Retailer sees 'Eye to Eye' with Union Square. (Retail New York).

W&M Properties has signed Eye to Eye Vision, an eyewear retailer at 10 Union Square East for the past 10 years, to a five-year lease renewal averaging approximately $250 per square foot, a new high for Union Square.

"This continues to be an extremely robust neighborhood, despite the weak ened economy overall, especially with the recent opening of a second NYU dormitory nearby on East 14th Street and the planned redevelopment of the former Bradlees site across the street," says Fred C. Posniak, vice president of W&M Properties. "National retailers have discovered the area, with its seven-days-a-week traffic, and heavy mixture of daytime office workers and local residents,"

Eye to Eye Vision, on the northeast corner of Park Avenue South and East 14th St., occupies about 1,600 SF of the 58,000-SF retail complex at the base of Zeckendorf Towers.

Other national tenants include Starbucks, HSBC, Federal Express, Mailboxes Etc., Au Bon Pain and an A&P supermarket.

Posniak notes that the signing of Starbucks to its lease at 10 Union Square East by W&M Properties in 1997 also established a new high for that submarket at the time. Completed in 1987, with 670 apartments and 360,000 SF of office space in addition to its retail, Zeckendorf Towers was the forerunner of a sustained retail and residential rejuvenation of Union Square that gained momentum in the 1990s. Its location is steps away from the third busiest subway station in New York. 424 Mad Ave space available for lease