Neiman Marcus is poised to enter New York, at last — in a spot that will have a view of New Jersey.
The Dallas-based upscale department store is nearing a deal to open a flagship store at Hudson Yards, the mega-development under construction on Manhattan’s West Side, The Post has learned.
Neiman is negotiating with developer Related Cos. to anchor the Hudson Yards’ 1 million-square-foot retail complex, slated to open in 2018, with multilevel store that could span upwards of 200,000 square feet, according to sources briefed on the talks.
A Neiman spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokeswoman at Related wasn’t immediately able to comment.
The deal would be a coup for Related Cos., which has already signed deals with Time Warner and Coach for office space but had yet to find a standout retail brand for its commercial-and-residential complex spanning 37 million square feet at a cost of $20 billion.
A flagship store at Hudson Yards also would mark the first foray of the 107-year-old Neiman Marcus brand into the Big Apple. The retailer has long hesitated because it also owns the swanky Bergdorf-Goodman store on Fifth Avenue.
“They never wanted to come and have their own stores compete with Bergdorf’s,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail leasing and sales at Prudential Douglas Elliman.
But an unyielding luxury boom in the Big Apple has steadily changed the equation for Neiman, Consolo said. The city’s locals and tourists have grown increasingly affluent, with sharpened appetites for designer fashions and pricey handbags.
“There’s a much bigger pie now,” she said. “People don’t see it as cannibalizing anymore.”
Insiders said the new owners of Neiman Marcus, buyout firm Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, are searching for new ways to grow the chain after shelling out $6 billion to acquire it last September.
Expanding into Manhattan would certainly do the trick. Neiman, sources said, is close to finalizing a deal with Related for a built-out space leased at a long-term rate between $30 and $40 a square foot.
While that looks attractive versus comparable rents around Manhattan, word of the deal has drawn skepticism from some insiders, who have balked at the site’s relatively remote and inaccessible location near the corner of 30th St. and 10th Ave.
“They had to find somebody from Dallas who didn’t understand New York real estate,” quipped one New York property insider. “They think ladies are going to get in a cab to go shop when they can walk to Fifth Avenue?”
Indeed, competitors including Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and even Paris-based Galeries Lafayette have all taken a look at Hudson Yards and passed, according to sources.
As first reported by The Post last June, Nordstrom has instead opted to open a flagship in 2018 that will anchor a skyscraper at 225 W. 57th St.
Nevertheless, Consolo said she’s optimistic Hudson Yards will become a vibrant shopping destination — especially with Neiman Marcus anchoring it.
“If Neiman Marcus was in the middle of the river, I’d go,” Consolo said.