Printemps, the French luxury department store, will open its first US location in March, One Wall Street developer Harry Macklowe says.
The eagerly awaited launch – previously reported as happening in the spring — might be the most momentous debut ever in the retail-deprived FiDi neighborhood.
It should also burnish the image of Macklowe’s offices-to-condos conversion project at the landmarked former Irving Trust tower.
The sight of the 55,000-plus square-foot fashion emporium on Broadway between Wall and Pine streets will be welcomed by downtown residents and by shoppers from farther afield.
Shoppers will access two selling floors through the tower’s restored Red Room, a dramatic space that was designated an interior landmark by the city this year but was long off-limits to the public.
But will it help to spur apartment sales? We reported last week that only 112 of 566 units were sold to date.
The total ticked up to 113 after a closing recorded on Nov. 29 of unit 715 for $965,000.
Macklowe, although unamused by our snarky print headline, “Not wild about Harry’s,” politely and confidently told us, “We couldn’t be happier with sales.”
