WTC and Brookfield Place: The Wall Street race is on!

It's no coincidence that as I write this just days before leaving for the ICSC's annual RECon meeting, the largest conference for our sector this year, that a preliminary list of tenants to come to the rebuilding World Trade Center shopping complex is being released. Reportedly, dozens of stores have signed either leases or letters of intent, and they provide a who's who of better and upscale brands, including: Acne, Armani, Apple, Bose, Breitling, Canali, Hugo Boss, John Varvatos, Kate Spade, The Kooples, Kusmi, Longines, Michael Kors, Montblanc, Stuart Weitzman, Tiffany, Tumi, Tom Ford, and Zadig & Voltaire. True to developer Westfield's word that a variety of price points would be reflected, we also have Aritzia, Sephora, Victoria's Secret and, yes, Duane Reade. Thus far, only about a third of the 150 tenants Westfield said it expected at the project have been announced, so expect a lot of business to be done at RECon and in the months to come. Compare this with the confirmed tenants at Brookfield: Bonobos GuideShop; Burberry, Calypso, Ferragamo, Cos Bar, Hermes, J. Crew; Michael Kors (accessories), Saks Fifth Avenue; Scoop NYC; Theory; Ermenegildo Zegna; Diane von Furstenberg; Posman Books; and Equinox. Certainly, both projects will have some serious luxury appeal. What does this mean? It certainly creates a new locus for high-end retailing downtown, one that will serve the affluent Wall Street executives who work there and the many visitors who will flock downtown to visit the soon-to-open National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Wisely, though, there are services and food that will appeal to residents as well as the daytime office worker (not everyone is a CEO, gang!) And as a broker, it's nice to see some competition - it will makes for some interesting negotiations now and going forward. Not all deals waited for RECon. AYR, Bonobos' line for women, now has its first shop/fitting room at 45 West 25th St. LEGO will have a huge flagship, at the International Toy Center, 200 Fifth Ave. Woolrich, a mainstay in Philadelphia, will take its first N.Y.C. location at 125 Wooster St. The Marianne Boesky Gallery has opened an annex, Boesky East, at 20 Clinton St. Bonpoint SoHo has debuted at 398 West Broadway. The Little Shoe Store has relocated to 40 Clinton St. David Yurman will have his second boutique at 112 Prince St. 3.1 Philip Lim will open at 48 Great Jones St. in August. Liquiteria is coming to Fourth Ave. and East 13th St. Nars is going uptown, taking 971 Madison Ave. for its first Upper East Side shop. Love the work of artist Damien Hirst? Drop in at his first retail store, Other Criteria at 458 Broome St. 10 Crosby Derek Lam will open at 115 Mercer St. in the fall. The latest Ermenegildo Zegna outpost will be at 825 Madison Ave. After the conference, I'm looking forward to participating at Anchin's Deals and Divas panel, to be held June 23rd from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at their offices at 1375 Broadway. For more info, visit http://www.anchin.com/EventList.aspx?Page=2&Type=E. On July 15th, I'll join an all-star panel at "SCT Live: Attracting Global Retailers," the latest in a series of interactive live events hosted by ICSC's monthly publication Shopping Centers Today. Moderator Edmund Mander, SCT's editor-in-chief will lead a discussion of how retailers are expanding across the globe. Also on the panel are James Bieri, president & CEO of Stokas Bieri, and Velda Turan, VP of leasing at Westfield. The event will take place from 7:30 to 10:15 a.m. at ICSC's headquarters, 1221 Avenue of the Americas - and can be joined live on-line at http://www.icsc.org/sct-live/. NYCREW's spring program will conclude as always with our annual Tri-State CREW Inter-Chapter Dinner, a joint event with AREW, CREW CT and CREW NJ that raises funds for CREW Network Foundation, the only foundation dedicated solely to advancing women in our industry. We will gather for cocktails, dining and a raffle on Thursday, June 19 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Vermilion, 480 Lexington Ave. This event is open to members only, always sells out quickly, so make a reservation now by visiting http://nycrew.org/node/189! It's almost summer! Happy Memorial Day and happy shopping! Faith Hope Consolo is the chairman, the retail group, at Douglas Elliman, New York, N.Y.