By Drew Grant 4/23 7:01pm

Retail Therapy

Duane Reade at 40 Wall Street. (Photo via Shao-yu Liu.)

The Re-Education of Duane Reade: A Drugstore as Retail, Therapy

It’s not every weekend that Kerri Gristina, a schoolteacher living in the Bronx, manages to round up her three daughters and load them into the car for a Manhattan outing. When she does, she’ll take them to a Broadway play, to a museum or just to frolic around Central Park. But no matter what else they do that day, the busy mom always manages to carve out some time for one special stop along the way.

“They have natural options, organic options,” Ms. Gristina, who writes a blog called Raising Three Savvy Ladies, told The New York Observer of her favorite place to buy beauty products in NYC. “It’s like a designer store. Maybe it costs more, but having more variety is worth it.”

No, it’s not the Laura Mercier or Bobbi Brown counter at Bergdorf’s. Ms. Gristina’s guilty primping pleasure is Duane Reade.

Seriously. Read More

3/01/12 10:04am

lease beat

40 Wall Street

PFM Management Inks Deal at 40 Wall

Demand for space at 40 Wall Street continues to grow with news yesterday that the Trump Organization-owned building’s leasing agency signed financial advisory group PFM Management to a ten-year lease on the 49th floor of the office tower.

Public Financial Management, which does business as PFM Asset Management, is taking 9,263 square feet of turnkey space on the entire 49th floor of 40 Wall Street, brokers involved with the transaction exclusively told The Commercial Observer yesterday. Asking rents were in the low $40s. Read More

2/16/12 8:00am

lease beat

116 John Street. (Courtesy Property Shark)

Signed, Sealed and Delivered at 116 John

The U.S. Postal Service has signed, sealed and delivered on its plan to take a 3,500-square-foot spot at 116 John Street, it was announced earlier this week.

The post office will be moving out of its former location at 1 Peck Slip Station, which is currently being renovated into a school, said officials close to the deal.

Read More

1/31/12 12:17pm

power broker

Donald Trump Jr. (photo credit: Hannah Mattix)

Trump Card: The Rise of 40 Wall Street and its Steward, Donald Trump Jr.

“For us, we had to do something different,” said Donald Trump Jr. last week, his voice rising with excitement.

Freshly tanned from a recent visit to Mexico, where he was overseeing a new project, the slicked-back scion grew steadily more enthusiastic as he discussed 40 Wall Street, an office tower that, with its rising and falling tenant roster, has contributed to the Trump Organization executive vice president’s growing reputation as a competent steward of the family name, a reliable fixer and successful dealmaker in his own right. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/10/12 8:30am

lease beat

40 Wall Street, soon to be called "The Corzine Castle"?? (photo courtesy of property shark)

Corzine Touring Office Space at 40 Wall

Fresh off the highly publicized collapse of securities firm MF Global Holdings Ltd., former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine is allegedly sniffing around for new office space at 40 Wall Street, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mr. Corzine has set his sights on sharing space with John Carris Investments, a full service investment banking firm whose corporate headquarters are located inside the Trump Organization-owned office tower, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A spokesman for John Carris did not respond to a request for comment. Read More

By Daniel Edward Rosen 1/05/12 10:00am

lease beat

40 Wall Street. (Courtesy Property Shark)

Duane Reade Commits to Big Office Relocation at Trump’s 40 Wall Street

New York City drugstore pharmacy giant Duane Reade has agreed to relocate its corporate offices to 40 Wall Street, the same Trump Organization-owned office tower that already houses its sushi-serving, hair-styling flagship megastore.

Duane Reade will be taking the 21st and 22nd floors, for a total of 54,500 square feet, inside the 72-story building. The lease is for 15 years, with asking rents in the mid-$30s per square foot, several brokers said. Read More

By Dan Geiger 11/29/11 8:00am

The Lease Beat

Walgreens II

EXCLUSIVE: Walgreens Takes Former Borders Space in $2 Million Deal

An over 20,000 square foot retail space at 100 Broadway formerly occupied by the bookselling chain Borders has found a new taker.

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. Read More

By Jotham Sederstrom 8/25/11 8:54am

lease beat

(Illustration: Joel Kimmel).

New Duane Reade for 873 Broadway

It seems there will be no true end to Duane Reade’s manifest destiny.

Earlier this week, the pharmaceutical behemoth inked a 15-year, 10,000-square-foot retail lease at 873 Broadway. The renewal, announced yesterday and boasting an asking rent of $100 a square foot annually, will feature 5,000 square feet on the ground floor and another 5,000 feet below street level, said Marty Meyer, a vice chairman with Colliers International who represented the landlord, 873 Broadway LCC, in the transaction. Steve Baker and Jeff Winick of Winick Realty, represented Duane Reade. Read More

By Foster Kamer 8/22/11 4:36pm

FINANCIAL CRIMINAL OF THE DAY

amd_anthony_cuti

Former Duane Reade CEO Sent to Prison and Fined $5M For Something Other Than Making You Wait on Inexplicably Long Lines (Updated)

Duane Reade has recently been busy rehabbing its image—a refrigerated beer cave selling vintage beer brands in Williamsburg’s, a sushi bar in Wall Street’s, etc—after being routinely criticized for (among other things) slow service. Which is mostly tolerated because, well, it’s just everywhere. Well, that image took a slight hit today, when the drugstore chain’s former President and CEO Anthony Cuti was sentenced to three years in prison for fraud. UPDATE: Statement from Mr. Cuti’s defense team below. Read More