It has hardly been a year since lucky invitees danced the night away and sipped champagne throughout a sprawling new Neiman Marcus department store in Manhattan, with the opening party featuring a special performance by Liza Minnelli.
Now in bankruptcy proceedings, the department store chain said in a court filing Thursday it is vacating the glitzy Hudson Yards shopping mall on Manhattan's West Side.
A Neiman Marcus spokesman said the company is closing its Hudson Yards location for good, along with two stores in Florida — Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach — and in Bellevue, Washington.
"We are always assessing our store footprint to ensure it is optimal to enhance revenues, overall profitability, and our integrated retail strategy," the spokesman said. "These store closures will help ensure the continued long-term success of our business and underscores our unrelenting focus on providing unparalleled luxury experiences and engagement."
"A physical location in Hudson Yards is no longer an ideal space for us given the preponderance of restaurants and future office space in that mall," he added.
Hudson Yards, built by two of the world's largest real estate developers — Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group — was temporarily forced shutter as part of the lockdowns to curb the spread of coronvairus. It was an especially hard blow considering the mall had just barely opened. It is still not fully reopen, but several tenants are offering curbside pickup.
Dallas-based Neiman Marcus, saddled with debt and hammered by the Covid-19 crisis, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 7.
Related has been shopping the Neiman Marcus space for office tenants.
"It is unfortunate that Neiman Marcus was unable to achieve the success that other retailers have found at Hudson Yards and we look forward to welcoming the designer brands who drove Neiman Marcus' sales to their own stores in the retail center," a Related spokesman told CNBC in an emailed statement. "This opens up a great opportunity to create incredibly attractive office space with the largest floor plates available in New York City, a private ground floor entrance, and 18 foot high ceilings at 20 Hudson Yards."
