In a nod to the area’s growing cachet as a shopping destination, trendy retailer Urban Outfitters and its sister company Anthropologie are in advanced talks to secure spaces in Williamsburg, Crain’s reported.
Anthropologie is working out the details of a 10,000-square-foot space at a 150,000-square-foot retail complex located at 242 Bedford Avenue between North Third and North Fourth Streets. The complex will be anchored by a Whole Foods, sources familiar with the property told Crain’s. The complex is also in leasing talks with Canadian retailer Joe Fresh, New York Sports Club, and Citibank.
“We are in conversations with several retailers regarding the remaining retail spaces,” Jared Epstein, vice president of Aurora Capital Associates, told Crain’s. Aurora partnered with Midtown Equities and Alex Adjmi to buy the property last year for $23 million.
The deal would see Anthropologie – which has carved an enviable niche for itself as an upscale hipster retail destination – open its first Brooklyn location, following the recent opening of the company’s fifth Manhattan store on the Upper East Side, and another store opening on the Bowery later this year, as The Real Deal first reported.
Meanwhile, Urban Outfitters has landed a space at Nearby 102 North Sixth Street, between Berry and Wythe Streets. The store will be located next door to American Apparel. Even J. Crew is a prospective tenant of a space that will come online in the neighborhood, as The Real Deal reported.
Rents in Williamsburg have been steadily climbing, and currently range from $185 to $225 a square foot on Bedford Avenue to $70 to $100 a foot for side streets such as North Sixth Street. [Crain’s] –Hiten Samtani