RUMOR CONFIRMED: Neiman Marcus Plans A 2018 Arrival In Manhattan

Here's an unlikely rumor that has turned out to be true.
Neiman Marcus has announced that it will open its first full line New York City store in in the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan's West Side in 2018 (see renderings above and below). The rumor was floated several months ago, but several factors made it seem unlikely. Most prominent among them was the potential competition for the Neiman Marcus Group-owned Bergdorf Goodman, the jewel in the company's crown. The main sticking point was a presumedly ironclad clause in Bergdorf's lease which forbade Neiman Marcus from opening a competing store in the city. Apparently, that obstacle has been overcome, and Neiman's is about to join a wave of new department stores hitting Manhattan in a few years with a sizable 250,000 square foot flagship. “Demographics show that the growth and population on the West Side and south west side of the city is growing much faster than other parts of the city. Our expectation is that it becomes a tourist destination with a good mix of  West Siders, people who also live downtown and international tourists,” Karen Katz, Neiman Marcus Group president and chief executive officer tells WWD. The store will provide an much sought after retail anchor for the massive development set to rise over the rail yards west of Penn Station. Along with the upcoming Neiman Marcus, the city is set to get a Nordstrom near Columbus Circle, a new Barneys re-opening in at least part of store's original Chelsea buildings, and rumors continue to swirl that Saks Fifth Avenue is thisclose to announcing a deal for a full line store in the financial district's Brookfield Place redevelopment. That would be four large new department stores in Manhattan before the end of the decade. If that seems like a lot of new retail, particularly at the high end, Katz and the other retail CEOs seem to think that between tourists and residents, there is still more spending to be done in Manhattan —even in neighborhoods with no history of luxury retailing at all.
Can you wait four years to see how it all pans out?

Neiman Marcus Headed to New York City (WWD)