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Big Boxes in the City
Home Depot and others come
to New York City
by Natalie Keith
When developers look to build big-box stores, Manhattan usually
isn't their first choice of locations.
But in recent years, Manhattan has become home to stores
such as Kmart and Toys R Us that are commonplace in suburbia.
And that has posed unique challenges for the design and construction
industry because such stores are typically designed to cater
to the automobile-centric American public.
New York City-based IBEX Construction completed two Home
Depot stores in Manhattan, one on 23rd Street between Fifth
and Sixth avenues and another on 59th Street that is part
of mixed-use Bloomberg Tower being developed by Vornado Realty
Trust. Both stores opened in September.
The 23rd Street store is 120,000 sq. ft. with a street-level
showroom, a lower-level retail floor and a mezzanine featuring
design-related products. The 59th Street store is 100,000
sq. ft. on four levels and includes space for design showrooms
on the mezzanine and lower levels.
"It's a different retail environment," said Andy
Frankl, president of IBEX Construction. "The stores aren't
going to look like typical Home Depots with stacks of materials
piled to the ceiling."
The new stores are part of Home Depot's plans to expand in
the New York City area. Home Depot opened its first New York
City store in Ozone Park, Queens, in 1994. Since that time,
the retailer has opened five additional stores in Queens,
four in Brooklyn and two each in the Bronx and Staten Island,
in addition to an Expo Design Center in Jackson Heights, Queens.
The stores are designed using the company's urban neighborhood
format. Home Depot opened its first urban-format store in
the Mill Basin section of Brooklyn in April 2002. Subsequent
designs on Staten Island and in Chicago's Lincoln Park helped
the company gain experience in designing stores that are convenient
to customers and attuned to the neighborhood.
The new stores will feature products and services geared
specifically to residential and professional customers living
in the community, as well as customers who commute and want
to use delivery services.
"Our Manhattan stores will offer customers the ability
to purchase and leave with products, make arrangements for
delivery or place special orders for any item sold by the
Home Depot," said Tom Taylor, president of Home Depot's
Eastern Division.
Lowe's, Bed Bath and
Beyond
and Best Buy Bite the Big Apple
Home Depot is not the only big box home improvement
store taking a bite out of the apple. Lowe's opened
a new store in Brooklyn last spring. E.W. Howell
was the general contractor. "The opening
of the Broolyn store further demonstrates our
commitment to the New York City area," said
Rick Damron, Lowe's senior vice president of store
operations. Lowe's had previously opened a store
on Staten Island with Kajima Construction as the
general contractor. The company is said to be
eyeing other sites around the city for further
expansion.
One of the first big box stores in Manhattan
was the Bed Bath and Beyond on Avenue of the Americas
and 18th Street. The store is now branching out
and adding a new store at 1930 Broadway. The 53,000
sq. ft. facility was fitted out and ready to go
in just 150 days, according to contractor Schimenti
Construction, Mount Kisco, N.Y.
In addition, Best Buy is making an entry to the
Big Apple with a new 45,000 sq. ft. store at 622
Broadway, in NoHo. The store is expected to open
in January 2005. Schimenti Construction is also
the general contractor on this project.
News about Big Boxes in New York City is only
beginning to build.
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One of the unique features of the store will be the amount
of space dedicated to showrooms for kitchen and bath, Taylor
said.
Architects from Greenberg Farrow of New York City said each
of the sites required that they design ways to facilitate
the movement of people and freight within multilevel stores
that offer no parking and limited space to accommodate trucks
bringing store inventory. Most Home Depots are one-level structures
with large parking lots and loading docks that can handle
tractor trailers.
"The biggest challenge was trying to work with a store
program that a national retailer had developed for a one-story
environment with parking on all sides," said John Clifford,
vice president of Greenberg Farrow. "We had to work with
operations and merchandising people to modify this program."
The 23rd Street site, which is a landmarked building, a loading
dock was constructed on 22nd Street. This change, along with
others to the structure, required approval from the New York
City Landmarks Commission.
To move people within the 23rd Street store, "cart escalators"
- which accommodate both customers and their shopping carts
- were put in. Both stores will offer 24-hour and same-day
delivery service, which required the construction of special
checkout areas and outdoor staging areas for deliveries, said
project manager James Bry of Greenberg Farrow.
At the 59th Street location, double escalators will bring
customers into the store and freight will be brought in through
a common freight elevator. A truck elevator will bring trucks
from the street to a third-level subbasement.
"It was fairly complicated at that location," Clifford
said.
Greenberg Farrow also had to design the stores to accommodate
a merchandising mix unique to the Manhattan customer. The
stores will not offer items found in most Home Depots, such
as lumber, plywood, sheetrock, garage doors and lawn mowers.
Instead, they'll feature more design-related products with
showroom spaces for items such as kitchen and bath fixtures
and appliances cabinetry.
"People who are used to shopping at a Home Depot in
Long Island will see a big difference with the Manhattan store,"
Clifford said.
Another challenge posed at each store location was the limited
signage opportunities. At the 23rd Street location, the glass
storefront is 200 ft. long, so banners will be placed at street
level to attract the eye of passing pedestrians. At the 59th
Street location, the storefront is 30 ft. tall and 80 ft.
wide.
"In effect, the entire lobby will become 'the sign'
for Home Depot," Bry said.
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