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May 13, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Marx Realty has signed 16,000 square feet of new and expanded leases at The Herald, a 114,000-square-foot office building located at 1307 New York Ave. in Washington, D.C. The deals include two new leases: a 5,000-square-foot, eight-year lease with Auburn University’s non-partisan think tank McCrary Institute and a 3,200-square-foot, six-year deal with public policy strategy firm August Strategy Group.
Additionally, an undisclosed government affairs agency has nearly doubled its footprint at The Herald, expanding by 7,800 square feet. The office building’s amenities include a rental 2023 Tesla Y car, 40-seat boardroom, café, lounge and a fitness center with boxing facilities, private workout rooms, Pelotons, Hydro rowers and a mirror fitness system.
May 12, 2025
New and Expanded Leases Affirm Demand for Well-Appointed, Hospitality-Infused Office Buildings
Marx Realty (MNPP), a New York-based owner, developer and manager of office, retail and multifamily properties across the United States, announces it has signed 16,000 square feet of new leases including two new tenants and a significant expansion at The Herald office building. Auburn University’s nonpartisan think tank McCrary Institute will occupy a 5,000-square-foot space in an eight-year lease and legislative and public policy strategy firm August Strategy Group has signed on to a 3,200-square-foot, six-year lease while a confidential government affairs agency has nearly doubled its footprint, expanding by 7,800 square feet at The Herald.
“The Herald building is a timeless icon and continues to attract the best tenants in the market,” said Craig Deitelzweig, CEO of Marx Realty. “Our repositioning here brought back its historic elegance and infused every space with Marx Realty’s signature office hospitality experience. The sophisticated design sensibility at The Herald has driven incredible leasing velocity as top-tier tenants seek office spaces with a welcoming sensory experience that fosters connection, creativity and collaboration.”
Marx Realty pioneered the hotel-like aesthetic in DC with its repositioning of The Herald office building. Located at 1307 New York Avenue, The Herald was originally constructed in 1923 and acquired by Marx Realty in 2020. The 114,000-square-foot building showcases a distinct Beaux Arts style, and the design team infused every space with a high-end hotel-like sensibility. Each intricate detail pays homage to the building’s past as the former home to the offices and printing presses of the Washington Times-Herald where the legendary Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis (then Bouvier) began her career as the “Inquiring Camera Girl,” both as a photographer and reporter.
The Herald blends a New York club-like vibe with a decidedly DC design sensibility and has effectively blurred the lines between office and hospitality. The sensory experience starts at the entry with its intimate foyer opening to an expansive lobby designed to evoke its newspaper office and production heritage. Adorned with walnut wood, copper accents, plush seating areas, and soaring ceilings, the building and its design details capture Jackie O’s timeless grace and sophistication mimicking the fashionable textures and colors for which she was so well known. A uniformed doorman attends oversized wooden entry doors as The Herald welcomes tenants and guests with mood music and Marx Realty’s signature scent.
The Herald boasts an expansive suite of amenities including a 40-seat boardroom, European-style café, and the Bouvier Lounge – a meticulously curated 8,800-square-foot club floor featuring historic photos, artwork, newspaper printing memorabilia and a fireplace. Additionally, the Marx Mobile, a 2023 Tesla Y, is available to tenants via the MarxConnect app and gives tenants access to a house car similar to what one might experience at the world’s finest hotels. The well-appointed fitness center, Press Fitness, offers boxing facilities, private workout rooms featuring individual pelotons, Hydrow rowers, and Mirror fitness system with historically significant and bold, modern artwork throughout.
McCrary Institute has grown its DC footprint, adding this space to its existing tenancy at 101 Constitution; the firm was represented by Greg Culver of CBRE. August Strategy Group will relocate from Alexandria, VA; the firm was represented by Caroline Bour of CBRE.
The Herald is the result of the ongoing collaboration between Marx Realty and Studios Architecture, continuing the hospitality-meets-office repositioning success at 10 Grand Central and 545 Madison Avenue, both in New York City.
