Movie action in Soho

Real Estate Weekly, June 9, 2004

Call it rental movies for the ATM generation. Movie Services, Inc has signed a lease for the first Moviebank totally automated video rental store in the United States, in New York's SoHo, at 71 West Houston Street, between Wooster Street and West Broadway.

The store is the first of as many as 50 that Movie Services, Inc plans to open in New York City, as part of its national roll out of 1,000 stores.

Christopher Owles, managing director of Sinvin Realty, represented the landlord in the transaction. Eric Le Goff, a retail broker at Cushman & Wakefield, represented the tenant.

Movie Services, Inc is a U.S. corporation with exclusive licensing fights to operate Moviebank stores in the United States. MoviebankUSA itself is a parent company of Cinebank which is running over 7 500 automated videostores all over Europe. MoviebankUSA automated videostores present the perfect synergy of next-generation retail technology and premium Hollywood entertainment.

The new store will open in August of 2004. At 500 square feet, it is typical for the chain, whose European locales range from 350 to 1,000 square feet. It occupies a space that has been vacant for several months and formerly held Desk&Desk, a home office furniture store.

Joel Name Optique opticians also occupy the building, and a new restaurant and lounge is now building out its space on the building's second floor.

"The landlord had been seeking a store or another tenant with full-time employees.

"He eventually came to believe that the relatively high, 24-hour usage that this tenant promises was appropriate for the building and the neighborhood, "said Owles of Sinvin.