The Swedish cheap-chic clothing store H&M will come to Fulton Mall next year, making it one of the first tenants in a giant glass-walled mall at Bridge Street.
Word first came out that the high-fashion-meets-low-priced store would come to the borough’s busiest retail corridor over the summer, as The Brooklyn Paper reported. But earlier this month, the store inked the deal with a 15-year lease, according to The New York Observer.
The store will be in a new 500,000-square-foot mall at 505 Fulton St. that will be built by reclusive Fulton Mall developer Al Laboz and include luxury condominiums.
Laboz said for years that H&M is the kind of retailer he wants on a diversified Fulton Mall, and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President Joe Chan agreed.
“H&M [represents] a huge win for Downtown Brooklyn, as there are few stores that package cachet and design sensitivity with affordability as well as H&M,” Chan said. “At the same time, it is a big win for H&M. I am confident that that the Downtown Brooklyn store will perform beyond their expectations.”
H&M’s Fulton Mall location would be the company’s second in Brooklyn, and would play a part in the area’s ongoing transformation from a discount shopping strip into a broader residential community with a mix of stores.
The announcement comes as more than 14,400 residential units and 1.6 million square feet of retail space are planed for construction in Downtown by 2012, according to the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the quasi-governmental agency guiding development in the neighborhood.
“I think it’s just wonderful,” said Downtown broker Paula Ingram, who was not involved in the deal. “It’s a nice clothing store, and it would bring a wonderful flavor to Downtown Brooklyn.”
H&M’s Kings Plaza Mall store opened in 2001. The Euro-styled retailer opened its first store in Sweden in 1947, and its first U.S. store in Manhattan in 2000.
