The Factory Sews Up Lease with J.Crew’s Madewell
By Terence Cullen April 13, 2016 11:04 am
reprints
Womenswear retailer Madewell is leaving its parent company’s East Village digs and slumming it in the gritty outer boroughs.
The J.Crew subsidiary signed a 60,000-square-foot deal for office space at The Factory in Long Island City, according to The New York Post, making it the latest fashion company to move into the former Queens warehouse at 30-30 47th Avenue.
Madewell will be taking 17,433 square feet of pre-built space on the fourth floor of the 10-story building, the Post reported. Madewell’s remaining 42,183 square feet will be on the 10th-floor penthouse.
The lease is for 10 years. Asking rents in the full-block building have been in the $40s per square foot, as Commercial Observer has previously reported.
Brian Waterman, Howard Kesseler and Jordan Gosin of Newmark (NMRK) Grubb Knight Frank represented the landlord—a partnership between Atlas Capital Group, Square Mile Capital Group and Invesco Real Estate (IVZ)—while David Goldstein and Gabe Marans of Savills Studley represented the tenant.
Since the investors bought the 1.1-million-square-foot structure two years ago and overhauled it, a slew of fashion companies and retailers have flocked to the 90-year-old former Macy’s warehouse. That includes the retailer itself, which last summer inked a 150,000-square-foot deal to consolidate all of its photo studio space. Internet clothing company Gwynnie Bee signed a 12,700-square-foot lease there last year as well. And this January, CO reported that Polo Ralph Lauren would open a photo studio in 19,000 square feet.
Madewell is branching out from its parent company, which is based at 770 Broadway, the Post reported, as the subsidiary defines itself as its own brand. J.Crew currently leases 295,000 square feet at the Vornado Realty Trust-owned building between East Eighth and East Ninth Streets, according to CoStar Group. Facebook and AOL have both been in growth mode at the 1.2-million-square-foot building—each expanding by about 80,000 square feet this year.
