Nordstrom Tower Fueling Vacancies As Landlords Hold Off Renting
Over a dozen storefronts are sitting vacant along Broadway between Times Square and Central Park, in what looks like a case of landlords waiting to rent until several high-profile developments come online in the area.
Three new projects by Extell will bring hundreds of residential units and new shoppers to the area, raising rents in the process. Right now 13 storefronts are sitting empty along that stretch of Broadway, DNAInfo reports.
Those upcoming projects include a 61-story hotel-condo building, a 29-story residential building and the 1,550-foot Central Park Tower, also known as Nordstrom's Tower after its anchor retail tenant. The building, scheduled to open in 2019, would've been the tallest in the Western Hemisphere, until Extell dropped plans to include a large spire on top.
Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer tells DNAInfo “when you have a large store like Nordstrom coming, the owners nearby are holding out to see what could successfully compete.”
Legally there’s nothing locals can do to force landlords to rent out the storefronts, despite the fact “it’s a deterrent to pedestrian traffic” and “it’s a killer for the businesses that remain there,” Gale continued.
Kelly Gedinsky, a broker with Winick Realty Group, has already begun advertising rental space in 3 Columbus Circle as “across from Nordstrom.” [DNA]
