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History of Tribeca Buildings
Seen & Heard: Suram is open on Greenwich
SURAM IS OPEN
I will get in their this week; in the meantime, Suram, the Japanese concept from the Friedmans folks, has opened on Greenwich just south of North Moore in Independence Plaza. More here.
NEW STOREFRONT FOR 134 READE
I’ve had a few questions about 134 Reade — the former Forgione space just west of Morgan’s. (Thanks to M. and C. for the photos.) From the bit I have learned asking around, it is just the landlord making improvements to the site. He gutted it in 2024.
SARABETH’S HAS CLOSED TWO OTHER LOCATIONS
Sarabeth’s, which closed its Tribeca location two years ago (Ludico Tribeca is coming soon in that spot) has closed its Park Avenue South and Greenwich Village locations. They still have the Upper West Side, which opened in 1981, and Central Park South.
ICYMI, REI SOHO IS CLOSED
A bit far afield, but still, after the closure of Tent & Trails, this was the next best thing. The REI flagship on Houston and Lafayette closed at the end of July. It was not a surprise — they made the announcement last October — but it was still a sad moment for retail. The Times had a story on the funeral services. If that store couldn’t make it…
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Sorry to hear about REI. Another retailer gone.
What can be done to attract useful, long-term retailers to Tribeca and other neighborhoods? So many empty (and decaying) storefronts here. I am no expert, but we need streetscapes that are lively and welcoming – and retail has a place in this.
Compare present-day Park Row, for example, between Ann and Beekman Streets, to the days when J&R, and Weinstein & Holtzman, drew customers to that block. Now there are some empty stores in the monoliths that replaced the human-scaled buildings. And they don’t look inviting.
Foot traffic, and customers going into stores, are what planners and critics like Jane Jacobs told us would keep communities vibrant. Turning around the retail situation is a tall order, but it’s one way to make shoppers stop in and shop for what they need. Here.
Bring life back to the empty storefronts and make them lively again.
What can be done to attract useful, long-term retailers to Tribeca and other neighborhoods? For starters:
Make it easier to build and open a business
– Make it simpler to get permits, etc. from city agencies like Landmarks, Dept of Buildings, etc. These are agencies that are great at saying no. Saying yes, not so much.
– Rein in Con Edison and have regulators make it a priority to furnish service to new customers where changes or capacity upgrades are required.
Restore efficiency and capacity to the Civil Courts
– Property owners are more likely to take a chance on entrepreneurs if they have some assurance that they can enforce leases and contracts in a reasonable timeframe in Court. They will not rent to riskier tenants if they could get stuck with a non-paying tenant for months or years.
Good points. I think there is another big structural issue though which allows landlords to sit on empty storefronts and not lease at market clearing price. If you reduce the depreciation tax shields so that the landlord has true cost of sitting on empty storefront that would change the calculus markedly
Why are we posting fairy tales? There is no tax benefit to the landlord derived from leaving retail space vacant. When the landlord receives less income, the landlord pays less income tax. Why not go ask your boss for a pay cut so you can pay less income tax?
Further, the landlord is not going to get a reduction in property taxes from NYC just because the store is vacant. Someone has to pay to subsidize money-losing city-run grocery stores.
I suppose REI suffered from the same scourge that Tent and Trails did… people using it as the showroom / fitting room for online shopping. Not long before T&T closed we had a long conversation while checking out with the owner about this. It shocked and disgusted me a bit that people would feel comfortable doing such a thing in a small store that had very active and helpful service (she said they’d pull out their phones to comparison price in front of the salespeople helping them). We sorely miss them.
The REI likely closed because of their antipathy towards unions.
Same as the Trader Joe’s wine store on 14th.
Let’s be honest about this. The demise of street retail stores can very largely be put down to on-line shopping. You only have to see the omnipresent Amazon, UPS, etc. delivery vans plus the explosion of cardboard on the sidewalks at recycling time to know that many people have reverted to on-line shopping in preference to in-store purchases. I doubt this shift in shopping habits can easily be reversed.
Before you even get to regulatory hurdles, the prospective tenant has to make a business plan, and projected foot traffic is a key element for many retail businesses. And that’s challenging in Tribeca.
One thing that seems to work is a hub of businesses, such as the gallery district around White St. The galleries feed off each other and the hub becomes a destination. And if a hub attracts a significant amount of visitors, then complementary businesses are likely to open nearby.
That said, the flip side of a vibrant retail area is more people, more noise, more traffic. My observation, at least based on many comments on Tribeca Citizen, is that some Tribecans tend to object to development that could result in more hustle-bustle…..and thus more noise. We can’t have it both ways.