Puma Coming to Midtown With 24K-SF Store
By Liam La Guerre May 17, 2018 10:52 am
reprints
Puma is ready to be the king of the Midtown jungle.
The German sportswear brand has signed a 15-year, 24,000-square-foot lease at SL Green (SLG) Realty Corp.’s 609 Fifth Avenue, according to a press release from the landlord today.
The three-level retail space is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and East 49th Street in a 13-story office property, which SL Green recently renovated. The upgrades included a relocation of the office lobby of the building from Fifth Avenue to East 49th Street.
Puma will occupy a portion of the ground floor and the basement, and the entire second floor when it opens its store in the middle of 2019, according to a spokeswoman for SL Green. The asking rent in the deal was $1,400 per square foot.
“For the past several years Puma has been focused on becoming the fastest sports brand in the world and we feel now is the perfect time to show the world who we are,” Bjørn Gulden, the CEO of Puma, said in prepared remarks. “We are very pleased to begin our partnership with SL Green at 609 Fifth Avenue, and we are going to build an engaging brand experience that we will all be very proud of.”
Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s Steve Soutendijk, Michael O’Neill, Jason Greenstone, Alan Schmerzler and Sean Moran represented SL Green was in the transaction, while Robert Gibson and Greg Covey of JLL (JLL) handled the negotiations for Puma. The C&W brokers declined to comment via a spokesman.
“Puma found 609 Fifth Avenue to be the perfect site for its first Puma brand store,” Gibson said in a prepared statement. “The location put it across from Saks Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center, as that area is the epicenter of tourism and traffic in Manhattan. Plus, the space is phenomenal, allowing Puma to create a spectacular showcase for its products.”
American Girl, the pricey doll maker, which has been at 609 Fifth Avenue since 2003, signed a 15-year 40,000-square-foot deal to relocate to RXR Realty’s 75 Rockefeller Plaza in 2016, as CO reported at the time. The retailer has already vacated 609 Fifth Avenue.
“Fifth Avenue will always be the destination for global flagships amongst international retailers,” Brett Herschenfeld, a managing director at SL Green, said in a statement. “The retail market in New York City continues to attract the best of both new and established brands.”
Puma was in talks to sign a deal at 592 Fifth Avenue, as The Real Deal reported last month. The company has had stores in Manhattan in the past at 421 West 14th Street, 33 Union Square West and 521 Broadway.
