Wegmans Food Markets has signed a 30-year lease for its second store in the Big Apple, this time in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village neighbourhood.
The grocery retailer will open a store at Vornado Realty Trust’s 770 Broadway (at Astor Place). The site is the former home of Kmart, which went dark earlier this month — without much notice — after nearly 25 years in operation. Wegmans will occupy space on both the street and lower levels of the 1.2 million square foot building, for a total of approximately 82,000sq ft.
Brokered by RIPCO Real Estate LLC, Wegmans signed an agreement with Transformco (owner of Kmart) to buy out Kmart’s lease at Astor Place, and entered into the long-term lease with Vornado. Wegmans opened its first New York City store in October 2019, in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
“We are so excited to bring Wegmans to Manhattan,” said Colleen Wegman, President and CEO of Wegmans Food Markets, which operates 106 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and North Carolina. “This is something we’ve been dreaming about and working toward for a long time. The community’s response to the opening of our Brooklyn store had an excitement and energy that you can only experience in New York.”
