There are currently three major upscale housing developments in progress in the East Village ... each of which will have a retail component:
• 21 Jupiter
A 4,300-square-foot TB Bank branch
has inked a deal here at Second Avenue and East First Street. And there are
those Mars bar comeback rumors too.
• The Jefferson
There are
two retail spaces available here on East 14th Street at the former Mystery Lot...
• 84 Third Ave.
As far as we know, there aren't any deals in place yet for 84 Third Ave.,
the 12 story retail-residential combo coming to the corner of East 12th Street.
There you have all that.
So let's take a look back at three recent developments to see how the retail component fared...
• 2 Cooper Square
The
retail space remains empty... and on the market since the apartments hit the market in 2009...
• 52 E. 4th Street
The retail portion of the 15 stories of condo on the Bowery and East Fourth Street sat empty, save a few odd pop-up shops (remember
Bowery Bazaar in 2009?)... until
plans for a 7-Eleven were eventually unveiled ... the convenience store
opened on Dec. 23, 2011.
• The Copper Building
The retail space here on Avenue B and East 13th Street remained vacant for several years until the East Side 99¢ shop
moved in last October.
So,
the three high-end developments have yielded a 7-Eleven and a 99-cent shop (which relocated from around the corner). Residents are willing to pay big money to live here, but retailers aren't as interested to follow suit... What's going on here?