The tenant roster at The Herald includes government and public affairs firms LSG and CGCN, financial services firm FS Vector and commercial real estate industry group SIOR (Society of Industrial and Office Realtors). Proper Cloth, a bespoke menswear brand that offers custom tailored menswear, opened its first DC showroom last year in the ground-floor retail space at The Herald.
About Marx Realty
Marx Realty is a division of Merchants’ National Properties (MNPP). Founded in 1915, its current portfolio of properties includes over 5 million square feet of commercial office, retail and residential space as well as five mixed-use projects currently under development. Marx Realty is vertically integrated and involved in all phases of real estate management, development, construction and leasing. The company’s assets comprise 67 properties in 17 states.
May 12, 2025
Marx Realty has signed 16,000 square feet of new leases including two new tenants and a significant expansion at The Herald office building, a 10-story office building in Washington, D.C.
Auburn University’s nonpartisan think tank McCrary Institute will occupy a 5,000-square-foot space in an eight-year lease and legislative and public policy strategy firm August Strategy Group has signed a 3,200-square-foot, six-year lease while a confidential government affairs agency has nearly doubled its footprint, expanding by 7,800 square feet at The Herald.
McCrary Institute has grown its DC footprint, adding this space to its existing tenancy at 101 Constitution and the firm was represented by CBRE’s Greg Culver. August Strategy Group will relocate from Alexandria, and the firm was represented by CBRE’s Caroline Bour.
Located at 1307 New York Avenue, The Herald was originally constructed in 1923 and acquired by Marx Realty in 2020. The 114,000-square-foot building was the former home to the offices and printing presses of the Washington Times-Herald.
Riveron Relocates in Midtown to Marx Realty’s 10 Grand CentralMay 7, 2025
By: Paul Bubny
Marx Realty has signed a new 20,000-square-foot lease with business advisory firm Riveron at 10 Grand Central in Midtown Manhattan. The firm, which partners with private equity firms and other capital providers across accounting, finance, technology and operations functions, is relocating from 461 Fifth Ave. and has committed to a 10-year term. The Meeting Galleries, a new 11,000-square-foot amenity comprising four reservable spaces, continues to drive leasing activity at 10 Grand Central.
“We have seen interest in the spaces at 10 Grand Central skyrocket since repositioning the building in 2018,” said Marx Realty CEO Craig Deitelzweig. “It’s not surprising to see firm’s choosing options that give employees an inspiring and collaborative workplace that redefines a welcoming hospitality-like sensibility at the office.”
JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Carlee Palmer, Thomas Swartz and Nicole Danyi lead a team handling the leasing for Marx Realty. Peter Trivelas of Cushman & Wakefield represented Riveron.
BellTower Partners leases 9,000 s/f at Marx Realty’s 545 MadisonApril 8, 2025
Manhattan, NY According to Marx Realty, private investment firm BellTower Partners, founded by Kewsong Lee, has signed on to take a full floor at its 545 Madison office building, which Marx co-branded with Baccarat.
“We’ve had incredible success since repositioning the 545 Madison office tower,” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO at Marx Realty. “We have been able to attract premiere investment firms as well as high-end luxury brands as a result of the dramatic repositioning and collaboration with Baccarat. This is the nation’s first co-branded office building, and the market has been responding strongly. We continue to see incredible interest in our uniquely welcoming workspace experiences across the Marx Realty portfolio.”
A Cushman & Wakefield team led by Tara Stacom represented Marx Realty and CBRE’s Zac Price and Neil King represented BellTower Partners. The term is for 10 years.
545 Madison features a warm and welcoming hospitality-infused vibe that appeals to office users ranging from financial services firms to luxury brands. The sensory journey starts at the entrance and boasts a uniformed doorman while the well-appointed lobby features warm materials and soft curves. The serenity of the lobby library and various nooks with plush velvet seating, combined with soft curves and walnut wood-clad walls punctuates the sophisticated ambiance effectively blurring the lines between an office lobby and a luxury hotel space.
