lois weiss
The corpses of big retailers — some decades old — haunt the streets of Manhattan. Now, a few are finally being brought back to life.
The blight was particularly gory in Times Square, where behind the busy streets and illuminated signage, there was a glut of empty space. Now, two new leases will fill 75,000 square feet.
Most notably the 25,000-square-foot Liberty Theatre, a former vaudeville and movie house, had sat vacant for decades. Part of the entertainment complex along West 42nd Street, between Times Square and Eighth Avenue in the base of the Hilton hotel, it was just leased by Broadway4D.
“There are a lot of experiential tenants in the market that are all looking for large, column-free space with high ceilings and they are tough to find.”
Matt Chmielecki, SVP of CBRE
Once a major renovation of the Liberty Theatre is complete, Broadway4D will educate, entertain and inspire new audiences at affordable prices with the latest technology. It plans to present a newly written musical weaving in the best historical songs sung by current Great White Way stars.
Further west on that block, 50,000 square feet on the ground, first and second floors of 11 Times Square has been leased by the London-based Path Entertainment, which specializes in immersive ventures. Dungeons & Dragons: the Twenty-Sided Tavern, the company’s interactive theater presentation, is now down the block at Stage 42.
Michael Rielly of Rielly Retail Solutions represented PATH — which has, among its projects, a Monopoly experience ongoing in London and a Clue Live under development. Cushman & Wakefield represented the SJP Properties building that had an asking rent of $8 million per year.
But there are other grand spaces yet to fill around Times Square. Matt Chmielecki of CBRE is offering the prominent Good Morning America studio at the base of 1500 Broadway that wraps West 44th Street as those talking heads finally decamp for the new ABC/Disney headquarters at 7 Hudson Square.
The 58,245 square feet covering four levels of studio, retail and offices can be divvied up. The studio area itself has double height windows with ceilings over 20 feet high and can be yours for a blended asking rent of $10 million a year — with plenty of dramatic signage options. There’s even another 52,000 square feet on three floors right above.
“There are a lot of experiential tenants in the market that are all looking for large, column-free space with high ceilings and they are tough to find,” Chmielecki said. To lure those tenants, he says some building owners are even penciling out the cost of removing slabs but, he warns, there are always additional costs and issues.
Another column-free offering is the former Crown Plaza ballroom at 1601 Broadway with 40,000 square feet of double-height space and an asking rent of $100 per foot.
“It’s appealing to those experiential tenants,” said Chmielecki because the space can be kept dark if needed to enhance any technological lighting effects.
“It’s appealing to those experiential tenants.”
Chmielecki of 1601 Broadway
The former Times Building retail of over 250,000 square feet is also oozing with openings after the pre-pandemic demise of Gulliver’s Gate and Nat Geo’s Ocean Odyssey. The retail condo is in the midst of being sold through Doug Middleton at CBRE who declined comment.
Over on Fifth Avenue’s ritzy retail corridor, a prominent position facing the Apple Cube at the base of 767 Fifth Ave. has found a tenant. Never occupied by its leasee, Under Armor, Italian puffer jacket retailer Moncler has made a 24,400-square-foot sublease deal to resurrect the two-story storefront. Cushman & Wakefield’s Steven Soutendijk repped Under Armor.
Moncler is moving from its current 9,000-square-foot home on the next block at 650 Madison, where its lease expires in 2026 and rent is just over $725 per foot.
Bonhams Auction House is also moving to the 42,000-square-foot Steinway Hall Rotunda in the base of 111 W. 57th St. in late 2025. It will have a grand entrance into a soaring 80-foot glass atrium and include four levels of galleries and two spacious auction rooms.
That will, however, leave Bonham’s 30,000 square feet at the base of 590 Madison Ave. vacant next year. Since it’s across from a block overflowing with LVHM brands and the luxury fashion conglomerate is now leasing 150,000 square feet of offices in the same tower, it could be filled by one of its subsidiaries faster than a charge card can clear a sale, brokers say.
A prominent space at 680 Fifth Ave. with 7,875 square feet on two levels is right next to the newly opened Swarovski on the corner of West 54th Street and is available at $2,500 per foot based on the ground level of 3,230 square feet. Marketing broker Soutendijk confirmed there are ongoing discussions with a number of tenants.
In Chelsea, another big lease was signed at Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River and near the High Line. Here, with CBRE brokers on both sides, the Arte Museum, which already has a location in Las Vegas, will open an immersive media exhibition space in at 51,979 square feet.