It’s a David vs. Goliath story in the hard-knocks world of retail real estate — but this David was saved not by a well-thrown stone, but by an angel in the form of billionaire developer Aby Rosen.
On Lexington Avenue between 71st and 72nd streets, the name Peter Elliot — a purveyor of well-tailored men’s and women’s clothing, called “a temple of navy blazers and sherbet-colored sweaters” by the New York Times — now adorns five storefronts.
But a knees-and-elbows landlord-tenant struggle raged for two years behind the serene facades. And it isn’t over: Peter Elliot owner Eliot Rabin and his former landlord Harry Macklowe are duking it out in a bad-blood court case over two of the block’s four East Side spaces that the store has long called home.
Macklowe, the 432 Park Ave. developer famous for bare-knuckles battles, bought the prewar, former rental apartment building at 150 E. 72nd St. in early 2011 to convert it to luxury condos.
Rabin’s Peter Elliot men’s and women’s boutiques have been fixtures on Madison and Lexington Avenues for over 30 years. Rabin just signed a new 15-year lease for the Lexington East Side store space with Rosen’s RFR Realty, which bought the retail portion of 150 E. 72nd St. from Macklowe for $19.9 million in February.
But according to Rabin, before the sale to Rosen, Macklowe tried to push him out of one of his two storefronts before its lease expired so he could rent both to a higher-paying bank tenant.
Macklowe is now suing Rabin for nonpayment of over $100,000 rent plus interest from last November until the time he sold the retail space. Rabin has filed a counter-claim for $6 million, alleging that Macklowe’s workmen — as “part of a campaign to drive [Peter Elliot] from the premises” — at different times in 2012 and 2013 caused water damage, destroyed its stock room, merchandise and computers, and cut off air-conditioning and heat.
“It was the worst winter in God’s creation,” Rabin said. “I stopped paying rent in November when I had no heat.” The case is pending.
Rabin’s lease with a previous landlord for 997 Lexington was up in November 2013, but he counted on a lease at 999 Lexington, which ran until June 2014, to give him a selling platform through the holiday season.
But Rabin says that soon after Macklowe bought the building, he began pressuring him to give up 999 in November 2013. According to the suit filed by Rabin’s lawyer Lawrence Morrison, on Feb. 19, 2013, Macklowe told Rabin, “Don’t forget, I am Goliath” — to which Rabin responded, “You just met David.”
Then, he says, Macklowe last summer offered him a temporary lease at vacant 995 Lexington Ave. next to Rabin’s store. He says Macklowe, who didn’t want a dark store window, also offered to make Rabin’s leases at 995, 997 and 999 Lexington run until June 2014.
But, Rabin says, two weeks after he’d signed what he thought was a binding lease for 995, Macklowe’s reps told him, “Harry changed his mind.”
Desperate, Rabin rented another store across the street at 996 Lexington “as an insurance policy.” But he somehow hung in at both 997 and 999 after the 997 lease expired.
Now, Rabin says Rosen, “a classy guy,” offered him a $91,000-a-month lease for four storefronts including 993 Lexington, a former bookstore — a step which doubles Peter Elliot’s space. Rosen also chipped in nine months’ free rent.
If it doesn’t work out, “At the end of that time, I have a clause that I can leave and not be obligated for the rest of the lease,” Rabin said.
He also noted with pleasure, “Aby’s wife [Dr. Samantha Boardman] is a customer at my women’s store.”
Macklowe’s rep said he couldn’t be reached. Rosen declined to comment.
Grant paves MediaMath path to 4 WTC
MediaMath’s big move to Larry Silverstein’s 4 World Trade Center was helped along by a $5.8 million, federally funded Job Creation and Retention Program grant jointly funded by the Empire State Development Corp. and the city’s Economic Development Corp.
Gov. Cuomo crowed that MediaMath — which provides the TerminalOne Market system for advertisters and agencies “across the digital landscape” — will create 1,000 new jobs over the next five years.
And MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki said, “We want our software to be on the desktops and tables of every professional marketer in the world. We worked hard to find a property and a developer that matched the scope of our vision.”
As we first reported Monday at nypost.com, MediaMath signed for 106,000 square feet at 4 WTC — the 2.3 million square-foot tower’s first private-sector office tenant. The asking rent was in the mid-$70s per square foot.
Urban Compass, the fast-expanding, technology-driven residential real estate brokerage, is growing its office space, too. The firm just signed for 25,000 square feet at RFR Realty’s 90 Fifth Ave. — the first new lease signed at the 137,000 square-foot address since longtime tenant Forbes defaulted on its lease.
RFR president Aby Rosen said, “We embrace companies new to the market with a great story to tell.” Asking rents at 90 Fifth are in the $70s per square foot.
Urban Compass, founded by Ori Allon in 2013, will also keep its 9,000 square feet at nearby 19 Union Square West.