By Taylor Williams The retail markets throughout the greater New York City area have been starving for more quality space in the post-pandemic era, with ground-up supply gains rarely hitting the market outside of obligatory inclusions within apartment buildings and highly curated clusters at mixed-use developments. According to JLL’s latest market report on New York City, as of the first quarter of 2025, there were approximately 200 availabilities across Manhattan’s “prime” retail submarkets — a record low. Average asking rents leapt 7.4 percent between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the ensuing period, settling at a rate of $577 per square foot. The report identified traditionally ritzy retail corridors and hotspots such as Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, SoHo and Times Square as recipients of the “prime” label, also designating the Williamsburg district in Brooklyn as one such area. So when well-located spaces formerly occupied by retailers that are now defunct or aggressively downsizing become available, they tend to draw major, immediate interest. “Expanding retailers have substantial opportunities to backfill big box and junior spaces vacated by bankrupt chains,” says Mitzi Flexer, managing director in the New York City office of national brokerage firm Bradford Allen. Flexer says that a notable …
