A new tenant for the high-profile Takashimaya building at 693 Fifth Avenue will likely pay a ground-floor rent higher than the $2,000 per square foot that Swatch recently signed for in a space nearby, property owner Joseph Sitt, chairman and CEO of Thor Equities, said in an interview with Insights from The Real Deal (see video above).
Swiss-based Swatch inked a 15-year deal that starts at about $2,000 per square foot in the retail condo at 666 Fifth Avenue owned by Carlyle Group, Kushner Companies and Crown Acquisitions.
Sitt said there was “no question” he would get rents in the range of $2,500 per square foot. He added there were six tenants looking seriously at the space in the 20-story building.
In addition, Robert Knakal, chairman of commercial brokerage Massey Knakal Realty Services, told Insights that the first quarter sales for retail property in Manhattan nearly reached the $586 million figure for all of 2010.