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693 Fifth Avenue

Key Facts

  • Valentino flagship
  • 20-story building
  • +100,000 SF

About

In 2010, Thor acquired this primarily vacant 20-story, 100,000-square-foot mixed-use building in the heart of Manhattan’s prestigious Fifth Avenue retail corridor. With narrow space and very little visibility facing Fifth Avenue, we were faced with the challenge of how to place a luxury brand among an elite roster of neighboring retailers.

THE SOLUTION

693 Fifth Avenue offered the ultimate opportunity to rebrand its façade for any retailer. With the ability to give the building a new look, Thor restructured the interior by demolishing portions of the second and third floors to reveal its multi-level retail potential, and recaptured a portion of the office lobby to add more square footage to the ground floor. By doing so, Thor was able to develop an international marketing strategy to aggressively introduce this unique opportunity to high profile retailers seeking a flagship New York store.

THE OUTCOME

In August 2013, Thor successfully signed a long-term lease with international luxury brand Valentino. Throughout the next year, we worked hand-in-hand with Valentino to rejuvenate the building, bringing a modern floor-to-ceiling window façade from the ground through the eighth floor. Additionally, Thor worked with leading designer David Chipperfield to recreate the interior including a new lobby for the building. Valentino opened in August 2014, occupying four full levels of prime retail space with 50 feet of Fifth Avenue frontage.

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