NEW YORK CITY—The Columbus Circle subway station has signed three new retail tenants to Turnstyle, the underground shopping corridor under construction in the concourse between West 57th and 58th streets, according to Crain's New York Business. The complex is not far from the Time Warner Center, the upscale mall in Midtown.
Eyewear purveyor Specs New York, tech-and-travel accessory seller Bluwire, and Studio Manhattan, which sells locally themed bags and cellphone cases, have all signed 10-year leases for space in the station. They are scheduled to open in the spring.
Specs, which operates two Manhattan stores and has a location in Washington, D.C., will take nearly 500 square feet of retail space, while Bluwire will take 350 square feet and Studio Manhattan will take 400 square feet. Robin Abrams, Lisa Rosenthal and Ryan Bergman of the Lansco Corp. handled the Columbus Circle leases on behalf of both tenants and the landlord.
Oases RE, the four-year-old development company in charge of the project, has commitments for more than 50% of the available 26,000 square feet of retail space at the project.
"The response from retailers has far exceeded our expectations at this stage," says Susan Fine, chief executive of Oases. She is reportedly in talks with local retailers, national brands and overseas businesses interested in leasing their first New York flagships.
"Our customer is half tourist and half local, so we thought this would be a great location for us," adds Ayhan Kimsesizcan, president and founder of eight-year-old Studio Manhattan.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority tapped Fine—a retail real estate veteran who worked on Grand Central Terminal's redevelopment in the '90s—last year to handle the Columbus Circle station project, known as Columbus Development LLC. It marks the first time the MTA is using a private-sector firm to manage and operate its space. Oases holds a 20-year lease for the project, and is responsible for vacant storefronts.
Fine expects as many as 30 retail stores, designed to appeal to last-minute shoppers looking for grab-and-go items, in the complex. Each will range from 250 to 1,000 square feet in size.
"We're putting a lot of effort into creating a unique and synergistic mix in order to create a great experience for the shoppers, the commuters, the tourists and the residents living in the vicinity," explains Abrams.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
