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. It will join additional Tri-State region locations in East Hanover, NJ, and Norwalk, CT, which opens next month. Additional Tri-State store locations are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
“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.”
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. Asking rent for the space was around $275 a square foot, sources told Crain's New York.
“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 Jared Kushner, principal at Kushner Companies, the owner of the property. “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.”
The SoHo district, once known for its artist studios, has become one of the top shopping destination in the city over the last two decades with the arrival of stores such as Bloomingdale's, Prada, H&M, Old Navy, J. Crew, Uniglo, Gap, Hollister and Victoria's Secret moving into the area.
Eastern Mountain Sports opened a store about a quarter mile from the proposed REI location. Two years ago, EMS tripled its store size by leasing 18,000 square feet at 530 Broadway, at Spring Street. It had formerly been located at 591 Broadway. Patagonia, The North Face, Timberland, Napapijri and Adidas also have stores located nearby. Other big sellers of outdoor gear in the city include Paragon Sports, located uptown by Union Square at Broadway and 18th Street as well as Tent & Trails, located downtown near City Hall at 22 Park Place.
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.
With 2009 sales of $1.46 billion, REI currently operates 112 retail stores nationwide.
