News
SHORT, BUT SHOWROOM SWEET
August 17, 2011
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| Good things come in small packages—and what the four-story 201 E 57th St lacks in height, it makes up in details. Yesterday, Marx Realty & Improvement Co broke ground on the new 31k SF Manufacturers and Builders Building at the corner of East 57th and Third. (Apparently they didn't learn that you can't play with shovels if you don't bring enough for the whole class.) The building’s air rights were sold six years ago to adjacent residential digs, so Marx packed some punch into what it could build with a full glass curtain wall and high ceilings (17’ to 20’). It’s perfect for a furniture or lighting showroom to showcase its goods to the neighborhood, home to other industry centers like the A&D Building and D&D Building, Marx CEO Claude Chandonnet tells us. |
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| Claude with FJ Sciame Construction Co CEO Frank Sciame, who’s building the TPG Architecture-designed M&B Building. The ground-up development will take 14 months until tenant fit-out. TD Bank has already taken 4,000 SF on the ground floor for a branch, and 1,600 SF (plus 5,000 in basement space) is available for additional retail, says CBRE SVP of brokerage Sloane Rhulen, who’s marketing the building with Susan Kurland and Greg Tannor. The second and third floors are 7,700 SF each (the second can be combined with retail) and the fourth floor is 4,900 SF with a 2,300 SF outdoor terrace. The limited columns also allow for an entirely open floor plan. It’s one of the few corners left on 57th Street and also gets lots of traffic—perfect for displays, she says. |
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| Here’s what the building will look like upon completion. It’s one step in Marx Realty’s effort to modernize the company, says Claude. Call it one of New York’s “best-kept secrets”—even though the firm’s been active in the Big Apple since 1915, it’s been under the radar and is now looking to JV with other partners or provide management and development services. (Well, gosh, now everyone's gonna know.) Another building it redeveloped was the Nespresso Boutique SoHo at 92 Prince St, and it recently wrapped up lobby renovations on 708 Third Ave, where it has signed 20 new tenants during the recession. Marx, with a portfolio of 63 buildings in 23 states, owns New York's 545 Madison, 532 Madison, and 430 Park, among others. |
