[ad_1]
Macy’s filed for an injunction to bar a real estate company from renting the huge billboard around the corner of the flagship location of the department store because, according to Macy’s, the new advertiser is Amazon.
The NY Post first reported on the complaint, which was filed in the state Supreme Court, noting: “Macy’s billboard lease with Kaufman [Realty] expired on August 31. Macy’s claims its original 1963 lease precludes a competitor from advertising the space, but Kaufman disagrees, according to the complaint. “
The court record asserts that Kaufman told a representative for Macy’s that they were “in discussions with a ‘high profile online retailer’,” leading the complaint to state: “There was no doubt that [he] was talking about Amazon on the call, “and that” Amazon and other online retailers are direct competitors of Macy’s. If Amazon or another competitor were to advertise on the billboard, the negative impact on Macy’s would be immeasurable. “
However, a spokesperson for Kaufman told the Post that the advertiser is not Amazon – “Although the restrictive covenant is up to a judge to make a decision, we want to clarify that we have not had any communication or negotiation. with Amazon relating to the 1313 Broadway space. “
The billboard, which is currently a Macy’s shopping bag, occupies a prominent corner of 34th Street and Broadway, and features prominently in Macy’s Thanksgiving parades (which this year will return in full ).
While Macy’s occupies the block between Broadway and 7th Avenue and 34th and 35th Streets, the corner of 34th and Broadway is home to a small retail building – currently a Sunglass Hut – as well as the billboard. that Macy’s does not own. This building was actually purchased in 1901 by Macy’s-era competitor Harry Siegel of Siegel-Cooper in the hopes that he could use it as leverage in a real estate transaction to acquire the former space of 14th rue de Macy. Well, Macy’s refused to buy the Herald Square corner lot in Siegel, and this building of spite emerged.
“It’s a funny irony that a building with this kind of history comes back and is a problem over a century later,” Andrew Alpern, who wrote a book on the so-called resistant buildings in New York. “Macy’s hasn’t had a good track record with holdouts. They just don’t seem very good at negotiating with their neighbors.”
[ad_2]
Source link