Facebook Looks To Lease Neiman Marcus' Hudson Yards Flagship As Office

Facebook is reportedly considering leasing space in the Hudson Yards mall where Neiman Marcus opened its first New York City location. 

The high-end retailer has 188K SF at the Shops at Hudson Yards but filed for bankruptcy last month. It hasn’t been made public if the retailer is closing the location or not, but Women’s Wear Daily reports it won’t be staying.

Now Facebook is talking to landlord Related Cos. about leasing up the three floors that would be left vacant, adding to its already-sizable commitment to occupy office space at the nation's largest private real estate development.

Last year, Facebook announced it would lease more than 1.5M SF across 30 floors at the $25B project, with about 1.2M SF at 50 Hudson Yards, 265K SF at 30 Hudson Yards and approximately 57K SF at 55 Hudson Yards, where it had planned to move employees this year.

It is also reportedly closing in on a deal to take 700K SF at Vornado’s Farley Post Office redevelopment a few blocks from Hudson Yards, Commercial Observer reported last month.

CEO Jeff Blau told Bisnow this month that Neiman hasn't yet informed Related as to its plans with the location.

Reports came out in April that Related and Oxford Properties cut a sweetheart deal with Neiman, paying for a the costly build-out and agreeing to take a cut of the department store's sales in place of rent.

Some retailers have clauses in their leases that give them the option to renegotiate or leave if Neiman leaves. Blau said, however, it is just a “handful of tenants” that have co-tenancy with the bankrupt department store.

“It's not a large component. As with most retail centers, there are tenants that are tied to each other,” he said in an interview. “I think that people are less dependent upon those anchor stores than they were in the past … I think a restaurant or a fitness club or a Whole Foods could be as much of an anchor as a department store used to be.”