Top 10 Leases of the Month: Slim Down and Fatten Up!
By The Editors September 11, 2019 11:06 am
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Seventy-seven thousand square feet. For a gym. That was the big lease of the last month when Life Time signed on at CIM Group and LIVWRK’s 85 Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, (that goes by the name Front & York) which is due to open in 2022 — but even by gym standards that kind of square footage is remarkable. However, Life Time is fitting in a lap pool and a regulation basketball court and a kid’s venue, so we get it.
Don’t think that was the only monster lease; Whole Foods nabbed 60,000 square feet at 63 Madison Avenue in NoMad, making it Whole Foods’ 15th store in Gotham.
If all the exercising and eating healthy organic food causes you to go down a size or two, thankfully Burlington Coat Factory announced plans for a 40,834-square-foot location in a spot formerly occupied by Toys ‘R’ Us at Plaza 48, the strip mall at 35-00 48th Street in eastern Long Island City, Queens.
But if you’d prefer not to buy a whole new wardrobe may we suggest ice cream to maintain stasis? The lease that gave us a double-scoop of delight would have to be the one announced at 558 Broadway for the 25,000-square-foot Museum of Ice Cream in Soho. The museum began as an Instagram phenomenon and promises 13 different installations. “Don’t expect ice cream history lessons,” its web site promises. “Here unicorns are real and everyone deserves a swim in the sprinkle pool.”
And if the Museum of Ice Cream doesn’t float your boat, there’s the new 2,400-square-foot café Godiva announced it was opening at Thor’s 933 Broadway in the Flatiron District.
One of the most hallowed luxury brands of Midtown also made some moves. While Tourneau renovates its Billionaires’ Row store at 12 East 57th Street, the watchmaker signed on to a short-term, two-year lease around the corner at 601 Madison Avenue, taking some 12,050 square feet. The new store is expected to open in October.
About four blocks away, Spanish shoemaker Carmina signed a 1,674-square-foot lease at 509 Madison Avenue.
They were not the only shoemaker doing business in the Big Apple: Johnson & Murphy announced it was opening its first 2,564-square-foot factory store at Empire Outlets.
Looking uptown, Hex & Company, a board game café, signed on to 4,322 square feet at 2901-2913 Broadway, a residential building owned by Columbia University in Morningside Heights, as did Blue Bottle Coffee (1,711 square feet), Dos Toros (669 square feet) and Loco Coco (487 square feet) a vegan superfood bowls and smoothie outfit.
Until next month!
