High-End Audio Retailer Bang & Olufsen Relocating Midtown Outpost
By Mark Hallum October 17, 2023 11:28 am
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High-end Danish electronics manufacturer Bang & Olufsen is bringing its pricey speakers to a new location in Midtown, Commercial Observer has learned.
The purveyor of audio products, television sets and telephones signed a 10-year, 1,557-square-foot retail lease at DivcoWest’s 540 Madison Avenue, giving Bang & Olufsen the retail frontage along East 55th Street, according to landlord broker Newmark (NMRK).
It will relocate from 600 Madison Avenue.
Newmark did not disclose the asking rent in the building, but Midtown had an average asking rent of $82.68 per square foot in the third quarter of 2023, according to a recent report from CBRE.
“With 540 Madison’s premier location and the repositioning of the office tower completed, we believed securing the right luxury retailers at the ground level was critical to the building’s transformation,” Ariel Aber, managing director at DivcoWest, said in a statement.
Bang & Olufsen — which sells audio products so high-end that a pair of speakers can fetch up to $135,000 — also has a Manhattan location at 121 Spring Street. It’s not clear when the new Madison Avenue storefront will open, or if the existing Madison Avenue outpost three blocks away will close.
Newmark’s Ariel Schuster and Mitch Heifetz negotiated on behalf of the landlord while Charlie Koniver of Odyssey Retail Partners represented the tenant in the transaction.
“Rents in this part of the market are still sustainable enough for brands to turn a profit,” Koniver told CO. “This is still a walkable distance to the affluence and tourism that comes from Fifth Avenue, just a block away at a much lower rent.”
Aside from Bang & Olufsen, Brazilian jewelry company H. Stern also leased a 1,450-square-foot retail space in the 292,000-square-foot office building at the corner of Madison and East 55th Street, Newmark said.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
