NYC’s most fashionable shopping corridor is getting a mystery makeover

Uptown Madison Avenue, the city’s premier luxury shopping corridor, faces momentous change on the gilded blocks where East Midtown meets the Upper East Side.

Two large office retail buildings are being  demolished for new, mixed-use projects about which little is known. Meanwhile, wealthy fashionistas and even wealthier real estate investors wonder what’s to become of the former Barneys building, which has been vacant for four years.

We first reported in July that Related Cos. will take down 625 Madison between East 58th and 59th streets for a mixed-use supertall tower that may rise to more than 1,200 feet. Related’s Jeff Blau told us  it will take nine months to demolish the structure and an adjoining one for a skyscraper with luxury condos, stores and perhaps a hotel. Scaffolding now covers the entire property.

Now comes word via Crains that demo plans were also filed at 24-story 655 Madison between East 60th and 61st streets. The owners, a joint venture that includes Jamestown and Williams Equity, plan “a mixture of retail, hospitality and residential,” Williams co-principal Michael T. Cohen told the Commercial Observer earlier.

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As at 625 Madison, retail tenants have moved out — most notably Marc Jacobs , which had the large south corner. Although a sign promises  the designer is moving to a new Fifth Avenue location, no lease on Fifth has been announced. (As we reported, negotiations at 645 Fifth went nowhere.)

Adding to uncertainty about the future, the elegant but empty 10-story former Barneys at 660 Madison — across the avenue from 655 Madison — continues to baffle real estate insiders and, according to the Real Deal, to frustrate main owner Ben Ashkenazy’s investors.

Ashkenazy told the Real Deal, “I’ve chosen to keep it vacant for a reason, because one big retailer is going to buy it” for $1 billion.

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Although a large Valentino boutique recently moved into the former Calvin Klein space next door at 654 Madison, most of the block between  East 60th and 61st streets has a forlorn air.

Madison Avenue Business Improvement District president Matthew Bauer took an optimistic long view.

“What makes Madison Avenue distinct from other luxury retail destinations around the world is that the majority of the customer base is very local,” Bauer said.

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“These new buildings will not only bring new shopping and hospitality venues to the district, they will bring residents who shall be clients for our stores, restaurants, spas, salons and galleries.”

He noted that since both the new 625 and 655 Madison “will likely now have  a major residential component,”  they will “follow the recent precedents of new construction on Madison  with high-end retail on the lower floors, and luxury residential above.”

He cited 760 Madison, the almost-completed Giorgio Armani residences,” and now projects by the Naftali Group farther north at 1045 and 1165 Madison.

A retail broker who didn’t want to be named saw a bright side of a different sort.

“Any time stores close due to new development,  it’s good business for other landlords — and for us. The stores have to find somewhere to go, and there are lots of places to go right now.”

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