Finally a tenant for the Triangle Sports building: Rihanna's Savage x Fenty lingerie line. (In 2012, it was to be a "very Brooklyn-type use.")

Hey, remember way back when--in April 2021--when the long-unoccupied former Triangle Sports building opposite Barclays Center was wrapped with murals featuring Brooklyn Nets star James Harden advertising Adidas?

"Where some see a scoring machine, I see the possibilities of elevating those around me," Harden was quoted as saying, an exemplar of team basketball.

By June, Harden's image was gone, and the building began to get a DoorDash wrapping, perhaps in anticipation of the championship series that never came.

And Harden's desire to elevate his teammates ran into roadblocks this season after (before?) fellow star's refusal to get vaccinated made him ineligible for home games, and he engineered a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, where, at least initially, he's thriving.

Sales, but stasis

The three-story wedge-shaped building at Fifth and Flatbush avenues sold for $4.1 million in 2012, before the arena opened, with broker Ofer Cohen claiming, "Part of [the new owners'] vision is to make it a very Brooklyn-type use, to stay true to the Brooklyn authenticity."

That remained undefined, and unrealized, with only billboard use. (It's an awkward fit for many uses, such as food and beverage.)

In 2019, it sold for $7 million, but, as I observed, any profit was likely tempered by seven years of stasis. Since then it's been a billboard.

Finally, a tenant

But now, as WWD reported 2/24/22, Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty Lingerie Store Coming to New York City, quoting unnamed sources as citing a 10-year lease, with an asking--not necessarily achieved--annual rent of $650,000 a year.

(The news was later picked up by sources including the Commercial Observer, Time Out NY and Brooklyn Magazine. The CO said asking rent was $750,000 a year.)

The lingerie line has just opened two stores nationally, with three more coming in March and April. Unlike boxy mall stars, this would be the first freestanding location, according to WWD, and the brand's "largest physical store to date at around 6,100 square feet spread across three floors."

Interestingly, only a relatively expensive retail line might make that oddly shaped location would work. 

WWD said its sources "say the exterior facade of the Triangle Building will be branded with Savage x Fenty’s bright colors, logo and other marketing materials."

As shown in the screenshot at right, from the brand's website, the design for the Culver City, CA, store uses that color palette in a box-like design, which would have to be adapted for  Brooklyn .

More about the store

From the lingerie line's website:

Savage X Fenty has disrupted the lingerie industry and redefined sexy. With accessible price points and an extensive assortment of fashion-forward styles, the brand celebrates fearlessness, confidence and inclusivity. From everyday staples to provocative pieces, Savage X Fenty has something for every mood, every vibe and every BODY.

Along with the Fashion Show Las Vegas store, a second store opened last month in Culver City, CA, with stores at the Houston Galleria and King of Prussia, PA coming this month, and one at Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, in Arlington, VA, coming in April, according to the Savage X Fenty web site.

The Brooklyn location isn't listed on that web site, so there's no public timetable. WWD said "construction on the space has begun, and will take at least a few months to complete."

From New York magazine's The Cut:

In keeping with her image, the Las Vegas store is designed to look and feel more like a nightclub than a retail establishment, with soft lighting in hues of pink, purple, and red, creating a mood that’s somewhere between Amsterdam’s red-light district and the video for Drake’s “Hotline Bling.”... 

The location is the first of five scheduled to open across the U.S. in the next three months. The others will be in Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., and more may come overseas. The expansion is possible thanks to $310 million Savage has raised over the years from a list of investors including L Catterton, a private-equity firm backed by LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, and Marcy Venture Partners, a VC firm co-founded by Jay-Z.