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Hudson Yard’s flagship store Neiman Marcus filed in court today to shutter the store. With the list of local businesses closing by the day, this will be by far the largest we will see on the west side as a result of the pandemic.
A spokesperson told CNBC: “A physical location in Hudson Yards is no longer an ideal space for us, given the preponderance of restaurants and future office space in that mall.”
Related (who co-developed Hudson Yards with Oxford Properties) said: “This opens up a great opportunity to create incredibly attractive office space.” After Neiman Marcus filed for Chapter 11 in May, the NY Post reported that Steven Ross’s Related company were shopping the 188,000-square-foot space around as offices rather than trying to file a retail tenant in this challenging environment. Facebook has been rumored as a possible taker.
Neiman Marcus was seen as an anchor tenant at the opening of Hudson Yards a year ago. Some retailers had their leases linked to NM being there. Speaking to Bisnow, Related CEO Jeff Blau said that only a “handful” of tenants have co-tenancy with the department store. “I think that people are less dependent upon those anchor stores than they were in the past. I think a restaurant or a fitness club or a Whole Foods could be as much of an anchor as a department store used to be. And I think other tenants recognize that change. To the extent that we do have any co-tenancy issues, I think the economics of the underlying business will speak for themselves; if they were doing well there — and as I said, most of the tenants were — then I don’t think it’s going to be an issue.” Whole Food has just opened this week across the street at competitor development, Manhattan West.
Phase 4 opening of New York did not include shopping malls. No timetable has been set for re-opening. Other Hudson Yards retailers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, including Japanese home-goods company Muji’s U.S. division.