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Edward 
Junior Member
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RKF COMPLETES 57,976 SF LEASE
For Whole Foods at AOL Time Warner Center
New York, July 22, 2003 — Robert K. Futterman & Associates, LLC (RKF), the nation’s leading independent real estate firm specializing in retail leasing and investment sales, has completed a lease with Whole Foods Retail Inc. at the 2.8 million-square-foot mixed-use AOL Time Warner Center. The grocer signed a 20-year lease for 57,956 square feet within The Shops at Columbus Circle, the retail component of the complex.
Robert K. Futterman, CEO, and Robert Kinsey, director, of RKF represented the owners, The Related Cos. and The Palladium Co. Chase Welles of Northwest Atlantic Partners Inc. represented Whole Foods.
RKF served as the retail-leasing consultant for The Shops at Columbus Circle project from conception through the early stages of its development. One of RKF’s key assignments was to conceptualize and lease the lower-level first concourse space to the best food and café operators in New York City.
"The lower-level first concourse space was the most challenging and difficult space to lease in the property, complicated by numerous columns and limited access to pedestrian traffic,” said Futterman. “While the original concept was to lease the area out to numerous food-related vendors, we determined that a single food tenant would best be able to maximize the available space.”
The transaction was particularly challenging in that the owners originally had not considered leasing the space to a grocery store. For its part, Whole Foods was hesitant about leasing a site located in the basement of a multi-level urban shopping center. Futterman and Kinsey brought all parties to the table, completing the deal through perseverance and creativity.
The AOL Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, located at the southwest corner of Central Park in Manhattan, comprises the new headquarters of AOL Time Warner, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Mandarin Oriental Hotel and condominiums. It also encompasses The Shops at Columbus Circle, a 350,000-square-foot, multi-floor retail center that has attracted luxury retailers such as Armani AX, Tumi, Tourneau, L’Occitane en Provence, Hugo Boss, Coach, Cole Haan, Borders Books, Bose, and Williams Sonoma.
The country's leading independent real estate firm specializing in retail leasing and investment sales, New York-based Robert K. Futterman & Associates (RKF) serves a broad spectrum of domestic and global clients in services ranging from national tenant representation to advisory, consulting and disposition. With over $1.75 billion in aggregate real estate transactions to its credit, RKF has been responsible for identifying scores of real estate opportunities in New York City, its suburbs and throughout the United States for leading American and international chains, retailers, developers and institutional clients.
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Total Posts: 51 | Joined May 2002 | Posted on: 1:08 am on Sep. 29, 2003 | IP
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1 Central Park Forum
Retail leasing at AOL Time Warner Center
