Shopping on East Eighth Street in New York City, between Broadway and University Place, always was pretty decent.
Now, Rose Associates Inc. plans to turn the retail strip, which includes Contempo Casuals, Lechter’s and Strawberry clothing, into the quintessential Greenwich Village shopping destination.
“Large retailers come into cities and turn them into suburban malls. That’s a mistake,” said Adam Rose, executive vice president of Rose Associates.
“The key to successful street-level retailing in the city is enhancing what is already successful,” he added. “The concept of a retail strip, in authentic Greenwich Village tradition, will work.”
The Manhattan firm bought the north side of Eighth Street, between Broadway and University Place, in 1993, adding to the considerable property it already owned in the area that included two residential buildings with 10,000 worth of retail space.
Rose bought the strip with an eye toward attracting larger retailers to the area. The developers hope to accomplish this by not renewing existing leases when they expire.
There are about 30 retailers on the strip with two stores vacant, totaling 7,000 square feet.
The company is pumping $1 million into its effort to transform the block, one of the busiest in the Village, into “University Walk.”
The developers have enlisted the architectural firm of the Planned Expansion Group of White Plains, N.Y., to draw up a design program to give the area conformity and an integrated vision.
The cosmetics include a cornice crowning the length of the block. Streamlined sign bands tie the block together in somewhat of a theme, while providing back-lit displays for each store’s name and logo.
Apart from their stylistic aspect, cornices will define the separation between the upper residential portion of the buildings and the stores.
Colorful awnings, designed in stripes and solids, give coherence through standard size and shapes. Brick facades will be in shades of soft butter and rose.
The proposed changes to the block were welcomed by some retailers.
“This is a step in the right direction,” said Patrick Pitt, store manager.
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But while the co-manager of Contempo Casuals, the block’s largest retailer, said the facelift bodes well for retailers, he feels other pressing issues like security should also get attention.
“How can we attract tourists if gangs of girls and boys run around the store shoplifting? Security should be developed,” said Karina Sanchez.