Michael Kors has fi nally snagged a prime Fifth Avenue location at Rockefeller Center.
As The Post reported online yesterday, the fashion retailer has signed a 10-year lease for the just-shuttered Kenneth Cole store in Rockefeller Center’s 610 Fifth Ave., which also adjoins the Channel Gardens by 49th Street.
The shop has 4,500 square feet on the ground and a bit less than 3,000 square feet underground for offices and storage.
Kenneth Cole, which closed its flagship store on Monday, had an additional 13,000 square feet on the second floor that is not being leased by Kors.
It was not immediately clear if another retailer could use this space.
Robin Abrams of The Lansco Corp., who was not involved in the deal, said Michael Kors is a “great tenant” for that space, as Rock Center’s owners, Tishman Speyer Properties, would not want to compromise on the quality of the tenancy.
“Rockefeller Center is one of the most heavily trafficked tourist locations with a broad customer base,” said Abrams.
“Kors will benefit both from the merchants south of them and the luxury corridor north of them, which has very few vacancies and is one of the few corridors that has increased in terms of rental prices.”
Ground-floor asking rents on that stretch of Fifth Avenue from 49th through 59th streets range from $2,100 to $2,500 per foot, according to the Real Estate Board of New York’s fall 2010 retail report.
Michael Kors already has three locations along Madison and one each on Prince and Bleecker streets.
The designer is a favorite of Melania Trump, among other celebs.
Kenneth Cole still has four other city locations, including Grand Central Terminal, 95 Fifth Ave., 130 E. 57th St. and in SoHo, although more stores are slated to be closed.
No brokers were involved on the Michael Kors side, and there was no comment from Rock Center’s Tishman Speyer Properties.
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Hedge fund Fir Tree has doubled its space at 505 Fifth Ave. by expanding onto 10,856 square feet on the 21st floor.
Fir Tree was represented by Gregg Lorberbaum of Centric Real Estate Advisors, who looked at many other market alternatives before taking advantage of what became available in the four-year-old building.
The vacating tenant, US Power Generating Co., was represented by Silvio Petriello of CB Richard Ellis. Paul Glickman, who just left Cushman & Wakefield for Jones Lang LaSalle last week, worked for the building owner, Kipp-Stawski, in facilitating the deal, which has a mid-$60s rent.
Normally, a tenant is not allowed to sublease or assign to another tenant.
“It was a great value for them and the space was fully built,” said Lorberbaum. Because the tenants came to the new building at the same time, the leases are co-terminus.
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Investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill + Partners has leased 70,000 square feet at 1251 Ave. of the Americas.
The company, which is currently located at 919 Third Ave., was represented by Cushman & Wakefield’s John Ce faly, David McBride and Jamie Katcher. At the end of 2010, Cefaly also repre sented French banking giant Na tixis in a lease at the same building for 185,000 square feet.
Owned by Mitsui Fudosan, the building was represented by Peter Shimkin and David Falk of Newmark Knight Frank.
