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The Battle for Fifth Avenue

Isabelle Campone

By Isabelle Campone02 juillet 2024

It's no longer just about having a store; every luxury brand wants a flagship on Manhattan's most coveted street. Cartier, Tiffany, and Rolex are renovating their buildings, while others are fiercely competing to acquire any available properties, investing hundreds of millions in the process.

From Central Park to Saint Patrick's Cathedral, 5th Avenue remains the most expensive address in the world for commercial property (Shutterstock)

$ 963 M

Acquisition by Kering of a property on Fifth Avenue, in January 2024

$ 853 M

Prada Group to acquire two buildings on the Cinquième Avenue in December 2023

€ 750 M

LVMH to acquire 101 Av. des Champs-Elysées in Paris in 2023

The Cartier building, also known as 653 Fifth Avenue, is a commercial building on the south-east corner of 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York (DR)
Amidst widespread predictions of recession and retail's decline, many wondered about Fifth Avenue's fate post-COVID. Fifth Avenue… it was unclear if the name still held the same allure as when Audrey Hepburn admired Tiffany's windows while eating a croissant in an evening gown at dawn. The legendary toy store F.A.O Schwartz was replaced by an Apple Store years ago, and it seemed Apple might be the last giant drawing customers into a brick-and-mortar store.

All roads lead to real estate

Michael Burke, director of LVMH Fashion Group

But that’s far from the case. From Central Park to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue remains the world's most expensive commercial real estate, according to a Cushman & Wakefield study from last November. Brands are vying for spaces as soon as they become available. We're no longer talking about stores but entire buildings and essential flagships for brands.

The Race for the Best Location

LVMH would never have modernized the Christian Dior store in Paris to include a café, a rose garden, and other features if it did not own the building

Jean-Jacques Guiony, CFO of LVMH

In 2022, Tiffany reopened its famous store after renovations: a completely reimagined building. While the legendary 1940 façade remains unchanged, Rem Koolhaas's OMA added an extra level to the ten floors—a glass cube resembling a jewelry box. The interior was entirely redesigned by Peter Marino, an architect renowned for numerous LVMH flagships (Tiffany's current owner). The $250 million renovation resulted in an airy space filled with art, from Basquiat to Damien Hirst to James Turrell. Around the same time, Cartier unveiled its historic Mansion, just a few blocks away. It too was refreshed on the outside and completely reimagined inside, with commercial space four times larger, leather-covered walls, and thirty reproductions of the chandelier Pierre Cartier designed for the original building.

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