A clash of egos....there's a fight about everything else regarding the rebuilding, it makes sense there should be issues with the retail too...
http://therealdeal.com/issues_articl...neup-revealed/
World Trade Center’s retail line-up revealed
With deadlines approaching and retailers grumbling about key design element, TRD uncovers most comprehensive list of likely tenants in mega mall
May 01, 2014
By Adam Pincus
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As the city waits for the new World Trade Center development to open and begin pulsing with office workers, tourists and residents, big egos are clashing behind the scenes over what stores will occupy the massive retail complex.
Brokers told The Real Deal they expected Westfield Group’s 365,000-square-foot, multi-level mall in Lower Manhattan to be a success. But with deadlines nearing, the project is pushing to recruit more high-end tenants, even as some retailers have balked at being underground or expressed concern about a key design feature of the retail space.
The jewel of the massive retail project is a spiny, ethereal-looking Santiago Calatrava–designed structure that will undoubtedly become an iconic addition to the Lower Manhattan landscape. The retail complex includes aboveground space, but the majority of the shopping will be below street level at the 16-acre site.
“I have heard some European retailers don’t want to be underground,” said Robert Gibson, a vice chairman at commercial firm JLL. Nevertheless, “I think it will be very successful.”
To help drum up interest among posh stores, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has reportedly been using her status as the grand dame of luxury fashion to convince designers to take space at the project. Sources told TRD that Wintour — whose parent company Condé Nast will be anchoring the office component of 1 World Trade Center — has been making calls and joining tours to convince retailers to sign on for space. Vogue declined to comment.
Despite Wintour’s endorsement, insiders say that some high-end retailers are not biting.
Computer and iPhone giant Apple — which is expected to take space in the project — was frustrated by the giant “ribs,” or columns, that Calatrava included throughout the underground portion of the site. The arching structures are spaced roughly 11 feet apart along the front portion of each store, which has put off some retailers who want to use that space for signage, branding or product display, sources said.
Apple even sought a design variance, but was turned down, said one retail source, who asked not to be identified.
“Do you think [fashion designer] Karl Lagerfeld will be ok with playing second fiddle to an architect?” another retail insider said. “It is all about clashing egos. Those brands [that object to the columns] are not going to open a flagship Downtown and have Santiago Calatrava’s ribs obstructing the view.”
This month, TRD assembled the most comprehensive-to-date list of tenants expected to take space at the project. We also obtained maps of the full retail complex indicating where retailers are likely to plant their flags.
Westfield has been involved in the center since it signed a 99-year lease in July 2001 to control what was then called the Mall at the World Trade Center (see related story on page 62). Analysts expect the new retail space to bring in $2,000 per square foot or more annually, well above the $900 per foot the predecessor mall took in, and putting it among the top-grossing malls in the world.
While brokers said Westfield would not have a problem filling the space, questions remain about what type of tenant mix the project will ultimately achieve, and how much money it will generate for its owner. The firm is currently assembling what insiders say is a solid group of tenants. But so far, brokers said, it lacks the depth of luxury brands amassed by the neighboring Brookfield Place. Still, it remains to be seen how critical luxury tenants are for the project.
Ultimately, Westfield’s goal is for the mall to be “relevant” and a destination in the same way Soho is, said a person familiar with the marketing plans, who noted that the firm wants to draw New Yorkers, tourists and commuters into the complex.
In addition, some said, the tenants at the World Trade Center and at Brookfield Place may actually help one another.
“Collectively, [Westfield and Brookfield] have got to have a broad array of stores, and not every one is going to be a luxury brand. Not everyone can afford a Brioni suit,” said Richard Hodos, an executive vice president of retail at CBRE Group. “The fact that Westfield is going to have some moderately priced tenants is not a bad thing.”
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Westfield, a public company, has said it expects to have 150 brands at the World Trade Center site mall.
TRD identified approximately 60 tenants that have signed leases, inked letters of intent or are in late negotiations with Westfield. In addition, the magazine also uncovered the location they’re expected to take in the project.
.....The retail complex has four main shopping areas. The first is above ground in 3 World Trade and 4 World Trade along Church Street. But the heart of the retail complex will be Calatrava’s so-called “Oculus,” a two-level, oval-shaped shopping gallery. Two bi-level concourses, one dubbed the West Gallery, and the other called the South Gallery, will branch off of the Oculus.
As TRD reported last month, designer Tom Ford, jeweler Tiffany & Co., and one of the Giorgio Armani fashion brands are expected to take three of the project’s four street-level stores. Tom Ford is likely to take a two-level space in the base of 4 World Trade, and Tiffany and Armani are expected to take two-level locations in the base of 3 World Trade, next door. All three sites have frontage on Church Street.
But some sources told TRD that not all retailers are comfortable with the non-World Trade Center tenants — including Burger King and discount clothing store Century 21 — that are near the project’s street-level space. While the neighborhood is rapidly changing, typically luxury brands do not want to be near brands outside of their peer group.
.....Despite all of the tenants that have signed on, brokers say that on the whole, Westfield has lost the luxury battle with Brookfield Place, which landed a slightly wider range of high-end tenants, including Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Hermès and Diane von Furstenberg.
Yet late last month, a retail source told TRD that Westfield may have high-end designer Prada lined up, so no one is counting Westfield out.
The project’s distinct architecture alone is expected to draw droves of tourists into the building, even though the columns that are part of that design are turning off some retailers. A few have pointed out the irony that above ground, the office-leasing brokers are selling the World Trade Center towers as engineering marvels that are nearly column-free.
Several tenant brokers said their clients have balked at the columns, but Westfield has attempted to counter that by showing tenants potential store designs that are not impeded by the columns and that allow them to effectively brand their spaces.
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