Louis Vuitton plans new Fifth Ave flagship

A new Fifth Avenue flagship store is coming for Louis Vuitton. 

French luxury conglomerate LVMH is planning to build a property at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and East 57th Street, the New York Post reported. The property will serve as both a retail space and offices for the luxury brand.

The company is interviewing “starchitects” to decide who will design the building, sources told the Post. To make it come to life, LVMH will demolish the 19-story Louis Vuitton property at 1 East 57th Street, as well as the adjacent 743 Fifth Avenue, where Hublot — another brand owned by the conglomerate — has an outpost.

There’s no known height limit on the corner site, but Louis Vuitton would be limited by light and air setback requirements. As-of-right, the property could span more than 122,000 square feet, potentially more if it can acquire air rights from adjacent properties, like one that houses competitor Yves Saint Laurent.

The move to redevelop the corner site sheds more light on some recent leasing activity in the sector. LVMH’s musical chairs of leases along the Manhattan retail corridor. 

Louis Vuitton recently inked a seven-year lease at the Trump Organization’s 6 East 57th Street for 65,000 square feet, taking space being vacated by yet another LVMH brand, Tiffany’s, as the jeweler moves to a flagship site opened this week. 

Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton (and Hublot, perhaps) can occupy space close to the redeveloping property as the demolishment and construction takes place. Sources told the Post LVMH is paying $20 million per year for the Trump-owned space.

The conglomerate, headed by CEO and world’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, was reported last month to be eyeing a 150,000-square-foot lease of its own Olayan Group’s 550 Madison Avenue. The property would serve as the American headquarters for LVMH, which would move from 19 East 57th Street.

— Holden Walter-Warner