Santa Monica’s Barnes & Noble store on the Third Street Promenade has signed an unspecified long-term lease renewal, The Joseph Romano Co., Inc. announced Monday.
Also on the 1200 block of the Third Street Promenade (the first block south of Wilshire), the company has also signed two other high-profile retail tenants.
These include new tenant Dr. Martens and the conversion of the Restoration Hardware space to a new Restoration Hardware Baby & Child store.
Joseph Romano, Principal of the Joseph Romano Co., said all three signings were great additions to the 1200 block.
“We love bringing unique, first-to-market tenants like Dr. Martens and Restoration Hardware Baby & Child to our properties,” Romano said. “Our new tenants, along with Barnes & Noble, are premier retail brands, and we look forward to working with them well into the future.”
Michael Lushing, real estate consultant for the Joseph Romano Co. and Senior Vice President at BRC Advisors in Beverly Hills, represented both landlord and tenant in the Dr. Martens transaction.
“The Promenade has not been immune to the challenging times, but the Romano’s proactive, strategic approach has certainly produced some great news for the commercial real estate market in Santa Monica,” Lushing said.
Mike Vincent, Chief Operating Officer of Dr. Martens, said The Dr. Martens store will be the company’s first branded store in Southern California, and will replace Lucky Brands.
“When we considered locations for our Los Angeles-area store, the former Lucky space on the Promenade was a natural,” Vincent said. “We applaud Michael Lushing for reaching out to us on behalf of the Romanos.”
Barnes & Noble has occupied the prominent location at the corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Third Street for almost two decades.
“For the past 17 years we have been extremely fortunate to serve booklovers on the Westside from our Third Street Promenade store,” said Ed Toohey, Director of Real Estate for Barnes & Noble. “The exciting opportunity to extend the lease allows us to continue this great tradition.”
Restoration Hardware Baby & Child, which celebrated its grand opening on Saturday, Nov. 10, is only the third store of its kind in the country, with the others in Northern California and Houston. It has taken the space previously occupied by Restoration Hardware.
