How would Martha design it, build it and sell it? Soon, we’ll find out.
Marquee Brands, which owns the Martha Stewart brand, hired real estate agency Brand Labs International to identify cities, developers and real estate projects for the Martha Stewart brand, The Real Deal has learned.
Brand Labs International’s CEO Florian Haffa said that Stewart will be involved in the design of various developments. The partnership is in talks with specific developers in the U.S., as well as in Europe and Asia. Haffa wouldn’t identify projects or cities where it plans to launch Martha Stewart-branded developments.
Stewart, a business mogul, television personality and author, sold her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia empire to Marquee Brands earlier this year for $215 million. The company included furniture, kitchenware and other branded products. Marquee Brands is the parent company of other brands, such as BCBG Max Azria, BCBG Generation, Emeril Lagasse, and Ben Sherman, according to its website.
The Martha Stewart-branded real estate projects could include single-family homes, condos, townhouses, assisted living, and other residential communities.
Stewart said in a statement that she looks forward to building developments that “will fit our needs and offer practicality, usefulness, beauty and comfort.”
Her homes have “acted as laboratories” for the brand, according to a release. She owns a country farm north of New York City in Westchester County, a home on Perry Street in Manhattan’s West Village, a property on Mount Desert Island in Maine and a house in East Hampton, according to Architectural Digest.
Branded developments have become increasingly popular. In South Florida, developers have recently partnered with Porsche Design, Armani Casa, Aston Martin and others to brand luxury residential towers. Developers can ask for nearly 31 percent more on average than for comparable non-branded properties, according to data from Savills.