Toys R Us Leaving Times Square Flagship
Cover your kids’ ears. Toys R Us will not be renewing the lease for its flagship store at 1514 Broadway when it expires in 2016. Landlord Charles Moss has anticipated this for quite some time, so he’s had Cushman & Wakefield's Brad Mendelson quietly marketing the 110k SF Times Square space since 2013, reports Commercial Observer. The thing is, ground-floor asking rent in the 150k SF building is a whopping $2,500/SF with lower-level asking at $150/SF and second-floor asking at $350/SF. Brad says there’s no way any one tenant would pay that. In fact, Toys R Us has been paying about half that amount since they opened there in 2000. So Mendelson is looking to divide the space into parcels of 30k SF to 50k SF with multiple tenants. Meanwhile, word around the rumor mill is that Toys R Us may move to 3k SF on the ground floor and the entire lower level of Vornado Realty Trust’s space at the base of the Marriott Marquis at 1535 Broadway. However, a spokesperson for the store insists any rumors are just rumors. [CO]
