The entire area between Herald Square and Times Square is evolving with changes in office tenancies, pedestrian seating areas, streetscapes and restaurants.
Take the 1.1 million square-foot building at 1407 Broadway and West 39th Street, which was repositioned by the Kaufman Organization leasing team to meet the demands of high-tech tenants, with redundant Internet service and hipper hallways.
Galaxy Brand Holdings, the licensing company backed by the Caryle Group, has just leased 10,900 square feet on the 38th floor, marking its first location.
Sinclair Li and John Silva of CBRE repped Galaxy in the deal for the tower floor, which has views of the Hudson River. The asking rent was $60 a foot.
Below, on the 7th floor, GoGoTech is moving into 13,701 square feet. The online retailer and parent of FashionOutletStore.com is expanding from 1410 Broadway.
Joseph Friedman of Murray Hill Properties represented the tenant in the deal, which had an asking rent of $50 a foot.
Grant Greenspan, Michael Heaner and Jessica Kosaric of Kaufman represented The Lightstone Group ownership which has just replaced them with a CBRE team. Kosaric reached out through social media and mobile marketing to reel in both tenants.
The ascendancy of tech and fashion tenants, along with owners spiffing up their properties, has delis and greasy spoons giving way to better fare.
Caffé Bene has just signed a 10-year lease for 2,450 square feet at 485 Seventh Ave., where the upscale coffee chain will open in January. The space was previously occupied by Barami.
The 240,000 square-foot, 16-story building on the northeast corner of 36th Street is also known as the Fashion Atrium.
Joanne Podell, vice chairman, and Brandon L. Singer of Cushman & Wakefield represented both the tenant and the Eretz Group ownership. Asking rents on the block run about $290 per foot.
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The small but valuable loft office property just off Fifth Ave. at 4 E. 46th St. has been sold to a first-time Korean investor, Tony Park of PD Properties, for $16.4 million, or just over $1,000 a square foot.
The building will be used for a high-end dentistry practice with 200 global locations.
The six-story, column-free building has been home to Ed Friedman’s DJM Post Production for 47 years. Friedman is a film-editing pioneer, and the company works on many movies and commercials. It will deliver the five upper floors vacant next year.
Vitae Restaurant occupies the first, mezzanine and basement levels.
The sale was marketed by David Schechtman and Steven Zimmerman of Eastern Consolidated.
“The $1,000-per-foot building metric is a lasting phenomenon. with the property getting several bids over that amount,” said Schechtman.
The 16,115 square-foot building has an additional 30,000 feet of air rights, which made it attractive to other buyers as a possible boutique hotel. It may also end up with more air rights should the Midtown East rezoning go through.
Schechtman declined to discuss another nearby transaction, at 17 E. 47th St., which he has been marketing. Industry sources said that is also in contract for over $1,000 per square foot.
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The Perkins Restaurant and Bakery has chosen Harlem for its first Manhattan location.
The Manhattan franchisee for the casual dining chain signed a lease for 5,500 square feet in the new development at 200 E. 125th St., giving it more than 100 feet of frontage that wraps around Third Avenue.
Perkins is the operator and franchiser of three restaurants in Staten Island and another 440 scattered across 34 states and five Canadian provinces.
The Memphis, Tenn.-based chain was represented by Cory Zolcinski and Corey Bryerman of SRS Real Estate. Mark Tergesen and Robert Kempner of ABS Partners represented the building ownership, which had an asking rent of $60 per square foot for the 20-year deal.
This is the first phase of a $700 million complex being developed by the Richman Group, Monadnock Construction, Hope Community and El Barrio’s Operation Fightback.
The developers were chosen by the city to create the East Harlem Media/Entertainment/Cultural Center on three parcels that will include 30,000 square feet of community/cultural space, more than 600 affordable housing units, a public plaza, new office and retail space and a hotel.
Nearby on Third Avenue and East 120th Street,Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work is also luring hungry students to the area.
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The US Polo Association is riding into Times Square with its first-ever retail store in Manhattan. The group will take Swarovski’s former 1,250 square-foot space in the Vornado Realty Trust-owned retail condo in the base of 1540 Broadway.
Matthew Seigel of Thor High Street Retail represented the association, while Sherri White of Vornado handled leasing in-house. Vornado’s asking rent is roughly $2,750 per square foot.
“This transaction is further evidence of the incomparable strength of the Times Square retail market,” Seigel said. “The US Polo Association flagship store is literally a one-of-a-kind location, which allows for brand exposure to the nearly 400,000 daily visitors in Times Square.”