Ann Taylor to dress up Fulton Street corner in Brooklyn

An Ann Taylor ad and a rendering of 447 Fulton Street in Brooklyn

Ann Taylor sewed up a lease on Brooklyn’s pricey Fulton Street Mall, where the women’s clothier plans to open a factory store.

The retailer signed a lease for just shy of 5,900 square feet at United American Land’s 447 Fulton Street on the corner of Jay Street, where the asking rent was $375 per square foot.

Ann Taylor, named after one of the company’s best-selling dresses, plans to open an outlet-style store at the location.

“The fact that Ann Taylor chose this prime location as its first Factory concept store further validates the shopping power of Fulton Street as Brooklyn ‘s premier shopping destination,” said United American’s Albert Laboz, who is also chairman of the Fulton Mall BID.

Michael Friedman of Inline Realty represented both sides in the deal.

The women’s clothing chain already has a factory store in Queens, but Laboz said that was converted from a traditional mainline store, and if the factory concept proves successful the retailer will launch further locations.

The company, which was recently acquired by Lane Bryant owner Ascena Retail Group for $2.1 billion, gave up its “Gold Coast” Madison Avenue location in 2014. It joins a growing list of retailers targeting the lower-priced segment of the retail market with outlet locations that include department-store brands such as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale’s.

Ann Taylor is also the latest national retailer to plant its flag on Downtown Brooklyn’s premier shopping strip, which has been undergoing a makeover in recent years.

The Fulton Street Mall, stretching eight blocks from Adams Street to Flatbush Avenue, commands the second-highest asking rents in Brooklyn, behind only Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.

Asking rents on Fulton average between $250 and $350 per square foot, according to CPEX Real Estate’s recent retail report for the borough.

Big-name brands like Forever 21 and Nordstrom Rack are replacing local shops, and projects like Tishman Speyer’s redevelopment of the Macy’s on Fulton Street and the mixed-use City Point project promise to further the area’s change.

Jacob “The Jeweler” Abrabov buys pad at 432 Park for $17M

432 Park Avenue and Jacob Arabov

From Luxury Listings NYC: Talk about a jewel of a property! Jacob “The Jeweler” Arabov and his wife Angela have just purchased an apartment at 432 Park Avenue for $16.675 million, according to city records. The Post first spotted the sale.

Abrabov is the founder of the jewelry business Jacob & Co, and he is best known for outfitting rappers like Kanye West, Jay Z and 50 Cent (and has even been mentioned in quite a few of their songs, including West’s “Touch the Sky”) as well as other celebrities like Gisele Bündchen and even Rudy Giuliani. [more]

At the Desk of: Kelly Kennedy Mack

Kelly Kennedy Mack

From the March issue: Kelly Kennedy Mack’s office, which sits at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 57th Street, is tucked in the shadow of Billionaires’ Row. To the left there’s the under-construction 220 Central Park South and to the right there’s the recently completed One57. And that could not be more apropos. As president of the new development marketing powerhouse Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, Mack has worked on both of those projects as well as many of New York’s other priciest condos. She did not start out in real estate. After graduating from Georgetown University in 1996, she worked for Turner Broadcasting Sales and married her high school sweetheart (real estate scion Stephen Mack). [more]

Prodigy, Korman nix condo plans at 234 East 46th Street

234 East 46th Street in Midtown (inset: Rodrigo Nino)

Mere months after launching sales at Manhattan’s first crowdfunded condo tower, Prodigy Network and Korman Communities backtracked on their plans and will now operate the building as an extended-stay hotel, Prodigy’s founder Rodrigo Nino told The Real Deal.

Prodigy had originally planned to run the 82,000-square-foot building at 234 East 46th Street, dubbed AKA United Nations, as an extended stay hotel when it bought a majority stake in September 2014. Korman is Prodigy’s partner on the project and operates the building. In September, the owners switched strategy and launched condo sales at the tower.

In December, Prodigy and Korman abandoned those plans. They refinanced the property with a $81 million loan from CIBC, according to public records, and brought in a foreign institution as an equity investor. This means the 100-plus investors who bought a total of $12 million in equity in the building through Prodigy’s crowdfunding platform are now paid back, likely along with a hefty profit. The new financing values the property at around $125 million, up from around $100 million two years ago.

Nino said the change in strategy had nothing to do with weak demand for condos. Instead, he claimed, an unexpectedly cheap refinancing offer made keeping the property as rentals more profitable. “When we opened the property, the demand for that type of cash-flowing asset in New York enabled us to get financing that made the condo exit less attractive than recapitalizing the deal,” Nino said, adding that ditching the condo route also brought substantial tax savings.

In its July issue, The Real Deal profiled Nino and Prodigy.