Brookfield Property Partners has acquired a cluster of Manhattan street-front properties it plans to convert into an incubator for emerging online brands and new retail concepts.
The company acquired four retail properties with seven storefronts on Bleecker Street, a touristy artery in the West Village. New York REIT sold the 24,000 square feet of properties to Brookfield for $31.5 million.
“There’s a lot of vacancy, and we love that,” said Michael Goldban, head of retail leasing for Brookfield Properties, the operating arm of Brookfield Property Partners, speaking to The Wall Street Journal. “We want this to be a testing ground. We have the comfort to experiment, because we’re getting an attractive price.”
Brookfield says it intends to create a place in which new retailers may use the storefronts to test the market and experiment with physical stores. Those retail brands that show promise could receive opportunities for growth at other Brookfield-owned retail properties, Goldban says.
Brookfield’s first tenant will be Margaux, an online women’s shoe retailer that launched two years ago.
By Brannon Boswell
Executive Editor, Commerce + Communities Today
