The door store is building a new Manhattan flagship in the middle of
Furniture Central.
The retailer rented 6,000 square feet at 969 Third Ave., on the
southeast corner of East 58th Street.
Broker Candice Dobbs
suggested the space to Door Store executives, who needed to make a move
because the lease for their store at Third Avenue and East 70th Street
was going to expire.
She thought they'd like 969 Third because it's on the corner opposite
the D&D Building, where furniture firms and other decorative arts
businesses have showrooms. And it's a block north of Maurice Villency,
an important furniture store. Designers who buy in the neighborhood will
be likely to make stops at the Door Store in their travels, says Ms.
Dobbs, the president of Dobbs Associates Inc. and the sole broker in the
deal.
Door Store's new address is also a good one as far as regular
retailing goes. The building is catercorner from the former site of
Alexander's department store, where Vornado Realty Trust is now
constructing a mixed-use development that will include an H&M store and
house the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's eponymous media empire.
Another plus is that the owner of 969 Third, Friedland Properties, is
eager to draw home furnishings tenants to its building. Door Store will
serve as an anchor.
"We waited a long time to get the right tenant to set the tone for
this building," says William Friedland, a company vice president.
Door Store's new location is laid out so the retailer will get
maximum bang for the buck in the rent it pays. It took 1,000 square feet
on the ground floor, for which the asking rent was $250 per square foot.
The other 5,000 square feet is on the second floor, and the asking rent
was only $75 per square foot.
The landlord is installing floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs,
creating a second-story storefront.
