Home Depot signs lease for Bed Bath & Beyond’s UES store

It’s official: Home Depot is moving to the Upper East Side.

The home improvement chain has signed a lease to take over a 120,000-square-foot location at 410 East 61st Street, which is currently leased to Bed Bath & Beyond, CNBC reported.

Rumors of the move have been swirling in recent months. Home Depot currently operates two locations in Manhattan: One at Vornado Realty Trust’s 731 Lexington Avenue in Midtown, and the other at 40 West 23rd Street in the Flatiron District. The Midtown location is expected to close after the move to the new Upper East Side location, according to CNBC.

Home Depot will be paying roughly double the amount that Bed Bath & Beyond was paying in rent, a person familiar with the deal told CNBC.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s lease for the 61st Street store expires in 2021, and the company has announced it would close the location by December as part of its plans to shutter about 200 stores nationwide.

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New York

Home Depot eyes former Bed Bath & Beyond space on First Ave

New York

Home Depot eyes former Bed Bath & Beyond space on First Ave

Jeff Mooallem, president and CEO of real estate company Gazit Horizon, which owns the 61st Street property, told CNBC that the firm signed the lease with Home Depot in April.

“The biggest hang-up in the deal was neither party knew what it would cost to retrofit this.… Both of us needed to do some due diligence to see if the deal was even achievable from a structural standpoint,” Mooallem told CNBC.

“The reports of retail’s death in New York City have been greatly exaggerated,” he added.

[CNBC] — Akiko Matsuda