Luxury Swiss watchmaker Breitling is moving its Manhattan boutique after just five years at 5 E. 57th St.
The brand, famous for “chronometers” used by aviators and astronauts, is flying one block east to Steinberg & Pokoik’s 575 Madison Ave., where it will have nearly 7,000 square feet on three levels at the prominent Madison and 57th Street corner.
It’s one of the most visible deals in a while on East 57th, where some landlords and retailers alike are holding off making decisions until the huge retail box at the base of Harry Macklowe’s and CIM’s 432 Park Ave. is spoken for — a step which some brokers say will set the tone for the entire nearby luxury shopping corridor.
Breitling USA president Thierry Prissert is said to have found the new location even more prestigious than its current mid-block location between Madison and Fifth avenues.
At its new corner flagship with double-height windows, Breitling will have 90 feet of wraparound sidewalk frontage on Madison Avenue and East 57th, with 1,850 square feet on the ground, 3,100 square feet on the second floor and 1,500 square feet below grade.
The deal was done by CBRE’s Amira Yunis with Anthony Stanford for the ownership, and by M&M Retail Luxury Consulting’s Jonathan Moss for Breitling.
Yunis also cited landlord vice president Jon Pokoik for playing a crucial role in the negotiations.
She said the asking rent was $1,900 per square foot on the ground and $250 per square foot for the second floor.
The space is currently occupied by Destination Maternity and Geox, which will be leaving later this year.
Yunis, who also handled the previous leases for Destination Maternity and Geox, cited the Breitling lease as reflecting a “metamorphosis” in the area, with retailers gravitating toward two-level spaces and landlords working to accommodate them.
“Madison Avenue has changed since then,” Yunis said. “Now, two-story stores are what everybody’s leasing on or near 57th Street.” She said the new Breitling lease was “very complicated, involving many moving parts.”
Several retail spaces at 575 Madison remain in play. Yunis said Steinberg & Pokoik will make some façade changes to facilitate more two-level boutiques there.
It’s taken 33 years, but Graybar is returning to the Graybar Building — aka SL Green’s 420 Lexington Ave., named for the company that made its headquarters there from 1926 to 1982.
Graybar is a St. Louis-based Fortune 500 firm specializing in supply chain management services.
It just signed a lease for a 2,773-square-foot sales office on Graybar’s 25th floor — one of those little deals with large emotional content.
Graybar president and CEO Kathleen M. Mazzarella called it “a special homecoming for our company.”
SL Green was repped in-house by Christine Lamastra, while BIOC Commercial Real Estate’s Jonathan Stravitz acted for Graybar.
Raymond Chalme’s Broad Street Development has inked six new leases that total about 28,000 square feet at 80 Broad St., the 473,000-square-foot office tower it bought last year for $173 million.
Newly signed are New York Pain Management Services, RPCK Rastegar Panchal, Battery Point Financial, Emerald Financial Resources, Prime Trading, and Prometric Inc.
The leases leave only 9,200 square feet available in the tower.