Main Streets Across
the World 2014-2015 tracked over 500 of the top retail streets, and two in
our area came up HIGH on the list.
Lincoln Road in Miami
Beach ranked as the 10th most expensive retail street in the United
States and Worth Avenue in Palm Beach ranked 14th, tied with Boston and
Georgetown. You, no doubt, won’t be
surprised to learn that Manhattan’s Upper Fifth Avenue was at the very top of
the list, 46% more expensive than #2, Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay.
For our World Traveler
readership, other streets on the list were England’s Bond Street, Paris’ Champs-Élysées, Milan’s Via Montenapoleone and Sydney’s
Pitt Street Mall. Rents rose impressively
on the number one street, Manhattan’s Upper East Side, to $3500 per sq ft. Between Madison
Avenue’s East 72nd and 75th street, this usually thriving stretch is reported
to be a “micro-pocket of retail that is really starting to flourish, thanks to
the new Apple Store, the forthcoming Metropolitan Museum of Art building and
new residential product.” Retail asking rents north of 72nd are increasingly
exceeding $1,000 per square foot.
Lincoln Road rents, at $325 per sq ft, which
sounds reasonable in comparison, have held steady for the past year. National and international investors have
sent Lincoln Road’s rents and property values way high. Tenants include H&M, Anthropologie, Intermix, Forever 21, Apple, Gap, Urban
Outfitters and lululemon and the same shops, as well as those on Worth Avenue
listed below, can be found in local malls in other Florida cities.
Rents on Palm Beach’s Worth Avenue jumped up
20% to $150 per sq ft, resulting in one of the largest global growth rates. Worth Avenue has attracted global luxury retailers, such as
Cartier, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Graff, Gucci, Hermès and Louis Vuitton. Luxury real estate firm, Cushman & Wakefield, reports that part-time residents
and international visitors have led to the growth.
An overhaul is planned for Lincoln Road with
sidewalk enlargements, extensive landscaping and new pedestrian walkways on
some side streets and in back alleys where new retail and restaurant venues
will be found. A Business Improvement
District will be created by assessing area business and property owners to
create a 10-year long maintenance and management program.
With rising consumer sentiment and increased
tourism (100 MILLION tourists visited
Florida in 2014 and more are expected this year) it might not be a bad idea to
get on line on Worth Avenue and Lincoln Road and elsewhere on the Friday after
Thanksgiving and going forward a few weeks after. Online purchases are expected to be about 10%
of retail sales, the other 10% visiting brick-and-mortar stores.
Sounds like our economy has severely
improved, don’t-cha think?
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