Saks Fifth Avenue Coming to Brookfield Place, Off Fifth Nearby

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In perhaps the biggest announcement for the development yet, WWD has heard from sources that Saks Fifth Avenue is close to signing a lease at Brookfield Place, which would make the high-end department store an anchor tenant for a shopping center that already includes such luxe names as Ferragamo, Hérmes, Michael Kors, and Diane von Furstenberg.

The paper also reported that their discount store, Saks Off Fifth, will make its first foray into the five boroughs with a location near the downtown Century21.

It looks like New York's biggest department stores are all clamoring to take over the island with multiple locations. While Bloomingdale's already has the Soho outpost to complement its uptown flagship, Barneys New York is claiming territory at its old Chelsea location, plotting a 2017 opening, and there's strong rumors that Neiman Marcus (which owns Bergdorf Goodman), will be the retail crown jewel of Hudson Yards. And it's well-known that Nordstrom will be entering the city's retail scene on 57th Street in 2018.

This news also comes after a flurry of announcements for the booming FiDi shopping district: Paul Smith, J. Crew, and, surprisingly, independent bookseller Posman Books LLC were confirmed as tenants earlier this week. Not far away, Tiffany & Co. and Armani are headed to the rival 3 World Trade Center, while Tom Ford will take a corner spot at 4 World Trade Center. Retail at these properties are managed by Westfield Group.

4 World Trade Center may also be home to Eataly, as we learned yesterday, as well as Apple's first store in the neighborhood.

Though both Saks and Brookfield Place denied to comment for the WWD article, sources said that the full-line department store would take a significant amount of space in the shopping center.
· Saks Fifth Avenue Eyeing Downtown Store Location [WWD]
· Tom Ford, Tiffany & Co., and More Sign on for WTC Stores [Racked NY]
· Posman Books, J. Crew, Paul Smith Headed for Brookfield Place [Racked NY]