Yards, Neiman in exit talks as FB awaits
Luxe department store Neiman Marcus opened its first Big Apple location last year — and it’s already up for grabs, thanks to the coronavirus.
Developer Related Cos. is in talks with social-media giant Facebook to take over the three floors Neiman Marcus now occupies at Hudson Yards, according to a WWD report.
“Neiman wants out. Hudson Yards wants them out. They are figuring out an exit agreement,” a source told the publication.
Facebook already has 1.5 million square feet of office space in three other buildings at the Hudson Yards complex, which consists of 13 swanky office and residential towers wedged between Chelsea and the Javits Center.
The Dallas-based department store opened its first Empire State location there in March 2019, and Hudson Yards’ Web site still boasts being the site for “New York’s first and only Neiman Marcus.” But things changed when the coronavirus hit, forcing the company to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 7.
Neiman Marcus has declined to comment on “confidential” discussions with its Hudson Yards landlord, but sources say the Big Apple flagship is one of the spaces the chain is looking to close down as part of its restructuring plan, along with locations in Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Westchester County in metro New York.
There is currently no reopening scheduled for the NYC flagship — or Neiman’s iconic Fifth Avenue department store, Bergdorf Goodman.