With Baccarat joining the tenant roster in December 2023, and committing to a co-branding program at 545 Madison, the lobby at 545 Madison is accented with some of the most recognizable Baccarat fixtures and accessories. From the simple sophistication of its Lady Crinoline Chandelier and Harcourt pendant lights to the bold luxury of the Zenith Red Chandelier – with select pieces custom-crafted for the building – the lobby at 545 Madison welcomes tenants and guests with the aesthetic of two extraordinary brands.
The eighth-floor club lounge at 545 Madison is known as the Leonard Lounge and named in honor of Leonard Marx, the founder of Marx Realty. The design is an homage to Leonard’s personality with features that are represented in the thoughtful details that make up the space. Comprising 7,000 s/f of indoor/outdoor lounge space, the Leonard Lounge has a café, a 2,000 s/f landscaped terrace, a 40-seat boardroom and a ceiling-suspended fireplace. Baccarat fixtures, barware and accessories in the tenant lounge add another layer of luxury and round out the exclusive ambiance of the space.
Current tenants include financial software and applications developer GTS and Baccarat; private equity firms Consonance Capital, TruArc Partners, Kohlberg & Company, Vialto Partners and Orangewood Capital as well as additional top-tier wealth management and private equity firms.
David Burns and Kristin Kaiser of Studios Architecture worked with Marx Realty’s in-house design team to reimagine the lobby and amenity spaces at 545 Madison.
April 10, 2025
Marx Realty announced that investment advisory firm Family Management Corporation is more than doubling its footprint at 10 Grand Central, expanding from 4,800 square feet to 11,000 square feet with a seven-year term. Weidenbaum & Harari, a New York-based law firm focused on serving the legal needs of the real estate and construction industries, renewed its 8,000-square-foot lease for a seven-year term.
The recent activity comes on the heels of the completion of The Meeting Galleries, a new, 11,000-square-foot amenity comprising four reservable spaces to accommodate board meetings, corporate retreats, company gatherings, product launches, team building activities, podcast productions and more.
“We began taking reservations for The Meeting Galleries spaces well before construction was complete and consistently receive enthusiastic feedback from existing and potential tenants as well as brokers touring the building,” said Craig Deitelzweig, president and CEO of Marx Realty. “The recent renewal and expansion were driven by our best-in-market, premier amenity offering which redefined the workplace experience before the market knew it needed to be rethought.”
From a next-generation ‘town hall’ meeting lounge with seating for 200 to pre-function, podcast and theater rooms, The Meeting Galleries exudes a luxury train liner aesthetic that complements the well-received seventh floor club lounge and terrace. The Meeting Galleries consists of four defined spaces: The Bar Car (a pre-function space outfitted with Baccarat accessories and barware); The Grand Gallery (a meeting lounge with space for 200 participants in a setting with grand arched ceilings); The PodCast Gallery (a bespoke sound-attenuated space equipped with technology needed to produce and record podcasts) and The Screening Gallery (a theater with plush stadium seating and a 150-inch screen).
JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Carlee Palmer, Thomas Schwartz and Nicole Danyi are leading a team handling the leasing for Marx Realty. Family Management Corporation was represented by Rob Silver of Newmark. Weidenbaum & Harari was represented by Doug Levine of Newmark. Asking rents at 10 Grand Central range from $82-140 per square foot.
Marx Realty Reveals New 11,000-SF Amenity at 10 Grand Central, Inks 19,000 SF of Lease Renewals/ExpansionsApril 10, 2025
By citybiz
Family Management Corporation More Than Doubles its Footprint to 11,000 SF and Weidenbaum & Harari Renews for its 8,000 SF Space
Newly Completed “The Meeting Galleries” Amenity Drives Leasing Commitments as Space Complements Hospitality-Infused Ambiance of Repositioned Office Tower
Marx Realty (MNPP), a New York-based owner, developer and manager of office, retail and multifamily property across the United States, today announced that investment advisory firm, Family Management Corporation is more than doubling its footprint at 10 Grand Central expanding from 4,800 square feet to 11,000 square feet with a seven-year term. Weidenbaum & Harari, a New York-based law firm focused on serving the legal needs of the real estate and construction industries, renewed its 8,000-square-foot lease for a seven-year term. The recent activity comes on the heels of the completion of The Meeting Galleries, a new 11,000-square-foot amenity comprising four reservable spaces to accommodate board meetings, corporate retreats, company gatherings, product launches, team building activities, podcast productions and much more.
