FAO Schwarz Reborn: Toy Icon Signs Lease At 30 Rockefeller Plaza
FAO Schwarz has finally found a new home, over two years after vacating its longtime digs at 767 Fifth Ave.
The iconic toy retailer has signed a 19K SF lease on the ground floor and mezzanine level of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Commercial Observer reports. The space will be less than a third of the size of its 61K SF space at 767 Fifth Ave., which FAO Schwarz vacated due to a rent bill of a reported $200M per year.
Tishman Speyer owns the famous 30 Rock building, and represented itself in-house in the transaction, while FAO Schwarz and its parent company, ThreeSixty Group, retained Cushman & Wakefield as brokers. No rent was disclosed, and Tishman Speyer does not disclose asking rents at 30 Rock. FAO Schwarz will replace the NBC Experience Store, which will move to a space in the lobby of the building.
After FAO Schwarz vacated 767 Fifth Ave., a deal to move into 40K SF at 1633 Broadway fell through, and the retailer has spent the last two years in search of a new home. Meanwhile, Apple has used the retail space FAO Schwarz left behind for a temporary expansion of its flagship glass cube store ahead of permanent occupancy by Under Armour.
