The NBA Store to Move from Fifth Avenue

For the NBA and its flagship shop, it turns out that the rent really is too damn high. CNBC reports: “For 12 years, the NBA Store in Manhattan has had prime real estate on Fifth Avenue, but now sources tell CNBC that it’s the value of the real estate that has led the league to not renew its lease. Sal LaRocca, the NBA’s executive vice president of global merchandising, acknowledged that the store would close in late February and the league is currently looking for a new location in New York City. One source told CNBC that the leasing agent for the space, Cushman & Wakefield, was asking for at least five times the amount for a yearly lease as the NBA currently pays for its 35,000 square feet (only 16,000 square feet is actually retail space) The reason? Prices were thrown out of whack when Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo agreed in April to pay a reported record $300 million over 15 years to lease a space in the same building as the league’s store.”