“We began taking reservations for The Meeting Galleries spaces well before construction was complete and consistently receive enthusiastic feedback from existing and potential tenants as well as brokers touring the building,” said Craig Deitelzweig. “The recent renewal and expansion were driven by our best-in-market, premier amenity offering which redefined the workplace experience before the market knew it needed to be rethought.”
From a next-generation ‘town hall’ meeting lounge with seating for 200 to pre-function, podcast and theater rooms, The Meeting Galleries exudes a luxury train liner aesthetic that complements the well-received 7th floor club lounge and terrace. The new space harkens back to the 1930s when hospitality was king and white glove experiences were reserved only for the elite while punctuating a hospitality-infused package that combines workspace functionality and luxury hotel ambiance.
The Meeting Galleries consists of four defined spaces: The Bar Car (a pre-function space outfitted with Baccarat accessories and barware); The Grand Gallery (a meeting lounge unlike any other with space for 200 participants in an exceptional setting with grand arched ceilings); The PodCast Gallery (a bespoke sound-attenuated space equipped with technology needed to produce and record podcasts); and The Screening Gallery (a theater with plush stadium seating and a 150” screen).
The Bar Car – the dramatic pre-function space – includes a floor-to-ceiling bronze fireplace and a green stone bar accented with open shelving and integrated mirror panels to provide a striking entrance into the space. The includes a variety of plush velvet seating options and warm walnut wood panels throughout to accent the inviting experience. Distinctive art pieces fashioned in oxidized copper and graceful, gold-backed murals will lend an art gallery-like quality to the space while windows with soft, rounded edges mimic those found on train liners and infuse the space with natural light. Private nooks with fold-down tables, similar to those found in a luxury train car, add timeless sophistication and contemporary functionality to the space.
Artwork inspired by Guastavino tiles adorns the Grand Gallery with a distinctive sensibility reminiscent of the many spaces in Grand Central Terminal while offering a variety of plush seating options, a burl-wood backdrop, hardwood flooring and regal burnt orange carpeting. The Podcast Gallery is framed with a half wall of fluted glass – including an ‘on air’ lighted sign — and is equipped with the latest technology for production and recording functions. Inside the Screening Gallery, the ceiling is peppered with pin lights to simulate the constellation-inspired ceiling at Grand Central Terminal and offers tenants the opportunity to watch movies or training videos, hold team-building gatherings or connect with colleagues around the world via video conferencing.
JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Carlee Palmer, Thomas Schwartz, and Nicole Danyi are leading a team handling the leasing for Marx Realty. Family Management Corporation was represented by Rob Silver of Newmark. Weidenbaum & Harari was represented by Doug Levine of Newmark. Asking rents at 10 Grand Central range from $82-140 per square foot.
The Meeting Galleries is the latest evolution of Marx Realty’s hospitality-infused renovation at 10 Grand Central which, in 2018, included a stunning new façade with marquee brass fins and oversized walnut doors, attended by a uniformed doorman, as well as a redesigned lobby featuring walnut wood and brushed brass accents. The 7th floor lounge, added as part of the initial repositioning at 10 Grand Central, comprises 7,500 square feet of indoor/outdoor club space equipped with a café, a 40-seat conference space, and The Ivy Terrace, an outdoor space reminiscent of a 1930’s garden party. The building is also home to the MarxMobile, an electric Porsche Taycan that serves as the building’s house car, further blurring the lines between hotel and office.
