Saks to Open in Lower Manhattan as Hudsons Bay Relocates

Saks Fifth Avenue agreed to anchor the retail portion of lower Manhattans Brookfield Place and its parent company, Canadian retailer Hudsons Bay Co. (HBC), will move its U.S. headquarters into office space at the complex.

Hudsons Bay signed leases totaling 485,000 square feet (45,000 square meters) at the property, landlord Brookfield Property Partners LP (BPY) said today in a statement. The agreements will bring the occupancy level at the 8.5 million-square-foot Brookfield Place to 95 percent, its New York-based owner said.

The deals further Brookfield Propertys twin goals of filling about 3 million square feet left behind last year when leases originated by Merrill Lynch & Co. ran out, and repositioning Brookfield Places retail concourse, where $250 million of improvements have been planned. With work on the adjacent World Trade Centers first phase approaching completion, the leases help show what downtown will look like once the construction fences come down.

The agreements speak to the allure of downtown as both a retail and office destination, Dennis Friedrich, chief executive officer of Brookfields global office division, said in the statement. Its another huge step forward for the area.

A three-level Saks store will occupy 85,000 square feet at Brookfield Place. Its Toronto-based owner will have 233,000 square feet of office space at 225 Liberty St. and 166,000 square feet at 250 Vesey St. Brookfield Places name was changed from the World Financial Center in an effort to play down the complexs historic role as a home to banks and investment firms.

The Saks store at the base of 225 Liberty, to open by mid-2016, will be the second New York store for the chain, joining the longtime location on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets, near St. Patricks Cathedral, Hudsons Bay said in a separate statement.

The new store will cater to what we believe is an underserved and rapidly growing downtown luxury market, CEO Richard Baker said in the statement. Leasing space in this key center in Manhattan will strengthen our foothold as the ultimate luxury shopping destination,

Hudsons Bay also is planning a 55,000-square-foot Saks Off 5th discount store at 1 Liberty Plaza, another Brookfield building, across Church Street from the World Trade Center. That store is scheduled to open in 2017, the company said.

Earlier this year, Time Inc., publisher of Time, Fortune and Sports Illustrated, signed a lease for 700,000 square feet at Brookfield Place, and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. took 350,000 square feet. Both agreements are for space at 225 Liberty, formerly known as 2 World Financial Center.

Conde Nast Publications Inc. and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the main tenants of 1 World Trade Center and 4 World Trade Center respectively, are expected to move into those new towers before the end of the year, authority officials said earlier this month. A Santiago Calatrava-designed transit hub at the trade center is set to open by the end of 2015.

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Saks to Open in Lower Manhattan as Hudsons Bay Relocates