"We talk about it as a new garment center," said Faith Hope Consolo, vice chairman of Garrick-Aug Associates, a commercial leasing firm.

The bride, a real-estate broker at Garrick-Aug Associates in New York, graduated from Boston University.

Average asking rents throughout Manhattan were down to $49 a square foot at the end of last year, according to Garrick-Aug Associates, the store-leasing firm.

Until he retired last year, Mr. Aug was the chairman of Garrick-Aug Associates, a store-leasing company.

The new plan is to be developed in consultation with Garrick-Aug Associates, a retail leasing concern.

"Downtown is finally going to happen," said Faith H. Consolo of the Garrick-Aug Associates retail brokerage firm.

"It's a very desirable spot," said Marc Leber, senior retail consultant at Garrick-Aug Associates, a store-leasing concern, who brokered the deal.

According to Garrick-Aug Associates, the country's largest retail real estate broker, the retail vacancy rate in Manhattan is now about 10 percent.

"The rent he's paying has no relativity to today's market," said Faith H. Consolo, senior managing director at Garrick-Aug Associates, a commercial real estate firm.

"They want to go high ticket," said Faith H. Consolo, senior managing director of Garrick-Aug Associates, a retail brokerage.