Its alive! Manhattans long vacant retail spaces are finally rising from the dead

The corpses of big retailers — some decades old — haunt the streets of Manhattan.Now, a few are finally being brought back to life. The blight was particularly gory in Times Square, where behind the busy streets and illuminated signage, there was a glut of empty space.

Now, two new leases will fill 75,000 square feet.Most notably the 25,000-square-foot Liberty Theatre, a former vaudeville and movie house, had sat vacant for decades.Part of the entertainment complex along West 42nd Street, between Times Square and Eighth Avenue in the base of the Hilton hotel, it was just leased by Broadway4D.Once a major renovation of the Liberty Theatre is complete, Broadway4D will educate, entertain and inspire new audiences at affordable prices with the latest technology.

It plans to present a newly written musical weaving in the best historical songs sung by current Great White Way stars.Further west on that block, 50,000 square feet on the ground, first and second floors of 11 Times Square has been leased by the London-based Path Entertainment, which specializes in immersive ventures.Dungeons & Dragons: the Twenty-Sided Tavern, the company’s interactive theater presentation, is now down the block at Stage 42. Michael Rielly of Rielly Retail Solutions represented PATH — which has, among its projects, a Monopoly experience ongoing in London and a Clue Live under development.

Cushman & Wakefield represented the SJP Properties building that had an asking rent of $8 million per year.But there are other grand spaces yet to fill around Times Square.Matt Chmielecki of CBRE is offering the prominent Good Morning America studio at the base of 1500 Broadway that wraps West 44th Street as those talking heads finally decamp for the new ABC/Disney headquarters at 7 Hudson Square.The 58,245 square feet covering four levels of studio, retail and offices can be divvied up.

The studio area itself has double height windows with ceilings over 20 feet high and can be you...