Brookfield, WTC Shopping Cause Retail Rents to Rise in FiDi

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Just like pretty much everywhere else in the city, lower Broadway has been seeing a significant rise in retail rents, according to Crain's New York. Average rents on the Financial District shopping corridor are now up to $277 per square foot, which is a 22% increase over last year and the largest gain of any area in Manhattan.

According to the business site, retailers are flocking to the revitalized neighborhood because of major shopping centers like Brookfield Place and the World Trade Center. But other major players are setting up freestanding stores, including Urban Outfitters, Gap, and Zara.

"The transformation of Broadway ... has been really wonderful to see," Downtown Alliance president Jessica Lappin recently told Crain's. "It speaks to the overall confidence and excitement from a variety of fashionable boutiques to the national brands."

While lower Manhattan is certainly having its moment, retailers may also be avoiding crazy prices in other areas of the borough. Crain's reports that rents on parts of Fifth Avenue now top $3,500 a square foot (and we just learned that Polo Ralph Lauren is paying $25 million annually for its spot there). Areas like Soho and Williamsburg are also seeing astronomical rent increases.
· Shop Rents Take Wing on Lower Broadway [Crain's]
· Updated: Tracking the Financial District's Booming Retail Scene [Racked NY]
· Gap Is Headed to FiDi, Adding to the Downtown Retail Scene [Racked NY]