Eataly is taking a bite out of the World Trade Center, The Post has learned.
The Westfield Group, which controls all the retail space at the WTC, has lined up the famed Italian marketplace for the base of 4 World Trade Center, along with a host of big names.
Apple, Canali, Hugo Boss, John Varvatos, Mont Blanc and Breitling have all signed deals for the WTC’s main hall, according to sources.
The John Barrett Salon, Tiffany’s, Tom Ford and Armani have either signed or are close to signing leases for other space in the complex.
Westfield, which completed its $1.4 billion purchase of the retail spaces, is now likely to move its “3/15/15” opening to later that summer, sources said.
Over the last few years, an all-out leasing war has been waged between Westfield and Brookfield Place, owned by Brookfield Properties, which is getting a $250 million face-lift and sits across West Street.
Brookfield has charged somewhat lower retail rents, while Westfield started out on the wrong foot by boasting that rents would be closer to $500 a square foot. They are now around $350 per square foot.
Westfield also believed it could cut out brokers and go directly to the tenants it already has inside its other malls. That backfired immediately, with snubbed brokers racing into Brookfield’s walls with their loyal tenants.
The WTC’s 365-foot-long-by-115-foot-wide long main hall, known as the Oculus — an elliptical fish-tank-like area with a movable glass “eyelid” on the ceiling — is becoming the hot spot for most of the bigger brands.
However, not one store has been signed for its second floor. Without a crossover and no co-locating anchor store, retailers worry they will be too isolated.
Its ground floor, however, which will be the prime entrance for PATH commuters and a giant event space, is gaining traction with a bunch of retailers.
The East-West Concourse, a two-level underground retail corridor that will connect Brookfield Place with all the World Trade Center buildings, has already opened in part but with barren storefronts.
Leases there have been signed with Godiva for its first café in the US, Starbucks, Duane Reade, It’s Sugar, Havaianas flip flops, Clark’s shoes, Invicta watches, the Art of Shaving, Tumi luggage, MAC cosmetics and a blow-dry bar.
A giant, nearly 17,000-square-foot Victoria’s Secret will also be located in these concourse areas just north of the Oculus.
In its biggest coup, Westfield snagged the original Eataly to compete with Brookfield’s dining terraces, including Le District, dubbed the “French Eataly” by The Post’s Steve Cuozzo.
Eataly was launched in L&L Holding’s 200 Fifth Ave. and became an anchor for the entire Madison Square Park area.
The John Barrett Salon — now anchored at Bergdorf Goodman — will open above it at 4 WTC on one of the retail floors that is connected with escalators. Another staircase is being added.
Tom Ford will be in the base of 4 WTC but facing the unfinished 3 WTC. Armani may be heading into the base of 3 WTC facing Church Street with Tiffany’s on the building’s corner.
But developer Larry Silverstein, who also owns 4 WTC, is embroiled in financing discussions over completing 3 WTC with the owner of the entire site, the Port Authority.
A board meeting is scheduled Wednesday, and if Silverstein does not get their blessing to proceed with 3 WTC, it is likely Westfield will lose several retail deals.
“Do Tiffany, Tom Ford and Armani want to be sitting in front of a construction site for five years?” wondered one of our sources.
No comment was forthcoming from Westfield.
Legal behemoth Skadden Arps, which was a pioneering tenant at the Durst Organization’s 4 Times Square, is looking to another game-changing neighborhood.
Despite efforts to lure it downtown, the law firm wants to stay in Midtown, sources said. The hunt for space, handled by Peter Riguardi and Ken Siegal of JLL, has led it to the upcoming Hudson Yards area.
While The Post’s Steve Cuozzo has previously reported on Skadden’s search, we hear the team is focusing on 3 Hudson Boulevard and Manhattan West.
In both cases, Skadden would become the anchor tenant with 550,000 to 600,000 square feet. Of that total, 50,000 square feet is for back-office functions that could be moved to a lower-priced alternative nearby.
Manhattan West is a multi-tower project along Ninth Avenue between 30th and 33rd streets being developed by Brookfield Properties with leasing through Cushman & Wakefield. The first 67-story tower will have 2 million square feet.
C&W has been offering 450 W. 33rd St., which will get new floor-to-ceiling greenhouse-like windows, as the back-office alternative.
Hudson Boulevard is a 1.89 million-square-foot tower proposed by Joseph Moinian at the northeast corner of Eleventh Avenue and 34th Street being leased through Avison Young.
The law firm is said to be tired of Times Square, where it moved before it became gridlocked with pedestrians. Even if Skadden remained, the firm faced a disruptive restacking to get freshened and technologically updated office space.
Durst is also beginning to ask $80 to $90 per square foot, and Skadden believes it can get a better deal to anchor a new building and get early leasing lower taxes, just as they did when they signed their 20-year lease in 1996. That lease does not end until May 2020 but requires a 24-month notice to renew for five years.
Co-tenant Condé Nast is also moving from the lower portion of the tower to One World Trade Center. Its lease term is being paid for by the Port Authority while Durst tries to lease to another tenant.
Skadden does have the right to take over the rest of the building.
No one would comment.