SAVING HUDSON YDS
Related Cos. mulls $take in anemic Neiman
Real-estate developer Related Cos. is weighing an investment in the struggling Neiman Marcus department chain — including partnering in a possible deal to acquire it, The Post has learned.
New York-based Related, concerned about the teetering financial health of Neiman, met with executives of the chain earlier this month in New York and heard a pitch on its financial health, sources said.
Neiman is preparing to anchor Related’s massive Hudson Yards office-and-retail complex on Manhattan’s West Side that is slated to open late next year.
Neiman is a crucial part of the development, sources said, and its financial health is of utmost importance to Related boss Stephen Ross.
In fact, the May 12 meeting between the two companies — at the offices of investment bank Lazard — was initiated by Ross, sources said.
Neiman Marcus recently hired Lazard as its financial adviser, sources close to the situation said.
“There was a conversation [for Related] to be part of the ownership group” of Neiman in the event that the luxury chain gets sold, a source close to the situation confirmed.
The deal to bring Neiman to Hudson Yards, whose talks were first reported by The Post in March 2014, was a linchpin for the project at Tenth Avenue between 30th and 34th streets. The Neiman building will fea- ture more than 100 upscale stores and restaurants.
The three-story Neiman store will be a dominating retail presence at the $25 billion development, taking up 250,000 of its 750,000 available square feet of retail space.
“Related is panicked that it’ll lose its anchor for the entire project,” according to one source briefed on the situation, adding that “all of the leases at Hudson Yards are subject to a Neiman lease.”
Still, another retail insider downplayed Neiman’s importance to the project.
The complex is 70 percent leased, including the Neiman portion, a Related spokeswoman said, declining to comment about the May meeting.
In 2014, when Related wooed Dallas-based Neiman to its Far West Side project, the chain was a big get. The massive shop will be the first Neiman nameplate in Manhattan.
Neiman’s sole BergdorfGoodman store, of course, is on Fifth Avenue.
But now that the floor has fallen out from under the brick-and-mortar retail sector, Neiman’s balance sheet is much more shaky.
The privately held, 42-store chain has posted six consecutive quarters of sales declines.
Owned by the private equity investors Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Neiman is struggling under the weight of nearly $5 billion in debt.
Neiman said in March that it is exploring strategic options, including putting itself up for sale.
Neiman’s merger talks with a rival, Canada-based Hudson’s Bay, owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, have cooled recently amid concerns about a possible legal spat over Neiman’s moves to shield some of its assets from a possible bankruptcy.
A spokeswoman for Neiman Marcus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A surprise tête-à-tête between Related Cos. and struggling Neiman Marcus is stirring rumors the Hudson Yards builder and the key anchor tenant (right) may move to strike an even bigger business deal. Related’s Stephen Ross and Neiman Marcus boss Karen Katz