Sears spurs strip’s revival in central
Bronx.; more chains coming
BY LORE CROGHAN
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
Sunday, September 21st 2008, 7:12 PM
Lombard for News
The makeover of the Sears building (far l.) has touched off a surge of retail development on E. Fordham Rd.
Applebee’s exec Zane Tankel is plunking the company’s fourth Bronx restaurant right in the heart of the borough.
“We want to be in the middle of the action,” said Tankel, the chairman of Apple-Metro, Applebee’s New York City area franchisee.
The site he chose, on E. Fordham Road, is across a cobblestone plaza from an old Sears building that’s getting glammed up before it reopens.
There’s lots of action these days in the central Bronx shopping corridor – and the catalyst is the redevelopment of the Sears building. Acadia Realty Trust and PA Associates are transforming it into a sleek, multistore retail property with a 14-story office tower alongside.
Fordham Place, at 400 E. Fordham Road, will also be home to the first Best Buy in the Bronx. The 40,000-square-foot store will open this fall, a spokesman for the electronics chain said. A new Walgreens, a 24 Hour Fitness and the made over Sears are all expected to be open in time for Christmas.
The $120 million project has inspired other Fordham landlords to move forward with retail development plans.
“It shows this is a neighborhood that people are willing to invest big dollars in,” said Michael Tambasco of Halstead, the leasing broker for three storefronts at 52-56 E. Fordham that he’s marketing separately and as a single, 10,500-square-foot space.
At 1 Fordham Plaza, the yellow brick and black marble office building at 440 E. Fordham where Tankel plans to build the Applebee’s, 68,000 square feet of retail space is in play.
Tankel is renting more than 10,000 square feet of the space for Applebee’s, which will be the biggest in the Bronx. The casual, budget-priced eateries are usually 6,500 to 7,000 square feet in size.
The restaurants localize their decor with memorabilia from nearby schools. If possible, Tankel said, he wants the memorabilia from neighboring Fordham University to include items from Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington’s days as a freshman basketball player.
For nearly 60 years, the biggest draw on the mile-long stretch of E. Fordham between Third and Jerome Aves. was the Alexander’s on the corner of the Grand Concourse, which sold classy clothes for cut-rate prices. It closed when the department store chain went bankrupat in 1992.
The next occupant of the building, a Caldor discount store, closed in 1997. The property was vacant until landlord Vornado sold it in 2001 to an investor group. In 2002, P.C. Richard & Son made a big splash by renting 35,000 square feet.
“It opened the eyes of large-format national chains and made them realize there is a viable market in the Bronx,” said David Rosenberg of Robert K. Futterman & Associates, the leasing broker for the retail space at 1 Fordham Plaza.
Now big chains are eyeing 361 E. Fordham, a two-story building whose owners plan to construct an additional two stories, expand onto a vacant lot and add a glass façade.
The space in the 80,000-square-foot-plus development will likely be divided for three or four tenants, said Futterman broker Barry Fishbach, who’s handling the marketing.
Off-price fashion chain Marshalls is negotiating a lease for about 35,000 square feet of the space, sources said.
Just off Fordham Road, at 2510 Valentine Ave., the Srour family plans to transform the former Jacob Schiff Jewish Center into a glass-faced, 42,515-square-foot building with a single retail tenant.
The four-floor property now houses discount store Super Mundo.
“We’re looking for a multifloor retailer who wants to be in the Fordham Road area at a fraction of the rent,” said leasing broker Robin Abrams of Lansco.
The asking rent for the building is $2 million a year, which works out to $100 a square foot for the ground floor and $40 a square foot upstairs. Nearby sites with Fordham Road frontage are $150 to $200 a square foot.
Retailers that take a chance on the area typically find a solid customer base that’s loyal to its mix of local discounters and national chains, and consider it an outdoor mall.
Yaritza Rodriguez, who grew up in the neighorhood, wouldn’t dream of going elsewhere to shop.
“It’s the vibe,” said Rodriguez, 22, who took a bus from her Norwood home the other day to buy clothes for her baby son, Aiden Preston Rodriguez. “It’s welcoming.”
She was having his photo taken for his birth announcement and wanted to dress him in a cute outfit. At children’s store Cookie’s, she found a tiny hat, shirt and pair of pants, made by Guess, all for $22.29.
Rodriguez said she’s looking forward to the opening of the Fordham Place stores. She’s saving money for a TV, which she plans to get at Best Buy. Most of all, she’s eager for Sears to return.
“To us, Sears is like Macy’s on 34th Street,” she said. “We love it.”
lcroghan@nydailynews.com
