According to Consolo, the deal, which closed in two weeks flat, is emblematic of a trend away from the large retail deals of the 1990s, "when people would just shut their eyes and sign anything." Today's retail market, she says, "is giving local retailers the opportunity to get prime locations where they would have been shut out before."

Consolo also says that the wave of smaller deals belies current notions that Manhattan's retail market has slumped. "It defies the idea that the market is moving slowly," she says. "I had two dozen offers on this location."

Another small retail deal handled by the same team just closed at 1460 Lexington Ave. The 2,200-sf storefront, between 94th and 95th streets, was leased for 10 years at $75 per sf by a craft shop, The Lion and the Lamb. Consolo and Aquino represented both the tenant and the building owner in the transaction.