Majestic Rayon, Cudge Realty to Renovate 695 Sixth Avenue

Majestic Rayon Corporation and Cudge Realty, the owners of 695 Sixth Avenue, are on the verge of getting tax breaks to upgrade the former department store building — one of two properties now at the finish line for M-CORE benefits.

The other is 460 Park Avenue, as The Real Deal reported last week. They would be the third and fourth approved for M-CORE, after 850 Third Avenue and 175 Water Street.

The Manhattan Commercial Revitalization program incentivizes owners of older Class B and C buildings to modernize them and add amenities. The final step to receive the benefit is a vote by the city’s Industrial Development Agency. Staffers at the Economic Development Corporation have put 695 Sixth and 460 Park on the IDA’s hearing calendar for Jan. 23.

The lower floors of the loft-style 695 Sixth Avenue, at the southwest corner of West 23rd Street, have been occupied for decades by Burlington Coat Factory, which is relocating to larger space at 620 Sixth Avenue. The pending vacancy enhances the building’s candidacy for M-CORE.

Majestic Rayon and Cudge plan to renovate, expand and furnish the 199,000-square-foot, five-story building at a jaw-dropping cost of $189 million, or $951 per square foot. But that number likely includes adding a long-planned, three-story, glass box office on the top.

More than a decade ago, when Daniel Abiel’s Cudge Realty bought out a prior investor and conducted extensive due diligence, the owners sought to evict Burlington, which was paying below-market rent under a long-term lease signed in 1994.

Their argument was that the store had installed a two-and-a-half-story blade sign at the landmarked building in 1995 without final approval from the Department of Buildings.

Burlington fought back, securing a Yellowstone injunction in 2013 to give it time to gain approval for the sign.

According to Li/Saltzman Architects, which was the historic preservation consultant to Gensler for renovations proposed in 2017, the property was cobbled together over a hundred years ago through multiple expansions.

William Schickel & Co. designed the Ehrich Brothers Department Store in 1889. Extensions were designed in 1894 by Buchman and Deisler, from 1902 to 1904 by Buchman & Fox, and from 1911 to 1915 by Taylor & Levi.

A few years ago the owners planned extensive upgrades including the glass rooftop, an expanded storefront master plan, new lobby entrances with ramps and a modified canopy. But with Covid interceding, not all of those were completed.

Scaffolding has been cloaking the structure during facade and sprinkler renovations but new permits allow it to be finally taken down.

The owners’ M-CORE application predicts the extensive modernization of the property will create 563 jobs paying $100 an hour.

Requests for comment from the architects were not returned prior to press time. An email to an owner’s contact provided to the Department of Buildings bounced back. Majestic Rayon is a Manhattan-based textile company founded in 1930, according to Bloomberg, and led by Lawrence Aibel, according to Dun & Bradstreet. It appears to be linked to Cudge.

An EDC spokesperson said of M-CORE, “This initiative is vital to revitalizing commercial real estate in Manhattan by facilitating the transformation of underperforming office spaces into amenity-rich environments that meet the needs of today’s workforce.”

The program reimagines business districts as 24/7, live-work-play destinations, the spokesperson added.

M-CORE was announced in May 2023 and received almost a dozen initial applications. It is projected to help transform 10 million square feet of underperforming office space and boost nearby businesses, such as restaurants, that serve the buildings’ workers.