Upscale Boutique Chain Lease's Fifth Manhattan Location

NEW YORK CITY-A former McKay pharmacy on Manhattan’s Upper East Side will be the newest location for upscale women’s-apparel chain Searle’s. The 3,700-sf site at 1296 Third Ave., between 74th and 75th streets, was leased for 15 years at $150 per sf.Faith Hope Consolo and Joseph A. Aquino with Garrick-Aug Worldwide Ltd. represented Searle’s and building owner Barnan Associates LLC, a subsidiary of the Olnick Organization.

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.”