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MADISON AVE. MEETS LONG ISLAND

By Debra Hazel

The Americana at Manhasset, on New York’s Long Island, might just be the biggest small center in the United States.

The center totals only about 200,000 square feet, but includes some of the most upscale brands in the world, including Ferragamo, Hermès and Tiffany, and generates sales in excess of $1,000 per square foot, according to some real estate experts. This Madison Avenue in the suburbs has its own fashion director, and staff who attend European and U.S. designer fashion shows. On a typical day shoppers include some of the wealthiest people in the country.

“It’s a fabulous center and always will be,” said Terry McEwen, president of Poag & McEwen, the Memphis-based developer that helped pioneer the lifestyle center concept.

But hard as it may be to imagine for those visiting the center today, the history of the Americana is actually a rags-to-riches story. Though today’s Americana boasts a tenant mix rivaled only in Paris, Milan or Manhattan, the center started out as an ordinary small neighborhood strip center, located on Northern Boulevard at Searingtown Road on Long Island’s “Miracle Mile.” Local development firm Gerace and Castagna acquired the land for the project from the legendary William Levitt, the pioneer of the famous post-World War II suburban housing development (Levittown itself is about 14 miles away). When the Americana opened in 1955, it sported a supermarket, a drugstore, a theater and a variety store, with various small tenants. For decades it remained a service-oriented center.

The Americana’s history reflects that of its surroundings. After World War II, the great estates of Manhasset and its surrounding villages were subdivided into smaller, though still substantial, lots for the construction of suburban homes. More than ever, the area became an affluent New York City bedroom community, just 18 miles from midtown Manhattan. The arrival of Lord & Taylor and Abraham & Straus after the war initiated the development of the Miracle Mile retail strip that became the commercial heart of Nassau County.

“Lord & Taylor and A&S moving here made it a mecca for shopping,” said Richard Dundore, president of the Manhasset Chamber of Commerce.

But the Americana remained neighborhood-oriented until the early 1980s, when Frank Castagna, chairman of locally based Castagna Realty and the son of original developer Ferdinand Castagna, decided to smarten up the project in keeping with the increasing affluence of the community. (In 2002 the median home price was nearly $600,000, according to Worth magazine. The average home price, according to Dundore, exceeds $800,000. Average household income is estimated to be more than $100,000, but even that is probably on the conservative side in some cases.)

Despite this proximity to Manhattan, many Long Islanders did not (and do not) regularly shop in the city.

“Wealthy Long Island women don’t drive to New York,” observed Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman of New York City-based brokerage Garrick-Aug Worldwide. “It may only be 18 miles, but it’s a whole other world.” Consequently, the city and the center serve totally different markets, said Consolo, who deals with many of the same designer tenants.

To attract the designer tenants he wanted, Castagna had the Americana redesigned by architect Peter Marino as a streetscape, one of the first shopping centers in the United States to mimic an urban environment. The center is divided into three buildings, with shops facing both onto Northern Boulevard and in toward the parking lot. (Using the same Northern Boulevard entrance is the former B. Altman building, now converted to big-box retail that includes Crate & Barrel and HMV. That unnamed center is controlled by New York City-based Mall Properties.)

Facades differ in height to make the center look like an urban street that has evolved over time, and landscaping around the center is elaborate.

“Prada built a postmodern store,” said Steven Greenberg, president of The Greenberg Group, a Hewlett, N.Y.-based brokerage, who arranged a deal with Gucci at the center. “Yet when Gucci opens next year, it will look like a Gucci in Paris or New York.”

A stroll down the length of the center is like a walk down Madison Avenue, as least as far as the retail is concerned. Designer tenants include Barneys New York, Escada, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, London Jewelers, Loro Piana, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, St. John and Tiffany. Many have their sole Long Island units at the Americana and report sales equaling or exceeding those of their Manhattan stores — while they pay rents lower than on Madison Avenue. Hirshleifer’s, a venerable Long Island specialty store, recently expanded and carries such brands as Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli.

“Mr. Castagna has only the highest criteria, looking for the tenants that fit his luxury yoke,” Greenberg said. Castagna, however, who declined to comment for this story, is not above admitting lower-brow but successful tenants, such as Gap, Origins and Talbots. The combination has proved to be a powerhouse.

“Castagna and Americana were way before their time,” Consolo said. “Other shopping center professionals visit it to study it.”

Though its main customer base comes from the surrounding neighborhoods, some Manhattanites also come, looking for a pleasant day out. “It’s an excursion, almost like taking a trip to Europe,” Consolo said. “They go, they spend the day.”

The center even attracts visitors headed to the Hamptons, 50 miles to the east. “People going to the Hamptons will shop there before getting on the road again,” Dundore said.

One draw is the customer service, which is often better than at some units in the city, Consolo said. The reason is that stores at the Americana largely serve the local market, who can be fanatically loyal, while Manhattan stores also serve tourists and office workers, who aren’t regular customers.

The center itself offers a personal shopping service and an on-site concierge who provides information about the current collections, as well as local events and places of interest. A mall gift card is available and can be redeemed at all retailers that accept American Express.

The Americana also remains close to the community through Castagna’s support of numerous local charities. The center’s annual Champions for Charity program, for instance, launched in 1996, has raised more than $1.3 million for various Long Island organizations.

Castagna Realty remains a family-owned, 30-employee company that develops residential and commercial real estate, including its only other retail center, Wheatley Plaza, which opened in 1980 in Greenvale, N.Y. But the Americana clearly is the jewel in Castagna Realty’s crown.

Next fall there will be even more to keep shoppers occupied. One of the last vestiges of the Americana’s neighborhood center origins, a 36,000-square-foot Waldbaum’s supermarket, was razed in the spring to be replaced by small shops. Leasing continues on the new section, to open in spring 2003, with Gucci signed to open a 5,000-square-foot store. Meanwhile, new stores continue to open in the existing project, including Ferragamo (in August) and Payard, a patisserie and bistro.

“We are very excited to be opening a store at Americana Manhasset,” said Jean Marc Gallot, president and regional director of Ferragamo USA, in a statement posted on the mall’s Web site. “The community is a strong, involved and affluent one that understands and appreciates the qualities that define the house: luxury, style, tradition and innovation.”

Patience is another quality. Castagna, observers say, will wait for or cajole the designers he wants for the Americana, even as some other tenants bide their time on a waiting list. The company is one of the few developers that routinely send staff to European fashion shows to find new designers.

“They think like a Bergdorf,” Consolo said. “They’ve merchandised the center like a Bergdorf and a Barney’s rolled into one. They can serve from the avant-garde shopper to the Armani customer and have the accessories to match. If it’s a new label, it will be on Madison Avenue — and in Manhasset.”

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