Aug 20, 2011
I got a press release today from 15 CPW’s PR firm announcing the new tenants to complete the massive retail space on Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets. As you may have already noticed, Best Buy took a huge multi-level space which turned out nicer than most expected. The new players will be JPMorgan Chase Bank and West Elm. While West Elm was kind of a cool surprise for us, we were disappointed at yet another Chase opening on a 3-block stretch in which you can practically throw a tennis ball from Chase to Chase. They have a branch on 64th and Broadway and a branch literally across the street from Best Buy. They also have a branch just three blocks south on Columbus Circle at 58th Street. And that doesn’t count the Chase ATM machine in Duane Reade.
When I think about how many banks now line Broadway in the early 60s it is overwhelming. Who does this much banking? Aren’t we in a financial crisis which has cut bank stock prices in half? Chase seems to be doing OK, signing what must have been a massively long and expensive lease with the Zeckendorfs. This lease, btw, completes what truly is the most successful condominium project of my lifetime. Retail space often sits years before getting rented. Developers rely on income from retail space to offset development costs and slow sales. Developers hate to budge on the price of retail space. The Zeckendorfs managed to pull the latest trend in retail–developing underground–and do it with hundreds of thousands of feet. Tenants like Chase and Best Buy have deep pockets and signal the final success for this project.