Studios Architecture, together with Marx Realty’s in-house design team, led the redesign of the building as well as designs for The Meeting Galleries. The building’s notable roster of tenants includes bank holding company Merchants Bancorp; global asset manager Fin Capital; and global independent fund manager DIF Capital Partners. High-profile tenants also include Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s production company, Seven Bucks Productions (as reported by the New York Post); insurance giant MassMutual; and, international news agency Agence France-Presse.
Family Management Corporation more than doubles footprint at 10 Grand Central
Two tenants have signed new deals at Midtown office tower 10 Grand Central (seen here).
Investment advisory firm Family Management Corporation has more than doubled its footprint at 10 Grand Central.
The firm, which has been at the office tower since 2022, will be expanding from 4,800 square feet to 11,000 square feet on the property’s 21st floor.
The lease is for seven years.
Asking rents in the building range from $82 to $140 per square foot.
Family Management Corporation was represented in the lease signing by Newmark’s Rob Silver. Landlord Marx Realty was represented by JLL’s Mitchell Konsker, Carlee Palmer, Thomas Schwartz and Nicole Danyi.
Separately, New York-based law firm Weidenbaum & Harari has renewed its lease at the building for seven years.
The deals come on the heels of the completion of an 11,000-square-foot amenity space called The Meeting Galleries at the property.
“We began taking reservations for The Meeting Galleries spaces well before construction was complete and consistently receive enthusiastic feedback from existing and potential tenants as well as brokers touring the building,” Marx Realty’s President and CEO Craig Deitelzweig said in a statement.
This Real-Estate Developer Is Going Big on Retail When No One Else WillApril 1, 2025
By Kate King
Joshua Simon is using public incentives and local financing to build new shopping centers
Nearly every real-estate developer is steering clear of building new retail real estate these days. Not Joshua Simon.
The 39-year-old Scottsdale, Ariz.-based real-estate investor has built 2.6 million square feet of ground-up retail since 2018, including the largest shopping center developed in the Western half of the U.S. over the past seven years.
He is preparing to start construction on roughly another 1.5 million more square feet over the next year in Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, Indiana, New Mexico and Tennessee, betting that public incentives and local financing can make his plan to build more shopping centers work.
His company has already spent more than $1 billion building retail, and Simon expects to spend another half-billion dollars by the end of 2026.
It is a risky bet. Most real-estate investors believe it is too expensive to build new retail right now, even though retail vacancy is hovering near record-low levels and rents have been rising steadily in recent years.
“The cost of construction has been growing faster,” said James Cook, retail research director at real-estate firm JLL.
That means most developers would struggle to profit because they can’t charge high-enough rent to justify building costs. Construction prices look poised to rise even higher as President Trump’s administration rolls out tariffs on materials such as steel and aluminum.
And even though bricks-and-mortar shopping has surged as expanding retailers compete for space, a string of retail bankruptcies has also left gaping holes in shopping centers as more companies succumb to online competition, inflation and changing consumer tastes.
A pullback in spending by consumers, who surveys show are increasingly pessimistic about the economy, would further hurt retail expansion.
Naveen Jaggi, president of retail advisory services in the Americas for JLL, said he had expected to see retail development picking up in 2025 after a long fallow period.
Now, he believes it will be at least three years before construction gains traction. “Costs are too high, and that hasn’t abated yet,” Jaggi said.
Even Simon understands why his peers are stuck on the sidelines. “Development and construction is freaking hard,” he said.
Still, Simon thinks he can make the numbers work. He is focusing on the most promising locations with affordable land and growing populations.
He is also working with localities that have increasingly embraced retail, especially in places where lower property taxes mean budgets rely on sales-tax revenue.
The city would reimburse Simon for public infrastructure costs under a current incentive proposal if he brings certain retailers to the shopping center and meets other milestones.
“We know that our residents want these retailers,” said Jaye O’Donnell, Mesa’s economic development director. “And we want to make sure that those disposable income dollars stay in the city of Mesa.”
