PENN District poised to grow by another block, replacing junky retail NYC loses retail giant

Vornado Realty Trust’s PENN District transformation is poised to grow by another whole block.The powerful REIT plans to create what a source called a “cohesive street-level experience” on both sides of Seventh Avenue between West 33rd and 34th streets, replacing what Vornado chairman Steve Roth recently called “junky retail.”Vornado quietly bought up one parcel after another on the nondescript but heavily-trafficked block over the past few years.The next step, our sources said, will be demolishing the unattractive small buildings on the east side, to be followed by those on the west side.

The few existing tenants are all on short-term leases.Roth tapped a crack leasing team headed by Newmark’s global retail chairman Mark Masinter to “repopulate,” as our source put it, the old stores with merchants appropriate for the reborn district anchored by Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.Vornado spent $2.5 billion to redevelop old office towers, launch the dining and shopping options inside the Moynihan Train Hall, and install a popular  public plaza on West 33rd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues.The Newmark leasing team also includes Karen Bellantoni, Jackie Totolo, Pierce Thomspon and Nick Masinter.The district is now home to more than 5 million square feet of prime office space, 300,000 square feet of public plazas and scores of eating and drinking venues, including huge new Avra inside the Moynihan building and Blue Ribbon Steak & Sushi.

Vornado is also landlord to Primark, the international clothing merchant opening its US flagship at 150 W.34th St.The new Seventh Avenue storefronts — to be installed inside three-level “retail boxes” — will aim to sign actual stores, not restaurants or fast-food operations.

Demolition of old structures is to start later this year with completion of the new spaces targeted for 2027.Roth tipped the plan, although without details, in Vornado’s third-quarter earnings call in November.He pled...