Small-format Target store at 512 Second Ave. in Kips Bay/ Photo credit: Andy Cavallero

NEW YORK CITY—As another example of what's happening with brick-and-mortar retail in Manhattan—it's not dying. It's chain stores. In urban areas they are taking on spaces moving away from department stores and leaning closer towards boutiques. Target opened the doors of another small-format store at 512 Second Ave. The 21,000-square-foot chain store is situated in the Kips Bay neighborhood between E. 28th and E. 29th streets. Target signed a 30-year-lease with the property owner Blackstone Real Estate.

Although the lease price was not disclosed, a source close to the deal tells GlobeSt.com that the asking rent was $150 per square foot on the ground floor. On the lower level retail space was created in an existing parking garage.

With the small-format stores, Target looks at neighborhoods with a strategy to provide what local residents, nearby working professionals or visitors would be looking to buy. Using this strategy nationwide, the retail giant is setting up the smaller shops in dense urban locations or near college campuses. These stores that are in the 20,000 to 40,000-square-foot range are going into spaces where the company's traditional 130,000-square-foot general merchandise big boxes would not fit.