Ariel Schuster brings 20 years of retail real estate experience to his role as a Vice Chairman with Newmark. He specializes in both landlord and tenant representation.
Schuster’s roster of landlord clients includes such prestigious owners as Acadia Realty Trust, Brookfield Properties, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Extell Development, Invesco, The LeFrak Organization, Oxford Properties, Related Companies, Rockpoint, SL Realty Corp. and The Winter Organization, among others. He represented SL Green in most of the REIT’s recent high-profile retail leases, including Nike’s global flagship at 650 Fifth Avenue, Line & Friends at 1515 Broadway and Coty’s first-ever flagship at 719 Seventh Avenue in Times Square. He masterfully negotiated retail leases totaling approximately 100,000 square feet at four of Related Companies’ premier New York City assets and represented Edward J. Minskoff Equities on the 170,000-square-foot retail component at 270 Greenwich Street. On behalf of The Winter Organization, Schuster arranged 75 retail transactions, the most significant of which were leases with global retail giant H&M at 111 Fifth Avenue and Madewell at 115 Fifth Avenue.
Recently, Schuster arranged a string of luxury retail leases, including Santoni’s U.S. flagship at 762 Madison Avenue and A. Lange & Sohne’s flagship at 785 Madison Avenue. Representing ownership at 935 Madison Avenue, he set the record rents achieved on Madison Avenue north of 72nd Street when he secured Aquazzura, Golden Goose, Joe Bananas, Moynat and Nespresso.
Schuster devotes an equal amount of his practice to the real estate needs of tenants, including Aritzia, Foot Locker, Gap brands (Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap, Intermix, and Old Navy), Itsu, La Colombe, Manolo Blahnik, PetSmart, PF Chang’s, Pret A Manger, Uniqlo and Williams Sonoma. As the Gap brands’ representative in the New York metro area, Schuster has been responsible for 125 transactions on the client’s behalf, including the leasing of 81,000 square feet for the Gap and Old Navy global flagships located at 1530 Broadway, in the heart of Times Square. In 2010, Schuster completed the two largest supermarket leases in New York City: He secured Whole Foods Market as the retail anchor of a 1 million-square-foot development at 250 East 57th Street; and he completed Fairway’s 45,000-square-foot lease at 240 East 86th Street, establishing the expanding chain’s first Upper East Side location. In recognition of this contribution of Fairway to the growth of the Manhattan retail landscape, Schuster and his team received the REBNY Retail Deal of the Year award in 2010.
Schuster has also successfully completed many high-profile investment sales transactions. He represented both the seller and buyer in the $24.8 million sale of 85 Fifth Avenue. He also was part of the teams that arranged the sales of 347 Bowery, 127 Seventh Avenue and 682 Broadway. Leveraging his prolific leasing experience in SoHo, he completed the sales of 70 and 138 Greene Street; 63 and 138 Spring Street; and 434 Broadway.
Professional Affiliations
- Vice chairman, Israel Bonds Real Estate Division New Leadership Committee
- Member, International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
- Licensed real estate salesperson, states of New York and New Jersey
- Volunteer, City Harvest
Education
Born in Jerusalem, Israel, Schuster moved to the U.S. at age 10 and attended the prestigious Horace Mann High School. In 1999, he graduated magna cum laude from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science degree in both marketing and finance. Most recently, Schuster earned a Master of Science degree in real estate finance from New York University.