Lower Fifth Avenue, an area between 42nd and 49th streets in New York City, saw the biggest asking rent decline among Manhattan’s prominent retail corridors in the third quarter, falling 25 percent from the same period last year, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., Bloomberg News reported. In contrast, rents along upper Fifth Avenue, a swanky shopping district that runs from 49th Street north to Central Park, slipped just 0.7 percent over the same period. Rents on upper Fifth Avenue had surged in recent years, pushing out many of the street’s luxury retailers whose sales hadn’t kept pace. The cost increases have leveled out a bit, Smith said. On lower Fifth, some landlords who created oversized spaces in a bid to attract major chains are now struggling to fill those stores.
