Old Navy Finds New Home for NY Flagship

Old Navy, the largest division of Gap Inc. (San Francisco), has found a replacement for the New York flagship space it lost on Herald Square. The retailer has taken 55,000-square-feet of space in the first two floor of the nearby Herald Towers at 50 W. 34th St., report a variety of new sources, including The Real Deal.

The clothing retailer inked a 15-year lease at the 1 million-square-foot mixed-use building that was once home to the Hotel McAlpin. JEMB declined to disclose the asking rent.

The move is happening because Old Navy lost its Herald Square space to Primark (Dublin), which plans to open a flagship in those quarters next year. The new store will offer an “immersive, digitally led experience” that will include experiential and interactive components, Old Navy CEO Horacio Barbeito said in a statement reported by The Real Deal.

The Gap brand once leased space in the 25-story Herald Towers building, but in 2018 decided not to renew its lease the, The Real Deal notes. That space has since housed such short-term tenants as Harry Potter exhibit and Samsung. The landlord is still looking to fill another 55,000 square feet of retail space in the building, which includes 700 apartments in its upper floors.

Herald Square has seen a slower recovery than other Manhattan retail corridors like SoHo and prime Fifth Avenue, according to The Real Deal. “The area along 34th Street between Fifth and Seventh avenues had 21 ground-floor retail vacancies during the first quarter of the year, according to CBRE,” it reported. “That’s the second-most among the 16 districts the brokerage tracked.”

Overall, Old Navy has about 1100 stores, including two other locales in Manhattan.