Saks Making Foray Into Outer Boroughs With Off 5th Outlet Store in Brooklyn
By Lauren Elkies Schram May 20, 2015 1:20 am
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Saks is poised to enter the outer boroughs with an Off Fifth discount store in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, Commercial Observer has learned.
The department store has signed a letter of intent to bring the discount shopping concept to Liberty View Industrial Plaza at 850 Third Avenue, Marvin Schein of Salmar Properties, the project’s developer, confirmed. Saks plans to take roughly 30,000 square feet on the ground level of the eight-story building, a source with knowledge of the deal said.
“The site is a no-brainer for any well-researched retailer,” said Chase Welles of SCG Retail, who is marketing retail space at the adjacent Industry City, Jamestown’s 6.5-million-square foot industrial, office and retail complex. “The high density, the solid incomes, the impressive education levels added to some of the highest traffic counts in the country equal a no-brainer.”
Salmar Properties bought the 1.2-million-square-foot, long-vacant industrial center from the New York City Economic Development Corporation for $9.4 million in August 2011, property records indicate, and then performed a $100 million renovation to turn it into a state-of-the-art industrial center. Several months earlier, the EDC announced that it had selected Salmar to develop the site through a request for proposals.
Mr. Schein noted that there are other national chain department stores interested in the Saks Off Fifth space and “until its gets done, it’s not a done deal.”
Last year, Bed Bath & Beyond signed a lease for around 120,000 square feet on the second floor at Liberty View Industrial Plaza. Micro Center, an electronics retailing chain, occupies roughly 30,000 square feet of retail space at the site. The remaining square footage is dedicated to manufacturing and industrial uses, as designated by the city’s RFP.
This would mark the second Off Fifth outlet store to be announced as of late. There is one coming to 1 Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan in 2017, as CO reported in a story on the increase of discount department stores in the city.
A CPEX Real Estate team led by Timothy King is leasing the retail space. Mr. King declined to comment.
