Tom Ford is moving his store south to a prime spot at 680 Madison Ave., where the men’s retailer will occupy 12,300 square feet on the corner of East 61 Street opposite Barney’s.
The designer joins the area’s growing lineup of the poshest men’s retailers, including its 680 Madison neighbor, Brioni, along with Brunello Cucinelli, Berluti, Hermes Mens and the Links Club, all within a two block radius.
“One of the biggest growing parts of the luxury marketplace is the men’s section, and nowhere is known more for mens fashion than New York because of the new Mens Fashion Week in July. It’s wonderful to see these brands reinventing themselves on Madison Avenue,” said Matthew Bauer, president of the Madison Avenue BID.
As The Post reported in July, Tom Ford’s current 14,000-square-foot duplex at 845 Madison, between East 70 and 71 streets, is available.
The retail at the base of Extell’s luxury residential condominium at 680 Madison is owned by Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities, which paid $277 million in 2013 to redevelop the space, pushing asking rents toward the $2,500 square-foot mark. After landing other tenants like Morganthal Frederics, roughly 16,000 square feet is still available, mostly on the second floor.
While leasing initially lagged, the southern corner on the ground and part of the second floor totaling 6,200 square feet was scooped up by Qatar retailer, Qela, which never occupied the space and eventually defaulted.
Sitt reclaimed the space at the end of last year and is drawing down on its security deposit, sources said.
The new deal with Tom Ford, represented by Bob Gibson of JLL, encompasses all the Qela space, including 3,300 square feet on the ground, as well as an expanded 9,000 feet on the second floor. This time, the ground floor asking rent was a less lofty $2,000 a square feet.
Thor and JLL declined to comment. Tom Ford could not be reached.
