The rising price of success in New York City

It's getting pretty pricey to rent a retail space around New York City, and we may see some big names making some major changes in a number of neighborhoods. It's certainly not unusual that as a particular submarket becomes more attractive, rents will rise and older tenants may not wish or be able to renew a lease when it expires. But so much of Manhattan has seen rents skyrocket so much that even legendary names are being affected. Toys R Us will vacate its Times Sq. flagship, possibly to move a few blocks north. Meanwhile, that space will be subdivided, as how many tenants will pay $2,500 per s/f for the ground floor portion of a 110,000 s/f flagship? Not long after that announcement came news that Pearl River Mart likely will close its doors at 477 Broadway by the end of the year, when its lease expires. The Chinese department store has been paying more than $100,000 per month for its three-level space, but a renewal likely would bring the rent to more than $500,000 per month, reports Crain's New York Business. Perhaps most surprising of all is the controversy surrounding the Giorgio Armani 16,000 plus s/f flagship at 752 Madison Ave. The designer has seen its rent rise from $1.5 million years ago to $3.5 million today - and even that is well below market rate. Now it's in litigation with landlord SL Green regarding a significant rent increase (reportedly to $9 million) that could result in it being forced to relocate at a significantly higher cost. I'll leave the legalities to the lawyers and courts, but it does prove the point that even luxury retailers are eyeing locations and rents carefully. Obviously, the cost of doing business in New York City is on the increase and no one is immune. But it's clear that many companies are figuring out how to pay the ever-rising price. For example, opening soon at Brookfield Place: Scoop NYC, scheduled to debut in June. Reports say Club Monaco, Drybar and Eileen Fisher may be coming in the near future. Acne Studios will have a second store in the city, at 60 Eighth Ave. Uniqlo's first shop in Queens will debut at the Skyview Center next month. More than a year after purchasing a townhouse on East 55th St., Vivienne Westwood has announced it will house a three-level flagship store. And the schedule is becoming as busy as New York's Streets! I'm honored to be among the panelists for the first conference of the New York University Luxury & Retail Association, which is geared toward undergraduates, to be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29th. My team and I are well into making our appointments for the International Council of Shopping Centers' RECon meeting next month in Las Vegas, which will include attending the Commercial Real Estate Women's Network-sponsored Blockbuster Session: Executive Women in Retail Real Estate, to be held Monday, May 18th from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the Westgate Hotel (formerly the LVH). Kristin Mueller, executive vice president and COO of JLL will moderate, joined by Collete English Dixon, principal of transactions for Prudential Real Estate Investors (and a past CREW president); Lyn Kirby, chairman and CEO of Beauty Brands; and Jodie McLean, president and chief investment officer of EDENS. For more information and to register for this all-important conference, visit www.icsc.org. On Tuesday, May 12th, save the date for the Real Estate Subway Series focus on DUMBO at the Dumbo Lofts, 155 Water St. Borough president Eric Adams will open the conference, and I'll be moderating "Blooming in Brooklyn: Retail Reborn in New York's Legendary Borough," with speaker Kathryn Welch, executive vice president of Forest City Ratner and more to be announced. For timing and registration, visit www.realestatesubwayseries.com. And in July, I continue in one of my most cherished roles, as chairman of ICSC's Women's Special Industry Group initiative. On Tuesday, July 28th, from 12:15 to 2 p.m. I'll moderate a panel of female leaders in the industry at the Women's SIG luncheon at ICSC's Next Generation National Conference, being held Sunday, July 26th through Tuesday, July 28th at the JW Marriott Marquis in Miami. The Next Generation program was launched by ICSC more than a decade ago to help newcomers to the industry build their knowledge base and relationships - and has succeeded so well that its participants have now become leaders in their own right. At the meeting, I'm also honored to join industry luminaries including R. Webber Hudson of Related Cos. in offering an Executive Board Room Session on my own career path and how others can succeed in this ever-changing industry from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on July 28th. For more information, visit www.icsc.org. Happy Shopping! Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman of the retail group at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, New York, N.Y.