Skyline Properties | Page 14

FORMER BARGAIN WORLD BUILDING IN HARLEM PICKED UP IN 99-YEAR GROUND LEASE
A discount department store that was considered an institution on West 125 th Street is getting a new life as a retail establishment . The Rosen family , who owned Bargain World and the building that housed it , has leased out the entire property to an out-of-town retail operator , Commercial Observer has learned .
The tenant signed a 99-year triple-net ground lease at 4-14 West 125 th Street , the lone broker in the deal , Robert Khodadadian of Skyline Properties , said , and the property will be delivered vacant . The taking rent is $ 25 per square foot for the entire property , or $ 60 a foot if just calculating the most valuable 8,935-square-foot , ground-floor retail space . The sellers are “ taking advantage of the huge retail opportunity over there ,” Mr . Khodadadian said . Bargain World , which occupied the entire four-story , roughly 30,000-square-foot building for 40 years ( using the address of 8 West 125 th Street ), sold everything but clothes and food , the New York Times wrote in an August 2001 story about its imminent closing . The store , which had been in the Rosen family for three generations , was the victim of a 1980 electrical fire that required the family to rebuild the entire building as well as a mugging , riots and recessions , the Times said . The building is on the same block as former President Bill Clinton ’ s office .
Today , Harlem Furniture and Boost Mobile are occupying two of the retail spaces on the ground floor . The rest of the property is vacant .
The new owner , who Mr . Khodadadian wouldn ’ t identify by name , is planning to convert the ground floor into one big retail space , with 100 feet of retail frontage on 125 th street . He is then turning the second floor office space into retail and keeping the upper two floors as offices . The second through fourth floors are each 7.086 square feet .
“ The retail rents are going up so high over there ,” Mr . Khodadadian said . “ Credited tenants are moving up there more and more .”