NEW YORK CITY—RFR Realty has formed a new division focused on retail and tapped Jordan Claffey to oversee the effort. RFR retail will continue what has been a growing focus on retail at the firm, as evidenced by recent acquisitions and leasing deals. Claffey, was hired as its VP and director of retail Leasing last spring.
He joined RFR from Thor Equities, where he was a VP of leasing. The company maintains a vast holding of retail properties. At RFR Retail, Claffey is responsible for lease negotiations, business development, and marketing initiatives across the firm's retail portfolio. Additionally, he assists with the identification and valuation of potential retail acquisition targets.
“Since Jordan joined, and with his leadership, we've enhanced the retail components of both the RFR website and RFRSpace.com, which lists current availabilities. We've also enhanced our direct and electronic marketing campaign,” says RFR's Sheldon Werdiger. “These efforts have vastly improved the visibility of our retail portfolio. By increasing RFR's in-house marketing support and focusing on direct tenant relationships, we are well-positioned to service our retail assets.”
RFR's recent acquisitions all have different retail components. The Church Missions House at 281 Park Ave. South has full retail frontage on Park Ave. South and offers the potential for a retailer to lease the ground floor retail space and the office space above it as a corporate headquarters. Over at 190 Bowery, the 4,200-square-foot ground level space at the corner of the Bowery and Spring Street could work for any retail brand or restaurant. The site offers more than 140 linear square feet of frontage and 18-foot ceiling heights. In Noho, RFR's 11 Bond Street is being repositioned for potential single tenant use, with flagship retail space available across five floors.
However, RFR's retail holdings are not limited to the more than 30 properties and over 500,000 square feet in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, there are approximately 80,000 square feet of retail associated with RFR and Kushner Cos.' purchase of five DUMBO neighborhood properties from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. Elsewhere in the United States, RFR has retail properties in Miami on Lincoln Road and at the W Hotel and in Las Vegas in the Miracle Mile Shops, an enclosed and highly trafficked mall on the Las Vegas Strip. It also has significant retail holdings in key German markets, including Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg and Nuremberg.
“Over the past several years retail has been a top performing commercial asset class and this is especially true in Manhattan,” says Claffey, whose retail experience includes time at Colliers International and Brixmor, the owner and operator of the country's largest wholly owned portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers. “Tourism, population and infrastructure continue to improve. New York City is the best market for talent and commerce and is the most attractive global market for retail as well. It's an exciting time to be a part of what we are doing at RFR with an emphasis on growing the retail portfolio in New York and other gateway cities such as Miami.”
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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.
