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Commercial Observer Now

Daycare Service Signs at 4 New York Plaza

Childrens Creative Learning Centers has signed a lease to take a 5,500-square-foot retail space at Four New York Plaza for an early childhood education and care center, the company announced.

CCLC operates another such facility at 90 Park Avenue, which opened earlier this year.

“In meeting with New York City businesses, we’ve already seen a tremendous interest in backup care services, and CCLC is thrilled to bring this much-needed service to employers and hard working parents,” Fran Durekas, CCLC’s founder and chief development officer, said in a statement that was released for the deal at 90 Park. “Our goal is to give parents the flexibility and peace of mind to make last-minute child care decisions by providing businesses with a trusted and safe environment that they can offer to employees.”

Andrew Cohen, an executive at CCLC, told The Commercial Observer that the company had been searching for a Downtown location.

“We were in Midtown but we have a lot of clients Downtown where we knew there was a lot of demand,” he said.

CCLC mainly works under contract with companies to provide day care and education services for their employees’ children.

Four New York Plaza, where CCLC will be opening later this year, was sold in recent months to an investment partnership between HSBC and Edge Fund Advisors. Harbor Group International purchased the roughly one million-square-foot office tower at the depths of the recession for a little over $100 million and sold it to the partnership for more than double what it paid, about $265 million.

The deal with CCLC was one among a number of leasing transactions Harbor arranged at the tower that helped it so dramatically boost its value in such a short a short period. Harbor brought U.S. News and World Report, the Daily News and also the publisher of the National Enquirer, American Media, to base floors at the property. JP Morgan Chase occupies the bulk of the tower.

In the deal with CCLC, Jonathan Krivine, a retail leasing broker at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail, represented the tenant. Lee Block and Darrell Rubens, executives at Winick Realty, represented ownership, which started with Harbor and transitioned to HSBC and Edge Fund Advisors before the lease was finished.

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Commercial Observer Now

Winick Realty Group retail duo of Jeff Winick and Darrell Rubens have been brought on to handle the retail leasing for 100 Broadway…

Once the site of a massive Borders bookstore, the sprawling retail space has already had two-thirds of it leased out to the Walgreens-owned Duane Reade.

Now at the helm of 100 Broadway, Mr. Rubens is eager to bring a retailer into the remaining 4,400 square feet of vacant storefront space, possibly an outfitter like American Apparel of Joe Fresh.

There is also a 9,000 square foot lower level space that has never been used for retail purposes before. The group plans on combining both the ground and lower floor space for a big-box tenant, it said in a press release.

With the riff-raf from the Occupy Wall Street protests from nearby Zucotti Park no longer a presence, Mr. Rubens is eager to see the remaining barricades removed.

“I am happy the protesters aren’t in Zuccotti Park anymore, and I would love to see New York City take down the rest of the barricades in Lower Manhattan and make it open,” said Mr. Rubens. “One thing is we don’t have any barricades on our site. It’s more open than ever.” Mr. Rubens, a 16-year veteran of Winick Realty, is no stranger to the Financial District’s retail scene. He handled the leases for popular fashion stores like Century 21 and TJ Maxx, the latter whom he leased their first downtown store at 14 Wall Street.

He said he spent the past 10 years focusing solely on retail opportunities in the Financial District.

“It wasn’t until after 9/11 when building owners started converting office buildings into residential. I really made [retail] my focus,” he said.

With the new Fulton Street station and the new World Trade Center site both close to opening, he thinks now is a ripe time for retail, especially with the influx of a younger breed of everyday professional.

“Conde Nast is going to be down there, which will be a whole new demographic,” he added.

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Commercial Observer Now

REBNY Unveils Retail Deal of the Year Nominees

The Real Estate Board of New York released the candidates for its annual “Retail Deal of the Year” awards yesterday. This year’s field includes 10 transactions. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 12. As would be expected, the lineup includes a number of prominent leases.

