Brookfield Invests in New Retail Venture

Upon rising vacancies on New York’s Bleecker Street, due to rising rents and store closings, Brookfield Property Partners LP (New York) have closed on a deal to acquire four retail properties with seven storefronts on the street, between Bank and Christopher streets, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The property, roughly 24,000 square feet in total, includes three retail condominiums and a long-term leasehold in a cooperative. Brookfield plans to reinvigorate the area’s retail, incubating rising online brands and new retail concepts as test markets, allowing successful brands to flourish at other Brookfield properties.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the area became awash with high-end luxury retail brands – a departure from formerly being known as a quaint, independent retail district – but as rents rose and sales declined, rising rent costs were no longer justified. Brookfield hopes to once again reinvent the area’s shopping scene, returning its independent spirit in hopes of attracting tourists and local customers alike.