Getting local buy-in isn’t as easy everywhere. In Yonkers, N.Y., real-estate investor Marx Realty is scheduled to break ground this summer on a 60,000-square-foot expansion to its Cross County Center. But Chief Executive Officer Craig Deitelzweig said the math doesn’t work for building brand-new shopping centers.
“It’s either cost prohibitive or we would never get the approval to do it,” he said.
Retail construction plummeted after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Supply-chain shortages and rising construction costs further depressed building activity.
A near-record-low 30 million square feet of net-new retail was built nationwide last year, compared with 221 million square feet in 2006, according to JLL.
Simon said he was fascinated by construction from a young age. On Saturdays he attended Home Depot’s free classes for children. He founded his company, SimonCRE, in 2010, when retail was one of real estate’s worst-performing asset classes.
For most of his career, Simon renovated outdated stores or built stand-alone locations for retailers such as Starbucks and Dollar General. His foray into bigger projects shows how volatile retail development can be.
In 2018, the U.S. economy was humming, particularly in the Sunbelt, and Simon believed he could build a successful large shopping center. In early 2020, he entered into a contract to purchase a tract of former farmland at an affordable price in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise.
Simon’s construction and carrying costs got so high because of the pandemic’s upheaval that he abandoned his original plan to refinance the project’s debt. He was rescued when his friend Steve Hilton, executive chairman of home builder Meritage Homes, bought half the shopping center. Simon still owns the other half.
Village at Prasada is now fully leased, and Simon has started construction on the project’s second phase. Once completed, the project will encompass 1.3 million square feet of retail.
Retail development doesn’t generate high returns, so Simon sells his properties as quickly as possible to extract profits. But as one of the few developers building new shopping centers today, Simon has an advantage as retailer demand picks up for new store space.
“The few that survived, they’ve got a huge leg up because they’ve got that experience and knowledge,” said Bronson Naab, senior vice president at National Bank of Arizona, which has lent more than $200 million to Simon.
‘Better Than Billionaires’ Row’? Why NYC’s Top Developers Are All-In On A Tiny Patch Of Madison AvenueMarch 27, 2025
On just five blocks of Madison Avenue, a multibillion-dollar development battle is brewing.
Within a matter of months, Extell Development and Related Cos. have set in motion plans for ultra-luxury skyscrapers on the eastern corners of 60th and 59th streets. The developers are known to be aggressive, being responsible for shaping Billionaires’ Row and Hudson Yards, but their investments are just the start of the area’s rebirth.
“The Plaza District in general is in the midst of a $15B to $20B makeover when you total up all of the projects that are either recently completed, under development or proposed,” Eastdil Secured Managing Director Will Silverman said. “I think people have not really processed just how different this neighborhood is going to look in the not-too-distant future.”
This stretch of the iconic fashion strip between 57th and 61st streets — nestled between Fifth and Park avenues and a block from Central Park — today is dotted with construction workers hustling around the typical throngs of tourists lugging shopping bags and waiters taking smoke breaks.
Extell and Related might be the earliest, biggest movers, but they are far from alone. Across the avenue, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. is contemplating the future of the shuttered Barneys store, a Madison Avenue staple. A pension fund last month reportedly tapped Silverman’s team at Eastdil to market 590 Madison Ave. for $1.1B.
“The location is perfect,” Ariel Property Advisors President and founder Shimon Shkury said. “Actually, I personally think the location is probably better than Billionaires’ Row, in a way.”
Since Jan. 1, 2024, investors have dropped $1.6B across just 17 transactions in the Plaza District, defined as east of Sixth Avenue between 47th and 65th streets, according to data provided by Ariel Property Advisors. That accounted for nearly 10% of the entire $17.9B spent across Manhattan over that period, but less than 4% of total transactions.
The bidding war in the Plaza District was kicked off by luxury retailers on Fifth Avenue aiming to choke out competition and strengthen their brand dominance.
