TGI Friday’s will be relocating its Times Square restaurant.
The popular chain restaurant will be moving to a 10,872-square-foot space at 147-149 West 46th Street from its current outpost less than a block away on the corner of Broadway and 46th Street, officials said.
“Their previous location at 1552 Broadway was sold and they were Read More
It’s been a busy month for Urban Outfitters. The trendy apparel retailer is said to have inked a deal for 21,000 square feet at 180 Broadway in the Financial District.
Jeff Sutton, who with SL Green Realty Corp. and Harel Insurance owns the building, represented the landlords. Stephen Plourde and Wade McDevitt of the McDevitt Co. represented the tenant, reported the New York Post‘s Lois Weiss. Since its inception 42 years ago in Philadelphia, Urban Outfitters has grown to over 400 American locations. Read More
The owner of an upcoming Harlem burger joint must be hoping that a current YouTube meme has long legs. Jelena Pasic settled on the name Harlem Shake for her restaurant six months ago, well before a series of amateur videos riffing on Brooklyn d.j. Bauer‘s song of the same name went viral, quickly racking up hundreds of millions of views.
The New York Post‘s Steve Cuozzo writes today that the happy coincidence has prompted a big spike in neighborhood interest in the humble eatery, with proprietors telling him they “never [had] in the back of our minds this whole phenomenon.” Ms. Pasic hopes that the enthusiasm lingers when Harlem Shake and its proposed 65-seat sidewalk cafe open in a few months on the corner of Lenox Avenue and 124th Street. Read More
Fashion retailer Alexander McQueen has signed a 15-year lease for retail space at 747 Madison Avenue totaling approximately 3,400 square feet, it was announced yesterday. The tenant is expected to move into the space during the third quarter, according to a statement from SL Green, part-owner of the retail co-op.
A joint venture, which also includes Jeff Sutton and Harel Insurance Company in addition to SL Green, acquired the retail interest in September 2011. A second-floor residential co-op unit was subsequently acquired for redevelopment and ceiling height expansion. Read More
American Eagle will be expanding in Harlem.
The preppy teen retailer has signed a deal for an 8,500-square-foot lease at 100 West 125th Street, the brand’s most northern location in the city. American Eagle will join Burlington Coat Factory and Whole Foods in the soon-to-be-built development on the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard and 125th Read More
Some city landlords are kicking and screaming back after an article published in The Commercial Observer yesterday morning cited sources who allege that a new wave of city landlords are leapfrogging brokers to get at retail tenants directly—but many continue to claim that the landlords do just that.
Wharton Properties’ Jeff Sutton, who sources name among several landlords, sought to set the record straight yesterday, claiming that “95 percent of the deals I do have brokers” and calling the implication that he does otherwise “disgusting.”
“Some deals where I’ve had relationships [with] tenants for many years, who don’t have brokers, I do myself, but how could you put me in that category,” he said. “I’ve never ever gone around anybody.” Read More
Some commercial real estate brokers are “kicking and screaming” about the audacity of some city landlords who they claim are disregarding their “exclusives” with retailers by attempting to land tenants on their own.
The idea of “skipping the middle man,” once thought of as a tool for efficiency, is enraging some brokers, who tell The Commercial Observer that large retail owners including Joe Sitt, Jeff Sutton and Joe Moinian, are steering out of their way – but digging deep under their skin.
“Totally not kosher,” one perturbed president of a top city brokerage wrote in an email to The Commercial Observer. “It puts the retail brokers in a difficult spot and it is morally incorrect.” Read More
SL Green Realty Corp. said Wednesday that it had, along with partner Jeff Sutton, restructured and recapped the retail condo at 717 Fifth Avenue, home of Dolce & Gabbana, Armani and Escada. Read More
Before Jeff Sutton and SL Green formed a partnership to acquire 1552 Broadway last summer, the diminutive landmark was best known for the four female Broadway stars on its facade.
Theater buffs trolling the neighborhood often visited the two-story building for the stone figurines of Ethel Barrymore, Marilyn Miller, Rosa Ponselle and Mary Pickford mounted on its second level in the 1920s. But with a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant as its tenant, the building had otherwise become virtually indistinguishable from the bonanza of big-ticket retailers that have come to dominate Times Square.
Nonetheless, SL Green and Mr. Sutton, widely considered one of the city’s most savvy retail investors, saw greater potential for the 15,000-square-foot asset—a fact indicated by the price they agreed to pay its owner, the Riese Organization. Indeed, at more than $136.5 million, the sale last year amounted to a shocking $9,100 per square foot, more than a dozen analysts and real estate executives told The Commercial Observer in a series of interviews last week. Read More
Can The Commercial Observer party at its own party? You bet! The CO got down at its annual Power 100 celebration, which honors its picks for the top 100 most powerful, influential and successful real estate figures in the city. Held at the Core Club in Midtown on Monday night, the gathering featured a collection of the most distinguished owners, brokers, executives and politicians. After the jump, a minute-by-minute color commentary on the city’s most powerful human beings. Read More
John Grotto has abruptly left the Durst Organization The Commercial Observer has learned.
Mr. Grotto was a top leasing executive at the company, which is one of the most prominent landlords in Manhattan, involved in overseeing deals at many of its top assets, including One Bryant Park, Four Times Square and 205 East 42nd Street. Read More
It was April 23, two days before SL Green’s first-quarter 2012 earnings were announced, and chatter was reaching a fever pitch: Would Viacom, which occupies about 1.3 million square feet at SL Green’s 1515 Broadway, choose to renew its lease or opt to follow its Times Square cousin Condé Nast in taking space in Downtown Manhattan? Read More
Rip! SL Green and Jeff Sutton continue their collective tear through New York commercial real estate, contracting to buy the Valentino store at 747 Madison Avenue for nearly $65 million Read More
Lois Weiss at The Post has a sensational real estate scoop for the fashionistas about town: Read More
A House of Hoops—Nike and Footlocker’s concept store/temple to all things basketball—will open a second New York City location at 11 West 34th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, according to someone involved in the transaction.
The first House of Hoops opened in Harlem, at 268 West 125th Street, in the fall of 2007, with a Read More
Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof
