It’s alive! Manhattan’s long-vacant retail spaces are finally rising from the dead

The corpses of great retailers – several decades old – haunt the streets of Manhattan. Now, some are finally coming back to life.

The wound was particularly severe in Times Square, where behind the busy thoroughfares and illuminated signage, there was an excessive void. Now, two new leases will fill 75,000 square feet.

Most notably, the 25,000-square-foot Liberty Theater, a former movie and vaudeville house, had sat empty for decades. Part of the entertainment complex along West 42nd Street, between Times Square and Eighth Avenue at the base of the Hilton Hotel, it was just leased by Broadway4D.

“There are many experienced tenants in the market who are all looking for large, column-free space with high ceilings and are hard to find.”

Matt Chmielecki, SVP of CBRE

Once a major renovation of the Liberty Theater is complete, Broadway4D will educate, entertain and inspire new audiences affordably with the latest technology. She plans to present a newly written musical weaving in the best historical songs sung by the current stars of the Great White Way.

Further west of that block, 50,000 square feet on the ground, first and second floors of 11 Times Square are leased by London-based Path Entertainment, which specializes in immersive ventures. Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern, the company’s interactive theater presentation, is now on the block at Stage 42.

Michael Rielly of Rielly Retail Solutions represented PATH – which has, among its projects, an ongoing Monopoly experience in London and a Clue Live in development. Cushman & Wakefield represented the SJP Properties building that had an $8 million annual lease.

But there are other great spaces yet to be filled around Times Square. CBRE’s Matt Chmielecki is offering the iconic Good Morning America studio at the base of 1500 Broadway that wraps around West 44th Street as the talkies finally descend on the new ABC/Disney headquarters at 7 Hudson Square.

58,245 square meters covering four levels of studio, retail and offices can be divided. The studio area itself has double-height windows with ceilings over 20 meters high and can be yours for a combined rent of $10 million per annum – with plenty of dramatic signage options. There’s another 52,000 square feet on three floors just above.

“There are many experienced tenants in the market who are all looking for large, column-free space with high ceilings and are hard to find,” Chmielecki said. To lure those tenants, he says some building owners are even factoring in the cost of removing the tiles, but, he warns, there are always additional costs and problems.

Another column-free offering is the former Crown Plaza ballroom at 1601 Broadway with 40,000 square feet of double-height space and an asking rent of $100 per foot.

“It’s attractive to those experienced tenants,” Chmielecki said because the space can be kept dark if needed to enhance any technological lighting effects.

“It’s attractive to those experienced renters.”

Chmielecki of 1601 Broadway

The former Times Building’s 250,000+ square feet of retail is also flowing with openings following the pre-pandemic slump of Gulliver’s Gate and Nat Geo’s Ocean Odyssey. The retail condo is in the midst of being sold through Doug Middleton at CBRE, who declined to comment.

Above Fifth Avenue’s new retail corridor, a prominent position across from the Apple Cube at the base of 767 Fifth Ave. has found a tenant. Never occupied by its tenant, Under Armour, Italian puffer jacket retailer Moncler has inked a 24,400-square-foot sublease deal to revive the two-story storefront. Steven Soutendijk of Cushman & Wakefield repped Under Armour.

Moncler is moving from its current 9,000-square-foot home on the next block at 650 Madison, where its lease expires in 2026 and the rent is just over $725 a foot.

Bonhams auction house is also moving into the 42,000-square-foot Steinway Hall Rotunda at the base of 111 W. 57th St. in late 2025. It will have a grand entrance into an 80-foot glass atrium and will include four levels of galleries and two spacious auction rooms.

However, that will leave Bonham’s 30,000 square feet at the base of 590 Madison Ave. empty next year. Since it’s opposite a block overflowing with LVHM brands, and the luxury fashion conglomerate is now leasing 150,000 sq ft of office space in the same tower, it can be filled by one of its subsidiaries faster than a charge card can clear a sale , say the brokers.

A prominent space at 680 Fifth Ave. at 7,875 square feet on two levels, it’s right next to the newly opened Swarovski on the corner of West 54th Street and is available for $2,500 per foot based on the 3,230 square foot ground level. Marketing broker Soutendijk confirmed that there are ongoing discussions with a number of tenants.

In Chelsea, another major lease was signed at Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River and near the High Line. Here, with brokers CBRE on both sides, the Art Museum, which already has a location in Las Vegas, will open a comprehensive media exhibition space of 51,979 square meters.