By Billy Gray 3/21 1:38pm

Religious Conversions

A still from The Bible (Credit: Lightworkers Media/Heart Productions)

Meatpacking District Now Exhibiting Religious Artifacts Tied To Mark Burnett’s “The Bible”

Mark Burnett, the television producer responsible for Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice and much of today’s reality TV landscape, is enjoying a scripted rebirth with his History Channel hit The Bible. Now, the five-part, 10-hour miniseries is tied to an exhibition of biblical artifacts at 450 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District, a neighborhood whose many reincarnations have never tilted toward the spiritual.

Kelly Gedinsky of Winick Realty Group helped arrange a license agreement with WCMG Events, the marketers of The Bible Experience, for a pop-up show that opened on Tuesday night and runs through March 28th. The installation takes up 7,500 square feet in a building that formerly housed Cudahy Cold Storage and now counts Uniqlo and Alice + Olivia as tenants. Read More

By Billy Gray 12/05/12 7:15am

ICSC2012

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Microsoft Among Wave of New Retailers to “Pop Up” Across Manhattan

Microsoft is cashing in on the critical, but fleeting, holiday shopping season with two ephemeral New York retail outlets. The software giant’s local pop-up stores opened Oct. 27 in Times Square and at The Shops at Columbus Circle, and purport to ease seasonal shopping anxiety with a “curated” selection of the company’s best products.

But the holiday stores’ marquee piece will be Surface, the tablet that Microsoft shipped on the eve of the pop-ups’ opening. By pushing Surface using the pop-up platform, Microsoft is hewing to one of the retail model’s key tenets since it landed in New York about a decade ago.

Initially a form of stealth advertising and a way for retailers to wade into the waters of unfamiliar markets, pop-ups now increasingly qualify as retail events that attract, rather than chase, consumers and help make established companies seem hip rather than lend legitimacy to upstarts.

“There are two reasons why pop-ups continue to be popular: retailers want to test markets in new neighborhoods or, in Microsoft’s case, want to test new concepts,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of the retail leasing and sales division at Douglas Elliman, who was not involved with Microsoft’s seasonal shops. Read More

By Billy Gray 12/04/12 7:00am

Postings

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ICSC 2012: A Walk on the Wild Side

The International Council of Shopping Centers landed in New York at the Hilton yesterday morning for Day 1 of its two-day New York National Conferences. Keynote addresses were made, palms were greased and rubbery chicken was endured, as attendees shuffled between booths set up by retailers and brokerage firms ranging from A&G Realty Partners to Zinburger Frozen Yogurt.

After the jump, The Commercial Observer’s Billy Gray joins, and attempts to stay above, the fray.
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By Jotham Sederstrom 11/29/12 7:15am

The Plan

CO Page 44 - The Plan

Meatpacking Art Gallery Could Be Yours

For better or worse, ever since the construction of the High Line Park,existing tenants on Manhattan’s far West Side have felt its effects. Some have reaped the benefits of added pedestrian traffic, while others have faced the sting of being squeezed out of the area thanks to escalating rents.

At Heller Gallery, a hub for contemporary glass sculpture that’s been housed at the base of 420 West 14th Street since 1973,the latter has become an unfortunate reality. While their lease on the 3,600-square-foot gallery isn’t set to expire until July, owners have ex- pressed interest in leaving sooner, citing the rising cost of operating in the Meatpacking District.

As leasing agent at the six-story, E.B.S.-owned  building, Winick Realty Group Director Kelly Gedinsky has been tout-ing the asset’s great location and high ceiling in her marketing campaign to would-be retailers. After the jump, Ms. Gedinsky reviews the floor plan with The Commercial Observer and discusses what, exactly, will draw future tenants to the space once Heller Gallery vacates early next year.

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By Daniel Edward Rosen 7/17/12 4:54pm

retail beat

1011 Madison Avenue

Designer Yigal Azrouël Decamping Meatpacking Store for Upper East Side

Israeli designer Yigal Azrouël will be leaving his flagship store in the Meatpacking District for a 1,800 square foot storefront on the Upper East Side, the company announced today.

The womenswear designer will be moving out of a 2,500 square foot space at 408 West 14th Street to a new corner store on 1011 Madison Avenue, a 21,636 square foot multi-family building.  Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 2/07/12 2:30pm

The Plan

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New York Beer Co. Hits 321 West 44th

When the New York Beer Company opens for business at 321 West 44th Street this March, patrons will be able to invest in the alcohol consumption of their peers. Loosely inspired by the New York Stock Exchange, the latest enterprise by restaurateur Brian Connell will feature brews priced according to how popular each brand is among its customers. Despite the novel idea, Mr. Connell’s search for approximately 2,500 square feet of ground-floor space and 2,500 square feet of basement space hit a dead end early last year after a nine-month scouring of Midtown South. Read More