No big surprise, but don’t look for a Dollar Shoe store to take over the old Garmany space at 105 Broad Street.
Owner Larry Garmany tells redbankgreen he’s close to an anchor lease deal for the red brick building, which is just one door north of the present Garmany emporium. And while he says he can’t disclose the name of the prospective tenant—or discuss rumors of a Tiffany Inc. move to town—Garmany says it is a merchandiser of big-ticket goods.
As reported here last week, Garmany plans to divide the building, which served as a post office from from 1931 to 1965, into three stores.
Garmany says he’s been holding out for just such a tenant.
“My biggest aim, believe it or not, is to help the town. Because if it was just for the revenue, I could have rented it a long time ago,” Garmany says. “I’m looking for a store that’s going to help the town, help me, and help the real estate market.”
High-end?
“Yes. Definitely.”
While the arrival of another pricey store may have downtown property owners and moneyed swells from the region salivating, it would almost certainly add to the impression among Red Bankers that the commercial district is morphing into a place they can only dream of shopping in, particularly for clothing and household items.
It’s an image that persists in spite of the insistence of officials such as Tricia Rumola, executive director of RiverCenter, who says stores selling goods at moderate prices are the norm, not the exception.
Garmany shares Rumola’s perspective.
“I think it’s a beautiful mix of stores here, and the better the mix, the better the chance we have to reach a bigger client base,” he says. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be all high-end, but a little bit of this, a little bit of that definitely will open up the appetite for more.”
Garmany says he hopes to get clearance to release the anchor tenant’s name next week, but if the tenant says no, he’s gotta sit on the info until further notice.
His plans to remodel the 75-year-old building would, if approved by the Planning Board, produce a 4,576-square-foot store in the center of the structure flanked by shops of 1,457 SF and 1,353 SF.
