Whole Foods And Burlington come to Harlem

Harlem will soon benefit from a grand orchestration by retail maestro Jeff Sutton, who is developing 100 W. 125th St. on the southwest corner of Lenox Avenue into an approximately 180,000 square-foot shopping Mecca.

We’ve just learned that Burlington Coat Factory has signed a lease for a 70,000 square-foot swath covering the third through fifth floors of the project. It encompasses the entire west side of the Lenox Avenue block front between 125th and 124th streets.

Sources said the 15-year deal with options will bring in $16 million in rent over the life of the lease, and bring smiles and fashion deals to area residents.

Burlington was represented by Cliff Simon of CNS Real Estate while Sutton’s project was repped in-house at Wharton Properties by the conductor himself.

Last week, website LivingMaxwell reported that when Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey was yakking nutrition in TriBeCa, he excitedly revealed that the company was staking out a Harlem home. Our spies swear that Sutton’s site will host the healthy outpost on its ground and lower levels.

An earlier Hyatt Hotel and YMCA project proposed for Sutton’s site by football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith fizzled but sources say the zoning and design doors are being kept open for a possible project topper in the future.

Groundbreaking won’t occur until fall so the doors on this Lenox launch can’t open until late 2013 or early 2014. Stay tuned because a second-floor tenant is yet to be revealed.