The New York Times was taken aback by a recent collaboration on a new apparel collection between NY’s vaunted Metropolitan Museum of Art and Anaheim retailer PacSun.
Said an Aug. 22 headline: “The Met Keeps Releasing Clothing With PacSun. Why?”
Referring to PacSun as “the brand known for selling skate and surf wear at malls,” the story eventually noted the major turnaround in fortunes of late for the retailer, which was largely given up for dead following a bankruptcy in 2016.
Since then, the company’s undergone a major pivot, becoming one of the country’s largest “cool kids” brands via deals with hip apparel companies including LA-based contemporary streetwear label Fear of God.
PacSun’s annual revenue is now approaching $1 billion. Its new deal with the Met, dubbed the Greek and Roman Collection, contains 25 pieces ranging from $25 to $90, and is inspired by the museum’s collection of statues, the NYT story noted.
Met officials said the deal, which launched on Friday, “stood to give the 153-year-old institution a bit of an edge, particularly among the younger demographic that gravitates toward PacSun,” according to the NYT report.
“I think that feeling of being surprised that we’ve done something like this is a real positive,” PacSun CEO Brieane Olson said of the raised eyebrows in NY.
More raised eyebrows in NY: The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 24 that the “small coastal enclave of Newport Coast, Calif., and its 92657 ZIP code, located in Newport Beach in Orange County, had the priciest median residential listing price in the U.S. in July 2023.”
The median list price that month, according to data from Realtor.com, was $10.6 million in Newport Coast. That’s up nearly 22% from a year ago. There are 24 active listings in the roughly 2,500-home area, down 40% from a year ago. The average PSF price for a home listed in the ZIP code was $1,673.
Of those 24 listings were a trio of homes, profiled by the WSJ, with asking prices of $59 million or higher.
The value of the trophy office tower at 3161 Michelson is on the downswing, again: see Katie Murar’s story on this page on how the property’s owner estimates the Irvine building has lost about 26% of its value since the onset of the pandemic.
The 19-story building’s current $256 million valuation is far from its low point. In 2009, amid the Great Recession, the building’s developer, LA-based Maguire Properties, sold the office for a reported $153 million, well below its estimated construction cost of about $250 million.
The 2009 buyer, Emmes Cos., would sell the Michelson three years later for a much higher price of $277 million.
One bit of good fortune for the airport-area building, given the recent gravitation from tenants to low-rise and mid-rise buildings: the Michelson was initially designed to be taller, but pushback from the Federal Aviation Administration saw its height lowered during development.
