MARC Ecko Enterprises faces a nasty legal battle for walking away from its lease at the former Times Square Theater, where it abruptly dropped plans to open a spectacular, three-level flagship store.
Ecko was paying rent on the 217 W. 42nd Street site for 4 1/2 years, but never got past the planning stage. The stall has left the theater’s colonnaded façade covered with a 100-foot-long, plywood wall – an eyesore amid the gaily lit theaters, live-music venues and other attractions on the “Deuce” between Seventh and Eighth avenues.
The site’s landlord, the nonprofit New 42nd Street, is “pursuing legal ends” against the sportswear giant, organization President Cora Cahan said. New 42nd Street oversees reuses of historic theaters on the block.
“They have obligations to fulfill,” Cahan said of Ecko. “They signed a lease on Aug. 5, 2004. They informed us they weren’t able to go forward with plans to renovate it as a flagship store at the very end of November.”
A rep for Ecko founder Marc Ecko, Laurie Baker, said, “It is safe to say the project is not moving forward at this time. Other than that, we as a company don’t comment on any outstanding litigation.”
The deal for an undisclosed rent was once hailed as the hottest thing on the street since the Ziegfeld Follies.
Ecko boasted that its three-level, 30,390 square-foot store would “establish Ecko as the leading barometer of global youth culture.”
Turning the theater into a retail emporium required approval from the city-state Historic Preservation Commission to protect the venue’s signature elements.
But Ecko never seemed to be in a rush, and the commission finally approved its ever-changing plans three months ago.
“Over the years, they had three sets of architects,” Cahan said. “They ceased paying their rent obligation in December. Their reason was that they were unable to identify financing for the renovation despite assurances over the years that they did.”
On Feb. 1, The Post’s Kathianne Boniello also reported that architectural firm TPG Planning and Design is suing Ecko for $164,000 it’s owed for work on the project.
Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins said Ecko’s exit “seems ironic. Their lease in a sense paved the way for trendy clothing companies to come to Times Square, such as Forever 21 and American Apparel. And now they’re pulling out.”
*
We told you back on June 10, 2008, that the new hotel being developed by Tishman Realty at Eighth Avenue and West 44th Street would be an InterContinental. Nobody would confirm it at the time. Tishman Realty still won’t talk about it.
But now, confirmation pops up on InterContinental Hotels & Resorts’ Web site. The 34-story InterContinental New York Times Square will open in the summer of 2010.
*
Investor/nightlife impresario Steven Greenberg, who operates the popular 230 Fifth roof club at the top of 230 Fifth Ave. at 27th Street, is prowling for another Manhattan location to launch a second sky-high venue.
“I’m looking in Midtown East Side, the Meatpacking District periphery and the Wall Street area for a commercial building or a hotel under construction that has between 15,000-40,000 square feet of combined outdoor and indoor space,” Greenberg said.
Thanks to the miserable leasing market, Greenberg said, “I’m finding that landlords who were unwilling even to consider utilizing their roofs for additional revenue are now highly receptive – meaning they’re willing to speak to me about it.”
Greenberg launched 230 Fifth in 2006 with 14,000 square feet on the roof and 8,000 square feet in the 20th-floor penthouse.
He wouldn’t say what rent he’d be willing to pay for a new location. Sources told us in 2006 that the 230 Fifth rent was over $30 a foot in the penthouse and $20 a foot for the roof.
*
Seattle-based Corbis, the visual media provider founded by Bill Gates, is moving its Manhattan headquarters from Midtown South to Jack Resnick & Sons’ 250 Hudson St.
Corbis has leased 27,000 square feet, the entire fourth floor, where the asking rent was $46 a square foot, according to Mrofficespace.com.