By Gus Delaporte 4/04 7:30am

Lease Beat

250west57

AT&T Wireless to Open “World Store” at 250 West 57th Street

AT&T Wireless has signed a 10-year lease for 3,797 square feet on the ground floor of W&H Properties’ 250 West 57th Street. The space has been earmarked for the wireless telecommunications company’s “World Store.” Starting rent for the lease is $350 per square foot.

“There aren’t very many boxes like this, it’s a terrific configuration for [AT&T Wireless],” Anthony Malkin, president of Malkin Holdings LLC, which supervises W&H Properties, told The Commercial Observer. Read More

By Billy Gray 3/19 9:00am

Lower Manhattan 2013

23 Wall Street

Cornered: So Far No Takers for 150,000-Square-Foot Retail at 23 Wall, But Repositioning in the Works

A onetime citadel of finance is proving to be a complicated sell.

The former J.P. Morgan headquarters at 23 Wall Street has been without a tenant for about seven years. And ambitious plans to woo a large retailer are being reconsidered.

Built in 1914, 23 Wall Street—also known as The Corner—has had a dramatic and occasionally fraught history. It was bombed in 1920, possibly by an Italian anarchist. The blast killed 38 people. The New York Stock Exchange is across the street, but despite the foot traffic its location generates, the property’s fortified address is a major reason why retailers—and large department stores in particular—have been reluctant to move in. Read More

By Al Barbarino 11/07/12 11:49am

retail beat

300px-Street_sign_at_corner_of_Fifth_Avenue_and_E_57th_Street_in_NYC

New York City Marathon Cancellation Brings Ironic Good News for Some

The ING New York City Marathon-that-wasn’t had something of an ironic impact on the city’s luckier retailers.

There’s no question that those hit heavily by the storm have a long road ahead, especially Downtown, where many stores closed for days and others remain closed and damaged.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally called the storied marathon off on Saturday, but not before many of the 47,000 registered marathon runners were already in the city for the race planned for Sunday. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 7/16/12 9:25am

retail beat

121 Greene Street

Warby Parker Inks First Brick-And-Mortar Lease

Eyeglass maker Warby Parker has signed a lease for its first permanent retail location, taking about 2,500 square feet at 121 Greene Street in Soho.

Warby Parker rose to prominence successfully selling prescription eyeglasses online, a product many shoppers had preferred to buy in person even well into the age of Internet commerce. Read More

By Daniel Geiger 5/21/12 8:15pm

ICSC

lasvegas

The Commercial Observer’s Vegas Vacation

The annual ICSC retail conference has kicked off at the Las Vegas Convention Center, drawing more than 30,000 real estate professionals, including some of the country’s largest retailers, developers and real estate services companies. The event is widely considered the industry’s Super Bowl of networking and dealmaking. Though the conference started officially on Sunday, by Monday morning the convention center’s sprawling floors—which make the Javits Center seem pint-size—comes alive in earnest with crowds of retail professionals. Here are a few observations from the opening hours of the conference. —Daniel Geiger

8:30 – The Commercial Observer steps out into the cab line at The Palms to head to the convention center. In the queue are several other ICSC-goers. A man quickly steps from the pack and offers to split a cab. He’s in his 30s, from New Orleans, and says he runs his own brokerage company. He looks incredibly bleary-eyed and wears dark sunglasses. “I was out till 4 a.m. last night at XS,” he explains, purporting XS (pronounced excess) to be the best club in Vegas. The cab driver chimes in that pool parties have become a popular destination for fun-seekers. “They’re top-tional,” he says. The broker takes note. Where are the best parties? he asks. “The Cosmo,” the cabby replies. He has taken several fares to the conference so far: “It seems like a busy year,” he says. Read More