At the end of 2023, Prada shelled out $853M for two buildings at 720 and 724 Fifth Ave., and Kering, the parent company of Gucci and Balenciaga, splurged nearly $1B on 715-717 Fifth Ave. Rolex is also building a new 28-story headquarters and flagship at 665 Fifth, and Chanel and LVMH are reportedly going head-to-head in negotiations for 745 Fifth.
And other sales are in the works. This week, Bloomberg reported that Naftali Group entered a contract to buy 800 Fifth Ave. for more than $800M, a price and buyer that suggest a luxury condo tower could be in the works.
On Madison Avenue’s eastern flank, titans of finance have piled into offices on Park Avenue, where availability is among the lowest in the world. JPMorgan Chase and Citadel are building new towers for themselves, and private equity juggernauts are battling for whatever top-end space is left, routinely paying more than $150 per SF.
Those investments in office and retail have consolidated New York City’s high net worth individuals into what is, more or less, a single 1,000-foot radius around one small section of Madison Avenue. The strip has seen its share of struggles and distress in recent years, but it is now poised to regain its status as an emblem of American corporate prestige and upscale sophistication — Mad Men was named for it, after all.
“The reason that the neighborhood has been getting so many investment dollars is part of a more global phenomenon that has to do with wealth concentration. The world has been making billionaires faster than it’s making the stuff they buy,” Silverman said. “Real estate in this neighborhood is one of those things.”
655 Madison Ave.
Starting in October, Gary Barnett’s Extell spent more than $260M to acquire the office building at 655 Madison and the adjacent buildings at 33-39 E. 60th St. The 200K SF tower is in the process of being razed, while demolition permits have been filed for four smaller buildings around the corner.
Holdover petitions to remove one resident and two restaurants, Il Mulino and Philippe Chow, were filed in civil court early last year, though a waiter at the upscale Chinese restaurant told Bisnow last week he had no knowledge — and a newfound fear — that a condo development could result in him losing his job.
But Barnett is known for his patience. The land and air rights for his two Billionaires’ Row supertalls, One57 and Central Park Tower, each took roughly a decade to piece together. This month, after another 10 years, he spent what he called a “stupid price,” $175M, on the holdout lot at 576 Fifth Ave. He will use it to build a blockwide office tower and Ikea superstore.
Extell didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment but seems to be moving ahead on its Madison Avenue scheme. Plans filed before the purchases of 33-39 E. 60th describe a new 37-story mixed-use development with retail, office, hotel and residential.
Industry insiders speculate that the 37-story tower may not be the final vision.
“It’s not [Barnett’s] style. Based on analyzing work that he’s done for so long, that just doesn’t seem like what he does,” said Duane Burress, who specializes in land and air rights valuations.
A lawsuit filed this week has bolstered that hypothesis. The buyer of an $80M unit at 520 Park Ave. sued Zeckendorf Development, claiming that the penthouse was sold without warning that Extell has “secret plans” to build a skyscraper on Madison Avenue that “will tower over” and block the views of the existing 64-story building.
625 Madison Ave.
A block to the south, demolition crews donning gas masks are swarming the corner of 59th Street and Madison, where Related plans to erect a 68-story residential supertall. It is expected to yield 101 condo units, along with an array of amenities, restaurant space and two floors of retail.
“625 Madison Avenue holds a special place in Related’s history as our former corporate headquarters for nearly two decades,” a spokesperson for the firm told Bisnow in a statement. “We look forward to starting a new chapter for the building by delivering exceptional hospitality, luxury residences, and flagship retail in one of the most sought-after areas in New York City.”
The building, along with any residential units Extell builds, would be rare contributors to the Plaza District’s low housing stock and cater to the increasing number of high earners working on Park Avenue.
Expected to be completed in 2032, Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Vornado and Rudin have begun the approval process for 350 Park Ave., an office tower where the hedge fund has already committed to 800K SF. That site is a 10-minute walk away from Related’s site, according to Google Maps. One Vanderbilt, a fully occupied, 1.7M SF office that opened in 2020, is less than 20 minutes away.
