1 The real estate slump that's pushing down the price of New York office space and housing is also affecting the city's retail real estate market.
2 In Manhattan, once-desirable store sites sit vacant and newly constructed space has been slow to fill.
3 Retail real estate brokers say tenants are reluctant to sign leases because of uncertainty about the local economy, turmoil in their own industries and a belief that rents have not yet hit bottom.
4 'There is an unbelievable amount of space available,' says Faith Consolo, senior vice president at Garrick-Aug Associates Store Leasing Inc.
5 There are about 2,000 stores for rent, up from a more typical range of 1,200 to 1,500. 'This further confuses retailers,' she says. 'They wonder should they sign a lease if prices are still coming down?
6 Is this the wrong time to open a store?
7 Who is going to be in the space next door?'
8 In addition, Ms. Consolo says, tenants usually can negotiate to pay rents that are about one-quarter lower than landlords' initial asking price.
9 A handful of hot retail locations, such as the 57th Street and Madison and Fifth Avenue areas, have been able to sustain what many see as astronomical rents.
10 And, in some neighborhoods, rents have merely hit a plateau.
11 But on average, Manhattan retail rents have dropped 10% to 15% in the past six months alone, experts say.
12 That follows a more subtle decline in the prior six months, after Manhattan rents had run up rapidly since 1986.
13 The same factors limiting demand for office space have affected retailing. 'As businesses contract or depart, the number of employees who might use retail services shrinks,' says Edward A. Friedman, senior vice president of Helmsley Spear Inc.
14 He says financial problems plaguing electronics, fur and furniture companies -- key categories in the local retail economy -- have further deflated the market.
15 Hardest hit are what he calls 'secondary' sites that primarily serve neighborhood residents.
16 In these locations, Mr. Friedman says, 'Retailers are increasingly cautious about expanding and rents have remained steady or in some cases have declined.' Weakness in the restaurant industry, which is leaving retail space vacant, exacerbates the problem for landlords.
17 It is also no comfort to landlords and small New York retailers when the future of larger department stores, which anchor retail neighborhoods, are in doubt.
18 Hooker Corp., parent of Bonwit Teller and B. Altman's, is mired in bankruptcy proceedings and Bloomingdale's is for sale by its owner, Campeau Corp.
19 The trend toward lower rents may seem surprising given that some communities in New York are bemoaning the loss of favorite local businesses to high rents.
20 But, despite the recent softening, for many of these retailers there's still been too big a jump from the rental rates of the late 1970s, when their leases were signed.
21 Certainly, the recent drop in prices doesn't mean Manhattan comes cheap.
22 New York retail rents still run well above the going rate in other U.S. cities.
23 Madison and Fifth Avenues and East 57th Street can command rents of up to $500 a square foot, and $250 is not uncommon.
24 The thriving 34th Street area offers rents of about $100 a square foot, as do up-and-coming locations along lower Fifth Avenue.
25 By contrast, rentals in the best retail locations in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago rarely top $100 a square foot.
26 And rents on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive generally don't exceed about $125 a square foot.
27 The New York Stock Exchange said two securities will begin trading this week.
28 Precision Castparts Corp., Portland, Ore., will begin trading with the symbol PCP.
29 It makes investment castings and has traded over-the-counter.
30 Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, an Edinburgh, Scotland, financial services company, will list American depositary shares, representing preferred shares, with the symbol RBSPr.
31 It will continue to trade on the International Stock Exchange, London.
32 The American Stock Exchange listed shares of two companies.
33 AIM Telephones Inc., a Parsippany, N.J., telecommunications equipment supply company, started trading with the symbol AIM.
34 It had traded over-the-counter.
35 Columbia Laboratories Inc., Miami, began trading with the symbol COB.
36 The pharmaceuticals maker had traded over-the-counter.
37 The National Market System of the Nasdaq over-the-counter market listed shares of one company.
38 Employee Benefit Plans Inc., a Minneapolis health-care services company, was listed with the symbol EBPI.

The real estate slump that ' s pushing down the price of New York office space and housing is also affecting the city ' s retail real estate market .
city ' s retail real estate market .
How is it affecting the city's retail real estate market?