Recreational Equipment, Inc. plans to open its first New York City location in the fall of 2011. The 39,000- square-foot, three-level store will be located in the historic Puck Building at the corner of East Houston and Lafayette in the SoHo district.
The new store will join additional Tri-State region locations in East Hanover, N.J., and Norwalk, Conn., which opens next month. Additional Tri-State store locations are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The company has leased approximately 14,000 square feet of prime ground floor space and 25,000 square feet of below grade space. The opening is expected to bring 100 new jobs to the local community.
he store will also house bike services on two levels – a quick repair concierge and a full-service bike shop.
“REI is delighted to find such a wonderful location to serve our thousands of Manhattan customers who have been shopping with us for years,” said Sally Jewell, REI's president and CEO. “Our new store in the Puck Building will provide a resource to serve New Yorkers, visitors and community groups eager to enjoy the great outdoors from bike paths and urban greenways to wild and scenic destinations around the world.”
In addition to classes held in the Manhattan store, REI's Outdoor School will offer New York City locals a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities ranging from daylong instruction to weekend getaways.
With 2009 sales of $1.46 billion, REI currently operates 112 retail stores nationwide and two online stores – www.rei.com and REI-OUTLET.com. It also manufactures its own award-winning REI brand and Novara bike products.
“We are thrilled to welcome such a respected, cutting edge retailer to the Puck Building, which has long been an iconic and defining property in the SoHo marketplace,” stated Kushner Companies principal Jared Kushner. “REI is a strong company with a tremendous following that offers consumers a truly distinctive shopping experience. That made them an ideal fit for our property.”
Built in 1885 and expanded eight years later, the nine-story Puck Building was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1983 and received designation by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission the same year. Among its current tenants are the New York University School of Urban Design and the architecture firm Swanke Hayden Connell.
REI noted that it has a strong, successful background in working with historical structures. Its current Denver flagship location opened in 2000 in the 1901 Denver Tramway building. In addition, REI's downtown Boston store opened in 2003 in the former Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, built in 1929 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. In 2005, REI's Bend, Ore. store opened in a former sawmill powerhouse dating back to 1916 in the historic Old Mill District.
Susan Kurland of CB Richard Ellis represented REI in the long-term leasing transaction while Lori Shabtai of Winick Realty, together with Ira Bloom of Kushner Companies, represented the building's owner. While no deal terms were disclosed, Bloom noted that 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail space at the Puck Building remain available. In addition, the top three floors of office space at the property will also be available for lease starting in April 2011.
