Fifth Avenue in midtown remains the most expensive corridor on Earth for retailers to rent along, but Madison Avenue, for the first time, isn’t too far behind. A recent report from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield said the average asking rent for retail space on Madison Avenue in midtown was $1,019 a square foot annually by the middle of 2007. That’s the first time the average has passed the $1,000 mark, and is a $134 increase from mid-2006.
But Fifth remains the priciest. Asking rents above 49th Street on Fifth average $1,500 a foot. Still, as Cushman & Wakefield noted, there was no space directly available for lease along the stretch.