The adjacent marque to lease nan erstwhile slope abstraction astatine 1251 Ave. of nan Americas for a specified $5 cardinal per twelvemonth will besides make a scatter by utilizing its astir half-acre elephantine fountain for marque activations.
“It’s a shop and stage,” said Kenneth Hochhauser of Winick, nan unit supplier for nan Mitsui Fudosan America-owned tower. “You tin straight prosecute nan customer and programme and activate nan outdoor plaza and thrust societal media engagement into nan millions.”
Known during nan vacation play for its iconic, Instagrammable, oversized reddish Christmas ornaments, during nan remainder of nan year, nan tremendous fountain and plaza that sits betwixt West 49th and 50th streets supply a serene retreat for area workers.
Meanwhile, an mean of 80,000 group per time stroll by connected nan sidewalk while hundreds of thousands recreation betwixt Times Square and Rockefeller Center straight crossed nan thoroughfare — pinch galore snapping photos and generating millions of societal media impressions.
“It’s betwixt Main and Main,” said Slater Traaen, elder head astatine MFA.
The 5,346 square-foot crushed level erstwhile slope abstraction has 30-foot-high ceilings and windows that agelong 116-feet crossed nan beforehand of nan building pinch different 58-feet of frontage connected some broadside streets.
Below grade, an further 15,068 quadrate feet pinch 16-foot-high ceilings connects to nan immense underground web of Sixth Avenue and Rockefeller Center’s eating and shopping concourses arsenic good arsenic westbound to nan N and R trains successful Times Square.
Two upscale restaurants pinch backstage eating and a flagship nutrient hallway pinch catering options are opening soon as part of 1251’s larger translator that includes a welcoming new lobby.
“We person a very typical building,” said John Kessler, CEO of MFA, which has nary indebtedness connected nan 54-story, 2.4 million-square-foot spot it’s owned since 1986. “The further repositioning of nan retail, plaza and concourse level will beryllium breathtaking for our tenants and visitors.”
The building was built successful 1972 arsenic nan Mobil Building and aft that company’s rebranding was known arsenic nan Exxon Building.
But Exxon is agelong gone and now, aft 55 years, nan prominently located Chase branch has checked out, leaving down a blank canvas that’s energizing MFA and its leasing teams to deliberation out-of-the-bank-box and bring nan fountain into nan mix.
“It was specified an important characteristic to marketplace arsenic portion of nan unit experience,” said Traaen.
At 85 feet by 200 feet, nan fountain is nan largest successful nan metropolis and is often a backdrop for tv shows and movies like John Krasinski’s “IF.”
But it has nan imaginable to make breathtaking marque promotions by being activated pinch a hoops court, manner runway aliases car show connected a ginormous shape that tin beryllium expanded to screen nan full fountain – pinch nan further usage of nan plaza area.
“Imagine a Formula 1 Experience pinch cars connected nan fountain and each astir nan plaza,” said Hochhauser. “[The usage] is up to nan imagination and nan laws of physics.”
Last year, nan ownership tapped sculptor Enrique Cabrera, to bring his cubist-style Apple sculpture, “La Gran Manzana” to nan fountain. “He placed a QR codification connected nan guidelines and complete a four-month play we had 1.4 cardinal group scan nan code,” said Traaen.
“This is an opportunity to extremity group successful their tracks,” Traaen continued. “The abstraction is very important to this area, and we want to partner pinch a retailer who sees nan imagination and tin bask that.”