Greater New York: An Avenue's Shaky Rebirth

At the height of the boom years, retail rents on Madison Avenue soared as high as $1,500 a foot, according to Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman's retail group. When the recession hit, those rents, combined with falling sales of luxury goods, drove the vacancy rate on Madison Avenue up to 15%, according to Ms. Consolo's data.