“World Trade Center shopping-mall owner Westfield Group is furiously chasing Brookfield Properties in the race to be the king of downtown retail,” Steve Cuozzo reports for The New York Post.
“Westfield, which controls all the retail space at the WTC, has already lined up retailers for 90 percent of the first sites to come on line — about 360,000 square feet at the 16-acre site, including in the Transportation Hub Oculus and in the lower levels of Larry Silverstein’s office towers two and three, sources said,” Cuozzo reports. “Westfield is said to have signed a lease with Victoria’s Secret — and is said to be close to deals with dozens of retailers, including Apple, J. Lindberg, Tory Burch, Theory, Michael Kors, Swatch and Abercrombie & Fitch, as well as several glamorous international brands. Asking rents are in the $500-to-$600 a square foot range.”
Cuozzo reports, “Westfield is paying the Port Authority $612 million for a long-term controlling interest in a joint venture for the WTC’s retail. New York dealmakers irked that Westfield handles leasing in-house rather than use outside brokers were nonetheless impressed with its prowess. Despite skepticism about designers and mass-marketers taking the plunge into untested waters at the WTC, one broker noted, “Westfield has extraordinary leverage over stores which are already tenants in their malls around the US and the world… Another downtown dealmaker said, ‘Not all the Trade Center space is in the same demand, but the Oculus is on fire.'”
Read more in the full article here.
There is no better tenant … WTC ought to encourage a true FLAGSHIP effort by APPLE as they are the current AmeriCAN DREAM company.
They sign Apple and a Microsoft store will sure to follow.
Considering how little of anything Microsoft has on display would actually be sold, the outrageous per foot rental space will certainly help bleed out some of Microsloth’s cash. MS could host a product Museum there since all people do is look at their stuff on display, then walk over to the Apple store to actually purchase something useful. Then MS could at least charge admission to the Museum and recoup some rental cost. It works because even their new products are already museum pieces on release date.
The main thing the WTC developers need to insure as that no flea-bearded or burqa-wearing 3rd World cretins are allowed anywhere near the new WTC.
It is long past due that these atrocious people be properly ostracized. Of course, the ultimate solution would be to deport every last one of these barbarians, and then to tell the muslim world that that next time a single one of them commits a terrorist act on a single American, we’re going to bomb Mecaa back to the Stone Are.
Is there a way to rate with negative (-) stars?
You must be one of those repugnant lefties who, through their moronic policies, enabled the murder of thousands of Americans and hundreds of Europeans that memorable day of 9-11.
I hope you are proud of yourself.
Well, we are definitely *not* proud of you, borismcguffin.
Aww, I am wounded.
And anyone who thinks muslims are so very terrific needs to go live among them. No cheap grace on offer here. Walk the walk. Try Saudi Arabia.
Here is a great video for the politically correct lovers of Islam. Seriously, watch it, and then confront your idiocy.
Key motto in today’s terrorist infested world should be: “Don’t be so open minded that your brain falls out.” Something this country needs to think about seriously.
You just went full racist. Never go full racist.
I didn’t know that Islam is a race.
What I do know, however, is that you are probably about the 300 millionth person on the internet today to pretend that playing the “you’re-a-racist” card is a valid argument.
Another thing I know is that you are an enabler of evil. The deaths from the atrocities of 9-11 can be partially laid at your feet, and at the feet of scum like yourself. You and your kind are accessories to the atrocity.
I hope you’re proud.
When people tell me that I should respect other religions, I agree.
However, when something claiming to be a religion condones – even encourages – a father to kill his daughter for talking to boys, or a husband to beat his wife for any reason whatsoever, or to declare that someone must die for a perceived insult to the founder of that “religion,” or when members cannot criticize the extreme actions of other members without fearing for their lives…
Then I don’t think it’s a religion. It’s a government masquerading as a religion, and as such deserves neither respect nor protection under the First Amendment. I do not deny that there are good, and possibly even holy, people who follow Islam, but I have yet to see evidence that the world would not be better off without Islam.
That would be an excellent choice for many reasons. Another great choice, for different reasons, would be Universal Studios’ City Walk in Orlando FL. It is the public area that you have to go through in order to enter Universal Studios Park itself. It stay open until very late and is a collection of entertainment, retail and restaurants and bars with live entertainment. Universal Studios is much smaller park than Walt Disney World in the Orlando Fl area. And Universal Studios’ City Walk attracts a younger crowd, both singles and young couples. It is a place that attracts millions of visitors each year.
They should put some in Cedar Fair parks, like Cedar Point, Kings Island, or even Michigan’s Adventure. Tourist venues like that should bring in more people who would not have gone to an Apple Store anyway. An even better partnership would be Disney Parks, because of Steve Jobs’ relationship with Disney.
The new WTC is going to be a stunning looking part of NYC. Just such a shame it’s there at all.
As for Mr. Knobend above with his call for a pogrom….well, doesn’t the Internet bring out the best in people….
I think the major problem with putting Apple stores in either Universal Citywalk or Downtown Disney (on either coast) is that people really don’t go there to buy computers. The stores in Downtown Disney don’t really sell mundane items like computers (let’s face it, even Macs are mundane by some standards), but either touristy items like plush dolls or disneyana, or high-end items like fine jewelry (“Remember when we got this necklace on our trip to Disney for our anniversary?”). It would be nice to see more of an Apple presence in Disney Parks (hopefully at HP’s expense; even the employees complain about the computers provided for their use, and rightly so), and frankly it’d be far more impressive than anything that HP can provide nowadays.