Among the transactions are the Century 21 department store’s lease of space at 1972 Broadway last year, a 61,000-square-foot deal in which it took over a store formerly occupied by Barnes & Noble near Lincoln Center. Gene Spiegelman and Michael O’Neill, executives at Cushman & Wakefield, handled that deal.

Bradley Mendelson and Alan Schmerzler, who also both retail executives at C&W, are being considered for their lease of the Time Square Theatre. The space had been leased to the clothing and apparel company Marc Ecko, but long sat empty before the two leased it to Broadway 4D Theatres last year.

Jeff Roseman, a prominent retail broker at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, is up for consideration for bringing a branch of the restaurant chain Jekyll & Hyde to the former New York Times building 229 West 43rd Street.

RKF retail broker Karen Bellantoni is in contention for her work leasing the Meatpacking District property 810 Washington Street. Among the tenants that Ms. Bellantoni brought to the property last year were the fashion boutiques Vanita Rosa and Intermix.

Darrell Rubens of the Winick Realty Group and Peter Ripka, who heads the brokerage Ripco Real Estate, are also candidates for the award for brokering a deal to bring the discount department store TJ Maxx downtown to 14 Wall Street where it took 32,000 square feet.

“We recognize the level of ingenuity, creativity and skill needed to achieve these remarkable transactions,” Steven Spinola, REBNY’s president, said in a statement. “Last year brought in some exciting deals and it’s going to make for some stiff competition High praise is extended to all the nominees and we look forward to celebrating the winners of the Retail Deal of the Year Awards this June.”

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Commercial Observer Now

New Lease Will ‘Bee’ on First

Beehives & Buzzcuts, a children’s hair salon and event space (whatever happened to Chuck E. Cheese for birthdays?), has signed a lease near Stuyvesant Town for its first-ever location, The Commercial Observer learned.

The 2,500-square-foot space at 365 First Avenue, between 21st and 22nd streets, will be replete with hair and nail services for the kiddies as well as sprawling event space for their birthday parties.

Brian Tregerman and Joseph Isa of Winick Realty represented Beehives & Buzzcuts owner Carolyn Massey as well as building owner Sassouni Management.

“With five schools in the area and the large number of families living in nearby Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, this is the ideal location for Beehives & Buzzcuts,” Mr. Tregerman said.

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Commercial Observer Now

Tattoo New: Emporium Expands on Sixth Avenue

Regrettable tattoos and the people who love them—John Mayer and Britney Spears are two notable clients—will no doubt cluster when Red Rocket Tattoo, one of the most formidable ink parlors in Manhattan, moves from 36th Street to Sixth Avenue later this year.

The tattoo emporium, which has operated for more than 14 years at 46 West 36th Street, will move this August to a 1,540-square-foot, third-floor retail condo at 976 Sixth Avenue. The new space, brokers note, is 60 percent larger than the tenant’s current space.

“The company is definitely growing,” said Bob Weber, a director at Winick Realty Group, who along with associate Jayme Tomita represented both Red Rocket Tattoo and the tattoo company’s new landlord, 976 Sixth Avenue Operating Corp. “The plan is to hire more artists and expand their business.”

For more, download the full article in PDF

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Commercial Observer Now

20 Years at 401 Park Avenue South

Duane Reade, the ubiquitous pharmacy and one-stop shop that has become a bit of a mascot for New York City, has jumped to renew its lease at 401 Park Avenue South, for another 20 years, brokers said. The building’s owner, Meringoff Properties, signed off on the deal to renew the druggist’s 10,000-square-foot space, with a multi-million-dollar plan to upgrade the store in its current design to begin soon.

Although taking rent was not immediately available, rent per square foot typically goes for $125 to $150 per square foot along that swath of Park Avenue South, according to brokers.

Winick Realty Group represented Duane Reade in the transaction while Mark Stein of Meringoff Properties acted on behalf of the landlord.

FedEx and a McDonald’s also occupy space at the 12-story, 211,116-square-foot office building.

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