| Last night, we joined 200 retail brokers for a cocktail party at 101 Park to celebrate the creme de la creme (de la recolte) of the sector for REBNY’s annual Retail Deal of the Year Awards, which recognizes the city’s most creative and significant retail deals. The winner for Deal that Most Benefits Manhattan went to Robert K Futterman & Associates’ Robert Futterman, Ariel Schuster, and Gary Alterman for Fairway’s lease at 240 E 86th St. REBNY says that the deal has met consumer demand by bringing a much-needed service to the neighborhood and revitalized the block. The four-level market will replace the former location of Barnes & Noble and Circuit City later this year, and is the first new grocery store to open in the area in three decades (since people shopped for produce in leisure suits). Challenges for the two-year deal: marketing a space with no existing plans, uncertain impact from Second Ave Subway construction, and zoning restrictions. But the result: the value of area retail and residential properties has already increased and the surrounding blocks rejuvenated. |
| The Lansco Corp’s Robin Abrams and Howard Dolch took home the award for Most Creative Deal of the Year for bringing Filene’s Basement and Syms Clothing to 530 Fifth Ave. They’d faced numerous challenges in finding a location for the retailer: a flagship location that would help cement Syms/Filene’s as a singular brand, one that would drive good sales, good loading and delivery areas, space that could accommodate all of the store’s departments, and one that would fit the retailer’s budget. They were able to sweeten Syms/Filene’s to the growing apparel corridor developing on Fifth below 48th St, and despite a potential deal breaker prior to closing (financing for structural work to the elevators and escalators), they were able to restructure and complete the deal, REBNY says. This year’s judges were Retail Strategies’ Mark Finkelstein, Massey Knakal’s Ben Fox, Goldfarb & Fleece’s Bruce Leffler, Ogden CAP Properties’ Lester Schwalb, and Foot Locker’s Forrest Williams. |
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