Retail rents dropped like a stone in some places over the last year but have now stabilized in several shopping corridors and even have risen in some spots — and the Real Estate Board of New York has the proof.
According to REBNY’s new Spring Retail Report, five corridors — prime Madison, prime Fifth, Third Avenue, Broadway on the Upper West Side and Harlem’s 125th Street — saw average asking rents rise or remain flat since the fall.
Still, a dozen other Manhattan corridors experienced additional drops in rent just since last fall.
“The findings from our report and insight from our advisory group point to developments in the market that offer reasons for optimism,” said John H. Banks, REBNY president.
Fifth Avenue’s most expensive retail swath, which runs from 49th to 59th streets, carries rents of $3,900 per square foot, which is 17 percent higher than last spring’s $3,324, and they have remained flat since last fall.
Along the best stretch of Madison from East 57th to 72nd streets, rents are down 4 percent from last spring’s $1,446 per square foot, but they’re up 3 percent since the fall’s $1,348 per square foot to a current $1,390.
Despite politicians’ worries about vacancies, rents on Broadway’s Upper West Side corridor from West 72nd Street to 86th Street rose 12 percent, to $325 per square foot, since last fall’s $291, and they’re up 3 percent year-over-year from $315 in the spring of 2017.
Columbus Avenue from 66th to 79th streets did not fare as well as its parallel Broadway neighbors and saw retail rents drop 12 percent, from $344 per square foot last fall, to $304, which was still down another 10 percent since fall.
As Third Avenue from East 60th to 72nd streets transitions with leasing turnover, rents dropped 26 percent since last spring, from $356 to $264 per square foot. But the corridor still squeaked out a 1 percent gain from $261 per square foot last fall as tenants like Target signed leases.
