HOBOKEN, NJ—Demonstrating the time-honored adage that retail follows rooftops, RKF has brought a passel of retailers to the Mile Square City as the merchants seek to cater to the growing population in luxury residential communities along the Hudson. Over the past two years, in fact, RKF has completed 17 new transactions totaling almost 65,000 square feet, GlobeSt.com has learned exclusively.

“As new multifamily developments continue to rise above 10th Street in Uptown Hoboken, many of the city's downtown retailers are flocking northward to establish a presence in the neighborhood,” says Glenn Beyer, senior managing director with RKF. Both regional and national players—including Massage Envy Spa, frozen yogurt chain 16 Handles, European Wax Center, PNC Bank and Toni & Guy—as well as local favorites such as Cuban restaurant La Isla, Riverside Pediatrics, Hoboken Montessori, Uptown Wine and Spirits and Bright Horizons Childcare have opened uptown locations after establishing themselves downtown. 

Beyer cites La Isla as an example. The restaurateur signed a 2,800-square-foot lease at 1100 Maxwell Ln. in the city's uptown section after establishing its first location at 104 Washington St. downtown several years ago. “The activity has generated momentum from other up-and-coming brands looking to gain a foothold in this exciting area,” he says.

Earlier on, though, it may have been rooftops that followed the retail. Ten years ago, RKF handled the lease-up of the former Hostess Factory, a 42,000 square-foot retail renovation for developer Bijou Properties in Uptown Hoboken. “These transactions on 14th street were widely acknowledged as the catalyst for additional developments in the area,” says Beyer's colleague Jerry Rockoff, a managing director who handled the leasing at Hostess.

Rockoff is now working on the leasing for adjacent Bijou Properties developments at 1415 Park Ave., a high-rise apartment building at the corner of Park Avenue and 15th Street that boasts 15,000 square feet on the ground floor; and the Coconut Building, a green residential building located at the corner of Garden and Washington streets that houses a Montessori school and a St. Joseph's Pediatric Care Center. Several other projects are also under consideration within a three-block radius of the Bijou developments.

“Many of the residents that may have lived in Downtown Hoboken in their 20s and 30s are now buying in the northern part of the city,” adds Rockoff. “As a result, the downtown retailers that they know and grew up with are following them. And our team is at the forefront of the retail market here.”