MORE RETAIL COMING

May 16, 2012 | 8:00 am ET Staff Reporter

The annual ICSC RECon event in Vegas doesn’t start until Sunday, but retail mania is already alive and well in New York City. Most recent: Prestige Properties’ new $300M, 780k SF enclosed Mall at Bay Plaza in the Bronx, which broke ground Monday.

Mayor Mike, Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr., and other officials had the scoop... of dirt, that is. (We like that Hizzoner and the Bronx prez know how to share.) The mall, which is located at the Hutch and I-95, is the first of its kind in NYC in almost four decades, and will grow what’s already the City’s largest shopping center (now 1.3M SF) to approximately 2M SF upon its spring 2014 completion. A new 160k SF, three-level Macy’s and the existing 150k SF JCPenney will anchor the development, which will also have a 1,800-car parking garage. Attention mall shoppers: it will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,700 permanent jobs.

The expected asking rent at the Mall at Bay Plaza, rendered here, will be $100 to $200/SF. It’s a big update to a storied site—Prestige Properties first purchased the land to develop the Bay Plaza Shopping Center in 1985 (the year Ronald Reagan began his second term, “We Are The World” was recorded, Pete Rose became the all-time MLB hit leader, and New Coke was introduced). The first phase broke ground in ’86 and was built out over the next 15 years.

And last Thursday in Downtown Brooklyn (those outer boroughs get to have all the fun), Acadia Realty Trust and Washington Square Partners announced that a 125k SF Century 21—Downtown’s first department store in five decades—will anchor the JV’s 1.3M SF, mixed-use City Point complex. The new store will open upon completion of the development’s second phase in 2015, occupying over half of the recently completed One DeKalb Ave building. The overall development will include 675k SF of retail/commercial space and 690 residences. Construction on the second phase will commence this summer and include 625k SF of retail and two residential buildings, a 250-unit tower developed by BFC Partners and a 440-unit tower developed by The Brodsky Org and Michael Field.

Here’s Acadia CEO Ken Bernstein, right, snapped with Rose Associates’ James Hedden at a ULI event in DC. Want to learn more about all of the city’s exciting retail projects? He’ll be speaking at the annual Bisnow New York Retail Summit on June 4th, along with RKF chairman Robert Futterman, MPI CEO Andrea Olshan, Thor Equities CEO Joe Sitt, Midtown Equities principal Jack Cayre, Handler Real Estate Org principal Scott Galin, Cushman & Wakefield EVP Joanne Podell, Levin Management prez Matthew Harding, Ackman-Ziff managing director David Robinov, Goulston & Storrs director David Rabinowitz, and FTI Consulting managing director (and Bisnow moderating vet) Glenn Brill. Great schmoozing, too. Sign up here!

MORE RETAIL COMING

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