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The strained retail market has claimed another victim, with specialty food store Agata & Valentina permanently closing its downtown location.
The 6,500 SF store at 64 University Place will shut down and 59 people will be laid off, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the New York State Department of Labor this week. The store will permanently close on May 12, listing economic dislocation as its reason for closing.
Argo Real Estate paid $30M to Helm Realty in 2019 for the four-story building a few blocks from Washington Square Park, according to public records filed with the city, with a $19.8M loan from First Republic Bank.
“Agata & Valentina has been a solid, quality tenant for many years and we are sorry they are closing this store," Argo President Mark Moskowitz said in a statement. "To help with the transition, we have made an arrangement that will enable them to stay open through May and wish them the very best at their Upper East Side location.”
The property features 18,800 SF of office space alongside the retail offering. The Institute of Audio Research had long occupied the upstairs office space, but it permanently shuttered in 2017.
Representatives for Agata & Valentina couldn't be immediately reached for comment. The store has another location on First Avenue on the Upper East Side.
Retailers have been hit hard in New York City, as the coronavirus pandemic accelerated challenging conditions for brick-and-mortar businesses. The asking rents for retail spaces in Manhattan’s top corridors dropped 10% last quarter from a year earlier, according to CBRE.
Leasing velocity fell for the sixth consecutive quarter, dropping below 2.1M SF for the first time in four years. The number of direct, ground-floor availabilities in the last quarter of 2020 jumped to 264 spaces in the major retail corridors CBRE tracks.
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