A slow and steady deal flow is keeping retail brokers busy as they sift through numerous offers for their brokerage agencies and try to snag prime spaces for their client tenants while watching retail rents rise.

Worried about future rents, Joanne Podell, vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield, is negotiating some “blends and extends” to help clients remain in locations they love.

“If the tenant is doing well and only has a few years left on their lease, it’s time to look at the future,” said Podell. A “blend and extend” will rejigger the rents and enable the tenant to freshen their store.

Joanne Podell of Cushman.Peter Kramer/Getty Images

Downtown, both retail rents and the quality of the retailers are changing dramatically, observed Richard Cohen, principal of Capital Properties, which owns 111-115 Broadway.

Robert K. Futterman, chairman and CEO of RKF, said, “Downtown is all the buzz. Because of Brookfield Place and Westfield’s upcoming World Trade Center, the streets like Broadway are getting energized all the way to the Battery.”

Futterman represents The Howard Hughes Corp. in the revival of the South Street Seaport, and says it’s on track to become another area retail anchor.

Ed Hogan, national director of retail for Brookfield Properties, agrees the mood is positive and leasing is strong. “People are shopping and spending money, and retailers are interested in growing,” he said.

Hudson’s Bay Company will open an 85,000-square-foot Saks Fifth Avenue store at 225 Liberty St. in Brookfield Place in 2016, and a 55,000-square-foot Saks OFF 5TH store at One Liberty Plaza in 2017.

“This is the year of the department store,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman Retail, as Macy’s and Nordstrom will also add stores.

The success of foreign-based stores like Zara, Uniqlo and Topshop has other foreign retailers scouting storefronts.

Scott Edlitz, senior managing director at Colliers International, said they are carefully considering locations for each foreign retailer. “We are helping to shepherd them through this fast-paced market with high rents,” Edlitz said.

The cost of business in New York is the “first and foremost” consideration for foreign retailers, said David Green, vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield. The trick is to find the right fit in the right neighborhood, he added.

Private equity investments are fueling these foreign retail footprints, said Robert L. Freedman, chairman, Tri-State Region, Colliers International.

Closer to home, retailers now in every US mall are coming to the biggest malls of all: the streets of New York, Chicago and Boston, said Pat Breslin, executive managing director, global retail, for Colliers International.

Freedman, who represents 501 Madison, where Porsche Design just opened, said the rent is so high, tenants want to open faster.

“They’re paying overtime to get the job done to reduce it from 10 months to two months,” Freedman said.

Brookfield’s Ed Hogan.Patrick McMullan

Rents there had been $400 a foot, but new deals are closer to $700 a foot.

Further north, Madison Avenue in the E. 60s has asking rents and deals at $1,600 a foot, Freedman said, while rents north of 72nd Street are heading north of $1,000 a foot.

“I’m always concerned when a market spikes like this,” he said.

“People are worried about the run up in [retail rent] prices, but the best locations will always have the foot traffic to support the numbers,” said Hogan.

In Times Square, Vornado Realty Trust is redeveloping the base of the Marriott Marquis for retail and wrapping it with giant LED signage. Asking rents are in the $2,000 to $2,500 per foot range — comparable for the area, which has shopping long past midnight.

Midtown, the Flatiron and SoHo are all strong, and even the Meatpacking District is getting a second wind as new buildings like the Whitney Musuem open by the High Line.

The next retail horizon will evolve in West Chelsea and the Hudson Yards, from 23rd to 42nd streets, Futterman said, as residential towers add shoppers.

“Neiman is a game changer,” he said of Neiman Marcus coming to Related’s Hudson Yards multi-building project.

Several middle-market brands are scouting the less-expensive area of Fifth Avenue between 42nd and 49th Streets. “There is a lot of action there and a lot of deals will pop soon,” said Green.

One that “popped” is the upcoming Microsoft flagship store at 677 Fifth Ave. in the higher rent area between E. 53rd and 54th streets.

The purchase of a building on the Bowery by the International Center of Photography will be “a game changer” for that evolving area, Futterman said.

Uptown, the Harlem market is more efficient as two to four tenants want each space and some will pay more to seal the deal, said Mark Tergesen, senior managing director at ABS Partners Real Estate.

“It shows me demand is up and space is getting tighter,” Tergesen said.