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Toys 'R' Us Could Be Leaving Times Square Next Year, Broker Says

By Ben Fractenberg | March 19, 2015 7:44am
 Toys
Toys "R" may be moving out of their flagship Times Square location next February.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

MIDTOWN — Toys “R” Us could soon move out of Times Square.

The toy retailer may not to renew their lease at its 110,000-square-foot flagship location at Broadway and West 44th Street, which includes a massive Ferris wheel, and will move out next February, the Commercial Observer first reported Tuesday.

The space will be subdivided with rent on the ground floor going for $2,500 a square foot, $350 a foot on the second level and $150 per foot on the lower level, according to commercial realtor Brad Mendelson of Cushman & Wakefield.

There are leases out for about half the space, Mendelson told DNAinfo, but he would not say what retailers may be moving into the location.

Market rent in Times Square has risen 2,000 percent since 1999, when Toys “R” Us signed their initial lease, Mendelson said.

The toy seller hedged on the move.

"The lease for our store in Times Square expires in 2016 and, as previously noted, we have been reviewing our lease renewal options," a Toys "R" Us spokeswoman said. "We have not signed a lease agreement for a new location and any rumors regarding this ongoing process are just that."