I’ll Take Manhattan

Asking rents for retail space in Manhattan has surged to pre-Sept. 11, 2001, levels, according to the spring retail report from The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY).

Manhattan’s 57th Street corridor showed the largest increase — up 55 percent from this time last year — with average asking rents on 57th Street between Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue hitting $850 per square foot.

Overall, average asking rents in Manhattan for retail space rose 10 percent, to $97 per square foot. Available retail space in Manhattan declined 19 percent, with more than 2.7 million square feet being absorbed. Downtown specifically saw available space drop 35 percent, demonstrating retailers’ renewed interest in the area.

“This report is great news for the retail market in Manhattan,” said REBNY president Steven Spinola. “While the numbers have been slowly rising since 9/11, this is the first time we’ve seen double digit increases in asking rents in several areas for more than two years. This is surely a sign that retailers have renewed faith in Manhattan.”

Other findings:

Asking rents for ground floor space in the primary retail corridors has risen 32 percent to $284 from a year ago.

Asking rents for retail space on the East Side increased by 21 percent to $155; Midtown asking rents also increased by 12 percent.

Midtown South, which includes SoHo, and the West Side both showed increases of 7 percent.

The Fifth Avenue corridor (49th to 59th streets) average asking rents increased 11 percent, to $717 compared to Spring 2003.

The upper end of the Madison Avenue asking rent range reached $850, a 17 percent increase from a year ago.

Asking rents for retail space of 1000 square feet or less in Manhattan rose 12 percent. This square foot range has the fewest number of stores available.