Newly constructed condos in the area surrounding the 57th-to-61st-street corridor have an average sellout of over $4,600 per SF. Certain developments, like the Aman Residences at 730 Fifth Ave., sell for as much as $8K per SF, according to market data analysis provided by Ariel Property Advisors. The last sponsor unit at the Aman sold for $66M in January.
“If I’m working at One Vanderbilt or 550 Madison, I probably can live [nearby] in a luxury apartment building,” Shkury said. “So, I work in the best building in the world with the best people in the world. I live in the best location in the world with all of the amenities I need.”
660 Madison Ave.
Contrasted with the pounding sounds of jackhammers, the former Barneys store at 660 Madison Ave. sits quiet. In the window of what was once a small salon, abandoned bottles of hair products remain on display, gathering dust.
The nine-story retail condo, owned by Ashkenazy, was vacated by the department chain in 2020. It was briefly occupied by a Louis Vuitton pop-up in 2022 but has otherwise remained empty. Still, the developer has clung to the space.
“Barneys is the best piece of real estate on Madison Avenue,” Ben Ashkenazy said last year. “I’ve chosen to keep it vacant for a reason, because one big retailer is going to buy it.”
That’s still a possibility, although Ashkenazy has new rivals vying for the same buyers. Extell is reportedly in negotiations with Chanel to sell the 65K SF retail base at 655 Madison for more than $400M, Commercial Observer reported earlier this month.
In 2020, it was reported that J. Safra Real Estate was emptying the office portion of 660 Madison to move forward on plans to convert the upper half into residential and hotel use. Permits for the project were originally filed in 2015.
But no permits for construction, aside from those for the sidewalk shed and small electrical fixes, have been filed in the last two years. Neither Safra nor Ashkenazy responded to Bisnow’s requests for comment.
An empty building could be the perfect opportunity to compete with Extell and Related — and Ashkenazy has some added motivation. He once owned the ground under 625 Madison Ave. Ashkenazy’s partner Michael Alpert previously called the land “absolutely one of the best development sites in Manhattan.”
But Ashkenazy lost the site to SL Green in August 2023 following a combative foreclosure process. Related paid $633M for the property a few months later.
Now, 660 Madison Ave. could go up against the new construction across the street, if Ashkenazy or another developer so chooses, insiders say. A new tower on the site may even be able to block views of 625 Madison, harming its value.
But even though Ashkenazy has investors to answer to, decisions on the building shouldn’t be rushed, especially with so much action happening around it, Burress said.
“When someone wants to buy a site, they are always concerned about what the next person is doing right there and down the block,” he said. “They don’t want to put something out there that no one’s going to want because this person already put it out.”
‘The Difference Between Place Vendôme and Siberia’
Other landlords have already begun upgrading their buildings to keep up with their neighbors. Scaffolding covers several storefronts on the strip, including the LVMH Tower at 21 E. 57th St., where the French fashion conglomerate is constructing a new seven-floor Dior flagship equipped with a spa.
Further down the avenue, Marx Realty has spent $24M to add a hotel-like lobby, club floor and library to its boutique office building at 545 Madison. It partnered with French crystal manufacturer Baccarat to brand the office.
Marx CEO Craig Deitelzweig said he has been able to increase rents by 30% by leaning in to luxury, and he expects demand to keep going up as a result of the new developments.
“Each project feeds off of the next project,” Deitelzweig said. “There’s more vibrancy, more people out on the streets, better restaurants, better retailers, better office tenants, more residential. All of that keeps happening.”
However, the range of that feedback loop, and those who benefit from it, only goes so far. With retailers and landlords snapping up prime sites, available inventory is rapidly dwindling.
“This is a rare case in real estate where you actually have an expansion of demand and a contraction of supply,” Silverman said. “A few dozen feet in the wrong direction and it’s the difference between Place Vendôme and Siberia.”