When Gap begins reopening stores this weekend, shoppers will notice a few differences. Fitting rooms and restrooms will be closed, and it wants to turn face masks into a fashion statement. The company, which owns the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic chains among others, plans to reopen roughly 800 North American stores this month, beginning this weekend with a handful of locations in Texas. Along with T-shirts and jeans, it will be selling fabric face masks. (WSJ)
Jamestown’s Michael Phillips told the WSJ: “The days of being the landlord as an overlord to collect rent are over.” He expects to see more short-term leases and revenue-sharing arrangements as stores gradually reopen. A number of retailers are already asking landlords to waive some of their rent in return for a share of future revenues. Ross Stores said last month that it would pay a rent equivalent to 2% of sales when its stores reopen. (WSJ)
Deal news
Savanna went into contract in mid-February to buy 1375 Broadway for $435 million — the first purchase out of the firm’s fifth private equity fund, which it launched late last year. One source told TRD that Savanna held an initial closing on its Fund V of about $100 million. The company usually raises money from investors in different phases for its funds, which can reach $500 million or $600 million. But income projections have fallen since Savanna underwrote the deal in February, and it could be difficult to get more investors to buy into a fund that’s already underperforming. (TRD)
RFR Realty’s Aby Rosen along with partner Sigma Holding GmbH is in talks to restructure the ground lease for the Chrysler Building. They pay Cooper Union, which owns the property, $32.5 million annually in ground rent, along with more than $23 million for what the building would typically owe in property taxes. Those charges are expected to jump to $67 million by 2029. (BI)
Joe Chetrit has sold a townhouse at 110 East 76th Street for $25 million to an unknown buyer. Chetrit had listed the 13,000 SF, 32-foot-wide townhouse for $39 million in 2017. The house spans six floors, and has eight bedrooms, with an elevator, cigar bar, swimming pool, and rooftop garden. (WSJ)
Mark Tress of Cedar Holdings has filed a lawsuit accusing German co-living firm Quarters of “opportunistically” bailing on an $8 million lease in Brooklyn. The suit claims Quarters began using construction delays as grounds to terminate its 10-year lease at 251 DeKalb Avenue “only after it became clear that Covid-19 was spreading rapidly through New York City.” (TRD)
All Year signed a non-binding deal in February for a $675 million CMBS refinancing for its massive Denizen apartment complex in Bushwick that was supposed to close in March, but the closing has been delayed. (CO)