"We are in discussions with the city about the possibility of another location in SoHo." says Anne Keating, senior vice president of public relations for Bloomingdale's, adding that the new store will not replace the store's famous 59th Street flagship. "It's an additional location," she tells GlobeSt.com.
Keating confirms reports published today stating that Bloomingdale's parent company, Federated Department stores, has signed a letter of intent to lease space at 504 Broadway. Constructed in 1860, the 100,000-sf building is located just north of Canal Street. Keating would not disclose the range of incentives it would take to bring Bloomingdale's Downtown. But if a deal is struck, Keating says she will release a timeframe for the project "within a couple of months."
According to Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman of Garrick-Aug Worldwide, Federated has been house hunting up and down lower Broadway for quite some time without success. She is confident, however, that sooner or later they'll make a deal. "It's definitely in the wings," Consolo says. "They've been all over that street for two years."
Consolo says several earlier attempts to bring Bloomie's south of 14th street, where no major department store has dared venture before, fell through. Previous plans included a build-to-suit on a parking lot adjacent to the Tower Records store on the southeast corner of Broadway and 5th Street. Negotiations for the former Broadway Lumber property at 557 Broadway also went by the wayside, as did a proposal to expand the former post office at Broadway and Prince Street, Consolo says. That plan fell through because of the building's landmark status, which imposes size limitations on redevelopment, she adds.
Consolo says Bloomingdale's plan for a Downtown location is good for both the store and the city. "I think that's what SoHo needs, an anchor, a department store," she says. "SoHo doesn't have a big department store that generates other types of traffic."
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