{"id":123310,"date":"2026-02-05T00:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/123310\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:11:30","slug":"manhattan-retail-lease-rebound-continues-but-prime-storefronts-remain-vacant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/123310\/","title":{"rendered":"Manhattan retail lease rebound continues, but prime storefronts remain vacant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manhattan retail leasing rebounded smartly from the pandemic and continues to strengthen<\/a>,\u00a0according to a detailed survey by the Real Estate Board of New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many fewer storefronts in 16 prime \u201ccorridors\u201d tracked by the organization were vacant in the second half of 2025 than in the previous six months as Soho, Flatiron and upper Madison Avenue bucked the trend of stagnant or falling rents.<\/p>\n

But the improvement might not be immediately visible because the areas with the most\u00a0 vacancies include the highest-profile, heavily-trafficked parts of town \u2014 Times Square, Herald Square and Fifth Avenue above East 49th Street. Weaker demand in those districts can give the impression of a Manhattan leasing market softer than it actually is.<\/p>\n

Manhattan retail leasing rebounded smartly from the pandemic and continues to strengthen,\u00a0according to the Real Estate Board of New York.\u00a0 Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

The surge touches many parts of Manhattan. Union Square Partnership executive director Julie Stein noted the district \u201cfinished 2025 with a formidable 91% storefront occupancy rate. It remains a primary destination for brands that want to be at the intersection of local authenticity and global tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The REBNY survey of the second half of 2025 cited strong demand from international luxury brands, expansions by local names, food-and-beverage tenants and an influx of health-and-fitness tenants that helped make up for the shortfall of traditional stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite its challenges, Manhattan\u2019s retail market continues to demonstrate a broad-based appeal,\u201d said Keith DeCoster, vice president of market data and policy.<\/p>\n

He added that the return-to-office<\/a> and residential conversion<\/a> trends will lift retail boats going forward.<\/p>\n

Cushman & Wakefield executive vice chair Joanne Podell shared his optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrands continue to view the city as the premier market to establish a retail presence, introduce new concepts and strategically grow their business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

No swift change is in sight as, \u201cmany storefronts will require extensive planning and substantial commitments\u201d by retailers, REBNY noted. William Farrington<\/p>\n

Although REBNY cited average asking rents 32% below their overheated peaks during\u00a0the previous decade, they actually rose in several areas. Broadway in Soho\u00a0saw a whopping 24% increase in average asking rents compared with the first half of last year.<\/p>\n

Storefront availability is tightest in Soho, upper Madison Avenue,\u00a0Flatiron, lower Fifth Avenue, and the West Village, REBNY found. Only 13 storefronts were on the market along Madison Avenue between East 57th and East 86 streets \u2013 compared with 35 two years ago.<\/p>\n

But the report cited \u201cinconsistent\u201d demand in the highest-profile areas, where some vacancies have \u201clingered on the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upper Fifth Avenue, Times Square, Herald Square and FiDi comprise a relatively small portion\u00a0 \u00a0 of Manhattan\u2019s retail inventory. Yet, REBNY found, they account for 60% of all the borough\u2019s available storefronts and have the most vacancies of over 10,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

Eleven storefronts are up for grabs on Fifth Avenue from East 49th to East 59th, including several such as 697-703 Fifth Ave. that have been empty more than a year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Storefront availability is tightest in Soho, upper Madison Avenue,\u00a0Flatiron, lower Fifth Avenue, and the West Village, REBNY found. deberarr \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

No swift change is in sight as, \u201cmany storefronts will require extensive planning and substantial commitments\u201d by retailers, REBNY noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpper Fifth is going through extensive re-imagining,\u201d De Coster told The Post. \u201cSome\u00a0 vacancies are tied to consolidations in luxury retail.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He noted that despite sluggish leasing, several marquee brands such as LVMH and Gucci have bought their properties, signifying long-term commitment. Meanwhile,\u00a0 Rolex will soon launch a spectacular new store in its nearly-finished new headquarters tower at 665 Fifth Ave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Times Square, which has acres of fast-casual food but has yet to see much actual store\u00a0 leasing, \u201cis in transition. It\u2019s still working out its identity,\u201d DeCoster said.<\/p>\n

Herald Square had 25 dark storefronts, more than in any other area covered in the report. Average asking rent fell by 14% from $447 to $383 \u2014 the lowest in the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

But the busy shopping mecca anchored by Macy\u2019s got a lift with the new, 40,000-square-foot lease for TJ Maxx at Herald Towers<\/a> we reported last week \u2014 too late to be included in the report.<\/p>\n

Herald Square had 25 dark storefronts, more than in any other area covered in the report. Average asking rent fell by 14% from $447 to $383 \u2014 the lowest in the last 10 years. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

Among the survey\u2019s other findings:<\/p>\n

Fitness\/wellness tenants signed some of last year\u2019s largest \u201cretail\u201d leases, due in part to\u00a0 the discontinuation of the city\u2019s special-permit requirement for such uses as gyms, martial arts studios and licensed massage clinics. It opened the door to large-scale leasing by Equinox, Life Time and others.<\/p>\n

Tightened availability in leading downtown neighborhoods pushed smaller retailers into Noho, Nolita, Union Square and the Madison Square Park areas, while those needing larger footprints turned to Chelsea, Hudson Square and Tribeca.<\/p>\n

Available spaces move swiftly in Soho, where\u00a0 Abercrombie & Fitch took the former Lululemon space at 520 Broadway, and on upper Madison, where Jacob Cohen leased the former Michael Kors location at 792 Madison.<\/p>\n

Restaurants remain a market driver, such as\u00a0 steakhouse STK\u2019s lease for 12,000 square feet for its fourth Manhattan location at\u00a0 412 W.\u00a0 15th St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan retail leasing rebounded smartly from the pandemic and continues to strengthen,\u00a0according to a detailed survey by the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[288,2361,75,84,83,9,24,63,1491,3274,5943],"class_list":["post-123310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-business","tag-leases","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-real-estate","tag-realty-check","tag-retail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}