The larger of the two transactions marks the aggressively expanding sandwich-shop chain's biggest Manhattan store to date. Pret A Manger will open a 3,300-sf eatery by the end of the year at 11 W. 42nd St., a 32-story Tishman Speyer Properties LLP building. Insignia/ESG's Andrew Goldberg and Eric Gelber represented both parties in the $4.8 million transaction.

Pret A Manger has also signed a 10-year lease for 1,500 sf at 875 Avenue of the Americas. Located on the ground floor of the 26-story class B office property at 31st Street and Sixth Avenue, the new shop is expected to open next month. Steve Bloom and Linda Herman of the law firm of Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronson & Berman represented building owner James Wacht. Jeff Moross of the law firm of Davis & Gilbert represented the tenant. The deal has an aggregate rental value of over $1.8 million.

According to Price, there will be at least 16 and possibly as many as 20 Pret A Manger shops in Manhattan by year's end. "We had four shops open at the end of 2001, and plan to open at least 12 new shops in 2002," he tells GlobeSt.com. "However, we have the ability to open several additional shops this year if the market and our customers call for us to do so." Price adds that the company has signed at least seven leases in addition to 875 Avenue of Americas, 11 W. 42nd St. and the shops that it has already opened this year at 46th & Fifth and 45th & Lexington. Most of these are Midtown locations, such as 43rd & Third and Rockefeller Center, but at least one will be located in the downtown Financial District. The newest Pret A Manger location, the seventh in Manhattan, opened today at 54th & Lexington, in Citibank's world headquarters building.