REBNY touts ‘strong’ Manhattan retail recovery — despite empty storefronts

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The Real Estate Board of New York just put out its first-quarter Manhattan retail report and, as is often the case, its main finding — that “strong retail recovery continues” — is hard to argue with overall.

Although not in the REBNY survey, luxury jeweler David Yurman will launch a 22,000 square-foot flagship store at 685 Fifth Ave., as reported by WWD. That location is currently leased to Coach, which plans to move to nearby 645 Fifth later this year.

The moves substantiate what Cushman & Wakefield’s Steven Soutendijk told us a few weeks ago — that deals are pending for nearly all the large, currently dark Fifth Avenue storefronts and will likely be announced by year’s end. (Soutendijk isn’t involved in the Yurman or Coach deals.)

At the same time, the survey’s limitations are clear to anyone out for a stroll. One reason is that while REBNY’s “corridor trends” omit well-trafficked avenues such as Midtown Sixth Avenue.

Certain large, high-visibility storefronts there have stood vacant for years, even though their landlords are tapped some of the city’s most powerful retail brokers to find tenants — such as the former Gap space 1212 Sixth Ave. between West 47th and West 48th streets.

Nor does the REBNY survey include Fifth Avenue between East 34th and East 42nd Street. Forgive our skepticism over a supposed retail-leasing recovery when, for example, nearly the whole east blockfront between 38th and 39th streets is vacant — right across from the Amazon-owned former Lord & Taylor store and just-opened food court Shaver Hall.