Louis Vuitton Planning To Redevelop Fifth Avenue Store Into Flagship Building

Louis Vuitton is reportedly planning to tear down its current building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in Manhattan — the heart of New York's fashion district — and build a new flagship store.

The luxury fashion house, owned by LVMH, is interviewing architects in a "beauty contest" to pick a design for a new store, which would combine its narrow, 19-story building at 727 Fifth Ave. with the adjacent Hublot store at 743 Fifth Ave., another LVMH subsidiary, the New York Post reports.

Louis Vuitton signed a seven-year, 65K SF lease last month to move its store to the Donald Trump-owned 6 East 57th St., the Post previously reported, and it would look to redevelop the new store over the course of that deal.

Louis Vuitton’s current building, just off Billionaire's Row, is zoned without a height limit, meaning new construction could be developed as-of-right to 122K SF or even twice as large if it also obtains air rights from neighboring properties such as 5 East 57th St., which is home to competitor Yves Saint Laurent.

Louis Vuitton’s decision comes as Rolex and Tiffany, Louis Vuitton's sister company, prepare to open new Fifth Avenue spaces, with Tiffany’s new flagship slated to open Friday and Rolex beginning excavation for its 665 Fifth Ave. tower last month, per reporting from New York YIMBY.

“[LVMH] saw what Rolex is doing at 665 Fifth Ave. and want to create something just as new and important,” an unnamed source told the Post.

The luxury fashion houses' new stores are part of a revival fueling competition for prime spaces in New York’s retail corridors and across the country. Ground-floor retail availability dropped 7.2% across 16 of New York City’s most in-demand retail corridors during Q1 this year, a CBRE report found. Prices rose by 3.7% during the quarter, reaching $638 per SF. 

Urban markets, and NYC in particular, are luring back retail tenants, Taryn Brandes, the founder of retail brokerage and advisory firm Brand Urban said at Bisnow’s national retail event this week.

“In 2022, I would say that 60% of our business was happening outside of New York City,” Brandes said. “In 2023, 75 to 80% is back in New York City. People are aware of the strength of these dense urban markets. They’re not going away.”