NEW YORK CITY—CBRE released its Manhattan Retail MarketView report for fourth quarter 2011. The report finds average asking rents rising in nine of the 11 surveyed retail corridors, with Times Square’s 17.65 percent increase to $1,700 per sq. ft. leading the way. Fifth Avenue from 49th Street to 59th Street continued to lead all corridors in average asking rent at $2,550 per sq. ft., an increase of 9.10%.
The Downtown Broadway corridor from Battery Park to Chambers Street had the next largest average asking rent increase at 16.53 percent to $157 per sq. ft. over the same period, while the Flatiron Fifth Avenue corridor from 14th Street to 23rd Street followed with a 15.23 percent rise to $348 per sq. ft.
The report also features a look at the Upper Madison Avenue corridor from 57th Street to 72nd Street, long a high-end retail tenant destination. Despite some of those retailers relocating out of the area during the recession, the corridor has bounced back with an 8.77 percent increase in average asking rents to $1,013 per sq. ft. from third-to-fourth quarter 2011. In addition, demand for prime Madison Avenue retail space continues to rise, as retailers are now also looking at opportunities above 72nd Street in an effort to establish a presence in this market.