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Former Playboy Club building to undergo retail makeover
GreenOak, Capstone bought Midtown office building for $85M in June
In yet another sign of how things have changed, the former Playboy Club on East 59th Street in Midtown is being repositioned to house a retail showroom with offices above.
GreenOak Real Estate and Capstone Equities, the partnership that owns 5 East 59th Street, are tapping architectural firm Gensler to renovate the nine-story, 40,000-square-foot property into an eight-story structure with 22-foot ceilings on the ground floor.
The partners acquired the 1960 office building for $85 million earlier this year and hope the repositioning will drive leasing revenues of more than $10 million per year, according to the New York Observer.
Only a few small office tenants remained in 5 East 59th Street at the time of GreenOak and Capstone’s purchase, while Italian restaurant Bottega del Vina — which occupies 7,200 square feet on the ground floor, lower level and basement — is set to close its doors at the end of the year after being bought out.
The building is located just off the vaunted Fifth Avenue retail corridor, which commands some of the highest retail rents in the world. [NYO] – Rey Mashayekhi