Hand-me-downs
Old Ralph Lauren digs find suitors
A group of global tenants have already made proposals to take over all or portions of the Ralph Lauren store at 711 Fifth Ave.
Ralph Lauren’s decision earlier this year to vacate its flagship Polo store sent shock waves through the market. But in this town, great space in a prime location is never left to waste.
“As a result of the RFP [request for proposals], we are speaking to other retailers for the space,” said
Gene Spiegelman, vice chairman of retail with Cushman & Wakefield, which is representing the retailer. “We are considering divisions and have logical divisions that Ralph Lauren is permitted to do.”
The fashion company is still operating its celebpacked adjacent restaurant, the Polo Bar, at One E. 55th St. and would like to keep it going.
That would leave another 29,000 square feet to sublease on several floors fronting Fifth Avenue for another dozen years.
Without the restaurant, the previously reported rent of $25 million per year would drop to $21.5 million or a blended rent of $750 a square foot — a bargain for an area where ground floor rents leaped as high as $4,000 to $6,000 per square foot.
The goal of the ultimate deal or deals, Spiegelman said, would be to mitigate that economic exposure for Ralph Lauren, which announced cost-cutting moves in April that included the shuttering of 50 stores.
Many of the multimillions spent on this build-out could also be re- cycled for a new user. The space offers an internal staircase wrapped around a glass elevator, freight elevators, a backup generator, two dramatic river stone fireplaces and a petite coffee shop on the second floor overlooking the avenue.
“It’s a grand space,” said Spiegelman. “It has the great hall on the ground floor and amazing exposure.”
But Spiegelman is realistic. “Everything is complex and there is no silver bullet,” he says. “My job is to be creative and be optimis- tic in the face of a challenging retail environment.”
Luckily, he said, “I don’t think the notion of global branding has evaporated. That’s why it is going to get solved.”
MSG Sports & Entertainment has signed a 10,500square-foot lease at 111 W. 33rd St. for a prebuilt unit that comprises the entire 24th floor. Neil Goldmacher and Andrew Sachs of Newmark Knight Frank represented the Madison Square Garden-owned entity in the
transaction. The ownership, Empire State Realty Trust, was handled inhouse by Keith Cody along with another Newmark team of Scott Klau, Erik Harris and Neil Rubin.
The asking rent for the seven-year term was $69 per square foot, and the tenant has other options within the building, which acts as ESRT’s headquarters. A new lobby designed by Studios Architecture goes through mid-block to the building’s other address of 112 W. 34th St., where Target has just opened. Along with Madison Square Garden, MSG owns and operates sports teams including the Knicks and Rangers and venues that include Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre. The Sports & Entertainment division was spun off from its media operations in 2015 and has been located at Two Penn Plaza.