Big retail brands need flagship stores in key locations in big cities. Not so much for sales, but for transmitting a brand image to customers. Luxurious stores in generous spaces, if possible, in emblematic buildings with singular architecture, which as a whole communicate the values ??that the brand proclaims. So it is not surprising that the great galleries open impressive venues or that the auction houses, beyond the historic venues that give them the pedigree of tradition, devise new iconic spaces that position them.
After months of rumors about whether Sotheby’s was moving, the auction house has just announced the future purchase of what was the New York headquarters of the Whitney Museum of American Art for more than four decades. building designed by architect Marcel Breuer his American headquarters. The price they will pay has not been revealed, but professionals in the real estate market point to a figure slightly above 100 million dollars.
The idea is that they will take possession of the Madison Avenue building in September 2024 and retain ownership of what has been their historic headquarters, at 1334 York Avenue, until they move and open the new one in 2025.
The Breuer Building, with brutalist architecture, has been part of the best artistic landscape in Manhattan since its inauguration in 1966 by the Whitney. When they moved into the new headquarters in the Meatpacking District that Renzo Piano designed for them in 2015, the building went first to the Metropolitan Museum, which showcased contemporary exhibitions, and then to the Frick Collection, as it completely revamps its Upper East mansion. Side.
Charles Stewart, CEO of Sotheby’s, has declared that “it is an honor to write the new chapter of such an emblematic building in New York.” Drawing a fitting parallel with works of art, he said, “There is no history as rich for a museum as that of the Breuer, which has hosted the Whitney, the Metropolitan and the Frick.” We do not doubt that the new and iconic headquarters will be impeccably renovated and will function perfectly as a sales and exhibition space, but it is not lost on anyone that it will also be an excellent real estate investment. Like a work of art.
