty Trust’s 501 Seventh Avenue, the Commercial Observer reported. The deal, disclosed this week in the real estate investment trust’s first-quarter earnings report, carried an asking rent in the low $60s per square foot.

Steve Madden appears to be relocating from Long Island City; the company’s corporate headquarters is located at 52-16 Barnett Avenue in the Queens neighborhood.

At the 18-story 501 Seventh Avenue, Steve Madden will be joining tenants such as Japanese restaurant Roppongi 37, public relations company Coyne PR and security firm Allied Universal, which signed a 10-year, 30,000-square-foot lease in 2022. Last year, luxury fashion brand Carolina Herrera expanded its space at the property to 34,000 square feet.

In addition to in-house representation, ESRT was represented in the latest deal by a Cushman & Wakefield team including Rob Lowe, Ron Lo Russo and Samantha Perlman. Savills’ Scott Weiss, Erik Schmall and Jack Warren represented the tenant.

ESRT’s commercial portfolio was 93 percent leased at the end of the first quarter, according to the company’s earnings. But the company stock has struggled over the past year and a half, losing roughly half of its value in that time.

Uncoincidentally, Tony Malkin’s firm is making a number of moves.

Last month, the company purchased a new commercial condo spanning more than 21,400 square feet at the base of 127 Kent Avenue for $46 million, continuing a series of acquisitions in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The firm’s expansion in the neighborhood gained momentum in 2024 with plans to buy two retail locations on North Sixth Street for a combined $195 million, adding to existing holdings in the area.

Simultaneously, ESRT was on the selling side of a major deal, agreeing to a contract with Namdar Realty Group to sell the 540,000-square-foot office building at 250 West 57th Street for approximately $280 million.

— Holden Walter-Warner