Louis Vuitton is amping up its flagship store in Manhattan, with plans for a new property to stand five stories taller than the last version.
LVMH, the French retailer, filed an application with the Department of City Planning for a 25-story building at 1 East 57th Street in the Plaza District, Crain’s reported. The building would span 148,000 square feet alongside Fifth Avenue.
The property would be significantly larger than the one LVMH is in the process of razing, which stood 20 stories tall and spanned a comparatively meager 91,000 square feet.
The upgraded 485-foot-tall property would feature a 10-story flagship retail store, a “world-class experiential retail destination,” according to the DCP application. There will be a cafe and terrace with Central Park views on the eighth floor and four floors of exposition space perched above, which will have programs about the company’s brand history.
Other elements of the building would include a luxury spa, showroom suites, restaurants and a top-floor bar and garden.
LVMH is applying for a floor-area bonus of nearly 25,000 square feet. In exchange, the company would facilitate improvements at the nearby Lexington Avenue-59th Street subway station, including an elevator that meets the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
LVMH did not respond to a request for comment from the outlet.
A year ago, the luxury goods retailer filed plans to tear down the existing flagship building. Since then, the 8,100-square-foot lot has been clad with scaffolding from LVMH, adorned with Louis Vuitton’s signature logo print and styled as a stack of trunks.
LVMH’s plans for the revamping of its flagship store have been in the works for years. The conglomerate was reported in 2023 to be interviewing “starchitects” for the job. It’s unclear where it landed on its search, however, as the DCP application doesn’t appear to make any mention of an architect.
The firm is reimagining its real estate portfolio on both coasts, planning to build a new Tiffany & Co. store on the site of the old Luxe Rodeo Drive Hotel in Los Angeles. It also submitted plans for a large Louis Vuitton store and adjacent campus designed by architect Frank Gehry.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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