Old Navy Returning to Herald Square's 34th Street
Old Navy isn't giving up on Manhattan's 34th Street.
After losing its 34th Street site at 150 West 34th Street to Primark — a prime competitor — Old Navy has signed a lease to open at 50 West 34th Street, on the southeast corner of 34th and Broadway, catty corner to Macy's. The Old Navy store will occupy 55,000 square feet over two floors and is expected to open some time in 2026.
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'New York is the most important retail and tourism market in the world, drawing over 60 million visitors annually and we are thrilled to announce Old Navy's new flagship is coming to such a prime location,' Haio Barbeito, Old Navy's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement Friday.
Old Navy said the new store will be a 'next generation flagship' for the brand, which is a division of Gap Inc. 'As we look to modernize the Old Navy customer experience, this new location will enable us to deliver a fresh, immersive, digitally led experience that invites visitors and shoppers from around the world to come play with style,' Barbeito added.
Old Navy and Primark are both family-oriented fashion retailers with low prices. The Dublin-based Primark has been steadily expanding in the U.S., and is also expected to open on 34th Street some time in 2026. It will be interesting to see which retailer opens first.
For Primark, its 34th Street location will be its first in Manhattan. The store will occupy 75,000 square feet, including 54,000 square feet of selling space on four levels.
The two retailers will be going head-to-head against Macy's, Target, H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, American Eagle and Urban Outfitters, among the thick concentration of retailers in and around Herald Square.
'There's a great competitor set in that area. It is certainly synonymous with retail,' Kevin Tulip, president of Primark in the U.S., told WWD in a previous interview. 'For a company like Primark that is building not just stores, but also its brand across the U.S., the ability to have a flagship there is an incredible moment for us.'
The future Old Navy will be at the base of Herald Towers, which was built in 1912, serving as the Hotel McAlpin until its conversion to residential use in 1980. JEMB acquired the asset in 1999, renaming it Herald Towers. The 25-story, 1 million-square-foot mixed-use building offers 700 residential units and a ground floor retail component of more than 100,000 square feet. The Gap brand once operated one of its most productive, largest stores on the site.
Morris Bailey, chairman of JEMB Realty, said in a statement that the long-term lease his firm signed with Old Navy is 'a testament to the longstanding relationship between JEMB and Gap Inc. We negotiated the original lease directly with Gap Inc.'s founders, Don and Doris Fisher, and are gratified to be working with the company's leadership again today.'
The Old Navy deal comes on the heels of JEMB's 160,000-square-foot lease for Yeshiva University's health sciences campus at Herald Center, just west of where Old Navy will be.
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