New York, NY, Aug. 13--It looks like Home Depot is coming to Manhattan. The home-improvement giant has reached agreements to set up its high-end Expo stores at 731 Lexington Ave., and at 28-40 West 23rd St., people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.
Home Depot will lease about 80,000 square feet at the Lexington site and about 141,000 square feet at the Chelsea site, one person said.
Pricing wasn't immediately known. In general, though, office rents have fallen in Manhattan, while retail rents have remained steady or improved.
Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the property on Lexington Avenue, has been negotiating for years to lease and develop the old Alexander's department store site. After several years of heated talks, the real estate investment trust reached an agreement for Bloomberg LP to take 700,000 square feet of office space. Another 198,000 feet of office space are up for grabs, said Robert Sammons, director of research at real-estate brokerage firm Colliers ABR.
On the retail end, Swedish powerhouse H&M signed on for 40,000 square feet of space three years ago at the site. Since then, no other retail leases have been inked until now. Following the signing of the Home Depot lease, about 24,000 square feet will remain available.
The West 23rd Street building is owned by GVA Williams. The bottom floors of the 12-story building have been on the market for at least 31 months, according to Sammons.
