Brunello Cucinelli Expands to 51K SF at 689 Fifth Avenue

Brunello Cucinelli didn’t have to go far to find bigger office space. The luxury fashion company has now renewed its lease and expanded to 51,000 square feet at 689 Fifth Avenue, Commercial Observer has learned.

The company will take over the entire 8,000-square-foot fourth floor and keep its 43,000 square feet on the entire fifth through ninth floors, along with the property’s entire penthouse floor, a source with knowledge of the deal said. 

The deals co-terminate in 2035. Floors in the 15-story building range in size from 2,500 to 8,000 square feet. Asking rent was $105 per square foot, the source said.

The Italian-based Brunello Cucinelli was represented by Joseph Fabrizi and Arkady Smolyansky of CBRE. Owner Vornado Realty Trust handled it in-house via Alexandra Bedell. Spokespeople for Vornado, CBRE and Brunello Cucinelli did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Brunello Cucinelli — founded in 1978 by the former model to make cashmere sweaters for women — first leased space in the property in 2013 and expanded its occupancy the following year.

The 15th floor has a 3,500-square-foot outdoor terrace designed by SPaCe Architecture that is frequently used for business lunches and social gatherings, according to the website of the construction manager John Gallin & Son.

Other tenants include Yamaha, Wildenstein & Company and Allogene Therapeutics.

Conceived by steel magnate Charles A. Gould on the site of the former Rockefeller mansion, the building began construction in 1925. The 99,000-square-foot limestone building was designed by Warren & Wetmore in a neoclassical style with French Renaissance Revival details as the home of the Aeolian piano and instrument manufacturer.

It was completed after Gould’s death. His daughter, Celia Gould Milne, purchased it for $3 million out of foreclosure in 1927 after a major fire halted construction. 

Elizabeth Arden leased an office and retail store in the building in 1929, opening the famous Red Door Salon in 1930. Aeolian moved out in 1938 and Arden bought the building in 1944 and renamed it after her eponymous cosmetic company, which occupied 11 floors at one point. 

After Arden passed away in 1966, Larry Silverstein and then brother-in-law Bernard Mendik competed against 40 others to purchase the property in December 1969, later convincing Aldo Gucci (paying a then record $100 per square foot for the lease) and Elizabeth Arden to pay for renovations to their own storefronts.

Vornado purchased the property in 1999 for $33 million, and it was designated a New York City landmark in 2002. The retail store, with a value of $68.3 million, was included in the $5.6 billion partial sale of numerous retail assets in 2019 to Crown Acquisitions. Those properties struggled through the pandemic, but the Fifth Avenue store is now leased to Canada Goose.

Brunello Cucinelli’s own flagship store is nearby at 683-689 Madison Avenue. It doubled in size to 8,127 square feet during the pandemic when it was able to absorb the adjacent Bally’s location, Women’s Wear Daily reported.