Manhattan retail: always the best!

The Manhattan real estate market is always improving, and most of us believe that this period will last for quite a while, amounting to several years of steady growth, because New York's economic growth is not advancing as rapidly as the rest of the country's.

Retail, in particular, stands to grow considerably over the next few years.

Downtown, including the Financial District, is bound to see an influx of all kinds of retail. Considerable residential property is opening up, turning what used to be strictly a nine-to-five neighborhood into a 24-hour community. All types of retailing will be required to serve the residents. Furthermore, several large office buildings in that area that had been standing empty are now being brought back onto the market. These buildings will also attract great retailers to their ground floors. Downtown's retailing scene, though, is still several years away from reaching full strength.

Soho has become probably the strongest neighborhood among the more mature retail sub-markets. It used to be an area of large space, low rents and artists, but now it is retailing's "Silver Mile." Space on the main drag - if you can find it - is becoming very pricey, while the side streets, once almost deserted, are commanding rents far above what anyone would have envisioned a few years ago.

The western part of Chelsea, in the high teens and 20's between Ninth and Twelfth avenues, is probably the most up-and-coming neighborhood in Manhattan right now. Thanks partly to the Chelsea Piers recreational complex, and partly to the rising rents in Soho, the art scene is moving to Chelsea. Art attracts buyers, who are potential customers for other wares as well. One can still find large spaces and low rents there, but as time goes by, the area will become increasingly upscale, which means higher rents, eventually.

Because of space availability and low rents, the Lower East Side is once more attracting merchants. The area is getting its share of exciting retail, particularly from the fashion industry.

There is a breakdown in the single-market shopping district - a district where one shops for fashion, a district where one shops for art, another for shopping for home furnishings, and so on. Not any more: retailers move in wherever there is an opening.

Several operations that have established a strong presence in one area of Manhattan are now setting up outposts in other neighborhoods, because New Yorkers still like to shop near home or business and not travel too far. West Side retail is moving to the East Side: Citarella, a popular West Side retailer, has added a unit on the East Side; Gracious Home, now on the East Side, is opening up on the West Side. Downtown merchants are moving Uptown: Face Stockholm, a prestigious Downtowner, will add a new store Uptown in the near future. Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton, both of which were pivotal players in the Uptown boom of the 1980's, are opening large Downtown units - all this to be more accessible to present customers and to attract new ones.

Ralph Lauren seems to be especially serious about establishing itself Downtown, as it owns, rather than rents, its new space in SoHo.

Discount chain retailers, which used to be pretty much confined to the suburbs and outer boroughs, are now coming into Manhattan. Operations like K-Mart, Genovese and Rite-Aid, etc., haven't been able to saturate the city to the extent they would like, but they are coming in and are a lot nearer than they used to be.

A lot has happened, and it's only MidYear: Winter is over, Spring is here, and we are on the brink of Summer - what about this Asian Flu?

(Garrick-Aug's Faith Hope Consolo can now be seen on the Internet, including the popular retail column, "The Faith Report," and listings with color photographs of storefronts and recent news articles on the retail market. Her home page is: http://www.faith-consolo.com: her e-mail address is:[e-mail])