The lineup for Westfield Group’s central shopping hall within the World Trade Center retail complex, known as the Oculus, is shaping up to have the flavor of Soho, even if it lacks the very high-end luxury tenants of Upper Fifth Avenue.
Retailers such as trendy handbag designer Kate Spade, French fashion brands The Kooples and Zadig & Voltaire, and Swedish designer Acne Studios are set to take locations in the oval-shaped, below-grade shopping hub that will be the focal point of the 365,000-square-foot World Trade Center retail area, industry sources told The Real Deal.
Those tenants add to a handful that have been previously reported to be taking shops in the Oculus, including Apple, Michael Kors, Hugo Boss, John Varvatos, J. Lindberg, Cole Haan and Canali.
A spokesperson for Acne said in a statement to TRD that, “Acne Studios is looking into expanding their presence in NYC, but we have no comments on specific addresses or projects at the moment.” Representatives from Kate Spade and Westfield said they had no comment. The Kooples and Zadig & Voltaire did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nine of the 11 identified likely tenants already have stores in Soho. The exceptions are The Kooples, which is building out a space now in the Meatpacking District, and Canali, which has a store at 625 Madison Avenue and 25 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan.
Other major tenants that are expected to take store space in the mall outside of the Oculus include children’s stores Disney and Lego, clothing designer Lacoste, Juice Maker Organic Avenue and London-based shoe designer Dune, according to industry sources.
TRD reported this week that three luxury brands, designer Tom Ford, jeweler Tiffany & Co. and one of the Armani Group store concepts were likely to take the limited number of ground-floor retail locations in the project, all with frontage on Church Street.
Correction: An earlier version of this story including a tenant that said it is not going to take space in the World Trade Center retail.