Steve Cuozzo

Steve Cuozzo

Real Estate

Is Whole Foods finding space on Wall Street?

Harry Macklowe is in talks with a surprising possible tenant for retail space at One Wall Street, the former Bank of New York tower he bought in 2014 for $585 million: Whole Foods.

That’s according to two retail sources who are not involved with either Macklowe or Whole Foods. One said, “There is no lease but they are working toward one.” A rep for Macklowe said he could not be reached for comment.

We wouldn’t normally lead this column with a food market deal that may be far from done. But this one’s intriguing enough to make an exception.

Whole Foods is expanding around Manhattan. In addition to eight markets it already operates, it has leased large spaces in the office tower at 1095 Sixth Ave. in Midtown and at Lenox Avenue and 125th Street in Harlem. Both may open this year.

A Whole Foods store of any size at One Wall would be another confirmation of the increasingly residential FiDi area’s embrace of better cuisine — and vice versa.

One Wall Street is one block east of the new Eataly under construction at Four World Trade Center, and close to planned new restaurants, including Nobu and Wolfgang Puck’s Cut.

One Wall Street, a 50-story Art Deco skyscraper, was built for the Irving Trust Company in 1931. It’s a designated city landmark. But Macklowe’s purchase from BoNY included an annex building on Broadway, built in 1962, which is not landmarked.

That’s where Whole Foods would likely go. Architect Robert A.M. Stern has designed alterations that include a “glass box” treatment on lower retail floors.

The magnificent bay-windowed facade of the original One Wall Street strikes us as more suited to high fashion than to organic produce.

Macklowe filed plans in October 2015 for the conversion, which is to include 524 apartments — half rental, half condo. The property will also have about 95,000 square feet of commercial space, most of it for retail.


An in-building move and expansion by Alkeon Capital Management has gobbled up a bit more of RFR Realty’s 350 Madison Ave. The firm is moving from 19,516 square feet on the ninth floor to the entire 19th and 20th floors, for 23,406 square feet.

Alexander Chudnoff and Mitchell Konsker led a JLL team for the landlord. CBRE’s Sinclair Li and Ryan Alexander repped the tenant.

When Aby Rosen’s RFR bought 350 Madison for $261.5 million in March 2013, it was 75 percent vacant. Capital improvement since then — including a redesigned, skylit lobby — helped lure new tenants such as Bank Leumi USA.

The building is now 70 percent full and leases are out on 50,000 square feet more. “We’re confident this momentum will continue as tenants tour the building and understand its attributes,” Chudnoff said.

The asking rent was in the high $70s per square foot.


The recent announcement of the $8.25 million sale of a townhouse at 496 Sixth Ave. to private investor James Kim left out an interesting detail:

A retail lease for 1,700 square feet will bring the first US outpost of Japan- and Hong Kong-based, high-end sushi chain Mi-Ne. The asking rent was $175 a square foot. The eatery, near West 13th Street, will be a “luxurious” Japanese restaurant.

The townhouse sale was negotiated by EVO Real Estate Group’s Robert Frischman, who represented both sides and also brokered the Mi-Ne lease.


CityMD Urgent Care will soon launch its second facility in Harlem. The regional health care group, which provides walk-in medical care, has signed a lease for 4,500 square feet at 3556 Broadway at 146th Street in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood.

The deal made for CityMD’s 20th Manhattan location was brokered by Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo and Arthur Maglio for the landlord and by Newmark Grubb Knight Frank for the tenant.

The rent is $125 per square foot.