The store, which opened another Manhattan store last October in Soho, will take about half of the roughly 15,000 square feet formerly occupied by the now-defunct bookstore chain Borders on the retail complex’s second floor.

Time Warner Center. (Courtesy Property Shark)

In a review of C. Wonder’s Soho location in recent months, The New York Times opined whether the company’s line of clothing and home decor items was an homage to Ms. Burch’s aesthetic or an attempt to steal her lunch. Like Ms. Burch, the company’s style exudes the uppercrust but is priced for the masses. Even C. Wonder’s logo bears a slight resemblance to Ms. Burch’s iconic medallion, which adorns ballet flats the world over.

Mr. and Ms. Burch divorced in 2006. Before Mr. Burch, Tory, whose good looks and blond hair also made her a popular face among high society in the city, was married to the real estate investor Billy Macklowe.

A spokeswoman for C. Wonder wouldn’t comment on the deal at Time Warner.

H&M is rumored to be in talks for the other half of the Borders space. A spokeswoman at the company wouldn’t comment.

“We’re doing very well here with ten stores from Soho to Harlem,” said the H&M spokeswoman, Nicole Christie. “We plan to continue our expansion. We are planning to open more stores for this year, and that’s not a secret.”

Borders declared bankruptcy last year, leaving vacant several large stores in Manhattan, many of which were quickly filled. As The Commercial Observer exclusively reported last year, the drug store chain Walgreens took a 20,000-square-foot space that the book store formerly occupied at 100 Broadway.

Dgeiger@observer.com

Walgreens has reached a deal to lease the space for about $2 million in annual rent according to sources with knowledge of the transaction. The drug store giant will either operate its own store in the location or use the space for a Duane Reade, the New York City based pharmacy that the company purchased last year for $1.1 billion.

The space, which is about 22,000 square feet in size, formerly was home to a Borders bookstore but sat vacant after the company declared banruptcy at the start of the year and in July subsequently opted to liquidate its national portfolio of about 400 stores, including nine locations in the city according to reports.

The real estate investment company Madison Capital acquired 100 Broadway in 2010 after buying debt on the property and foreclosing on the roughly 375,000 square foot building’s prior owner, the Japanese real estate firm Hiro Realty. Madison Capital used the technique to move in on another Hiro asset as well according to written reports, 655 Fifth Avenue.

The firm installed a team from the real estate services firm CBRE to handle leasing the building’s office space. It selected a group from the rival firm Cushman & Wakefield to lease the retail space.

Though the deal with Walgreens will fill a prominent vacancy at 100 Broadway, in some retail circles, the deal may come as a bit of a letdown. Some leasing experts and neighborhood advocates had hoped the space would attract a tenant that would add to the neighborhood’s rise as a shopping district with destination retail. Though drug stores fill a large niche in the city for food and snacks on the go, prescription drugs and as a convenient stop for other odds and ends, most retail experts concede that the use is generally an un-sexy addition to the streetscape.

Jeff Winick, chief executive of the retail brokerage Winick Realty, handles leasing for Duane Reade. Mr. Winick could not be reached for comment. Executives as Madison Capital also could not be reached.

Basically, Borders has the flu, and now nearby stores can expect to catch a cold.

The CoStar projections see vacancy rates climbing from 4.2 percent to 9.5 percent for shopping centers that rely on Borders as their anchor, much higher than the national average of 7.2 percent.

If the whole concept of "shopping centers" and "anchors" seems... well... suburban, the effect is not population-specific, and, with some of the country's most sought-after real estate, New York stories will take a hit. "Another way to think about the population is that, naturally, we all think that it's the stores located in markets with the lower density that would close. But that's not the only factor they take into account," said Chris Macke, senior real estate strategist for CoStar. "A lot of this is going to be location-specific in each market."

Mr. Macke cites the case of a downtown Indianapolis Borders that, despite being in a vibrant retail area, is on the list because of it's close proximity to a large mall.

And, again, while New York certainly isn't Indianapolis, even stores that aren't around an anchor Borders will be hit.

"Certainly, if it is the anchor it has a greater effect," Mr. Macke said. "The bookstores are very desireable because of the affluence level of the shopper they draw. If you can bring in people at a higher income level, then that has real value."

The New York Borders that are closing are at 461 Park Avenue, 576 Second Avenue and 100 Broadway. The survivors on the island of Manhattan are near Penn Station and in the Time Warner Center. Of the other three citywide, one is in JFK, one in LaGuardia and the other on Staten Island.

mcoyne@observer.com