A big Seattle retail chain is coming to Manhattan — and it won’t be selling coffee.
Nordstrom — the upscale department store which, along with Starbucks and Amazon, has risen beyond its Pacific Northwest roots to become a US retail titan — is finally near a deal to open a flagship store in Midtown, The Post has learned.
The family-run clothier plans to anchor a future skyscraper on West 57th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue that will be built by New York real-estate mogul Gary Barnett, according to sources close to the talks.
“This is going to be a major store — they want to make a statement,” according to one insider briefed on the plans, adding that the shop is expected to occupy several stories in addition to the ground floor.
While the main storefront will stretch along the north side of West 57th, the developers are also angling for an entrance at 1780 Broadway, whose façade will likely be preserved as an historic landmark. The side that faces West 58th will likely be used for loading docks, as well as additional access and parking for offices and tenants of high-rise condos, sources said.
“This is going to make the West Side a true shopping mecca that’s competitive with the East Side,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing at Prudential Douglas Elliman. The Time Warner Center, two blocks to the north on Columbus Circle, has surprised real-estate insiders with its success as a retail destination, she noted.
Over the past decade, Nordstrom execs have scoured Manhattan’s shopping corridors for a suitable flagship site, ultimately ruling that most locations were either too small or too out of the way.
Candidates have included the former Drake Hotel on Park Avenue and the Hudson Yards on the West Side. More recently, rumors have pegged 3 Columbus Circle, a building across the street from the parcel that’s slated for development, and even One 57, the 1,000-foot-high hotel complex that Barnett is building one block to the east.